Reel History of Britain — Season 1, Episode 11: The Birth of the NHS
Documentary • 30 min • 1 season, 20 episodes • ★ 6.0/10
Episode synopsis
Today we are pulling up at the College of Medical and Dental Sciences in Birmingham, to look back to 1948 and the formation of the NHS. June Rosen will share with us a childhood memory of serving breakfast to the health secretary Nye Bevan on the day he announced the birth of the NHS. We will hear Aneira Thomas' remarkable claim to fame, as the first baby born on the NHS. And one of Britain's top nurses, Nola Ishmael, will share her experiences on arriving from Barbados to start her training.
About Reel History of Britain
Reel History of Britain is a 20 part series being shown on BBC Two, presented by Melvyn Bragg and about the history of modern Britain; through the eyes of people who were there. It was shown from 5–30 September 2011. The programme is a social history documentary, charting the course of the twentieth century through archive film, plus interviews and recollections of key events that have taken place in the last one-hundred years, since the advent of moving film. In each episode, Bragg goes to a different place in the UK and shows people film in a 1950s Ministry of Technology mobile cinema, then gauges their reactions and captures them on film.