Getting On



Getting On (2009-) is a British sitcom set in a hospital ward a million miles away from Princeton General. Situated right at the wrong end of the Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty, the series is centred on a general ward and the unglamorous lives of its long-suffering staff. The series is written by its three female leads: Jo Brand as Nurse Kim Wilde, Joanna Scanlan as Sister Den Flixter, and Vicki Pepperdine as Dr Pippa Moore. The show is intended to be a realistic portrayal of hospital life with naturalistic dialogue and shaky camera movements. Its director Peter Capaldi may have learned a few tricks from his time working with Armando Iannucci on The Thick of It.

Kim has returned to nursing after some time away, and is struggling to cope with the changes the NHS has been through in the meantime. New regulations stop her from providing good old-fashioned patient care and constantly throw up problems, not least of which is the oversensitive Matron Hilary Loftus.

This show provides examples of:
"Peter Healy: "Well, it's only technically a poor score...""
 * Ambiguously Gay: Hilary Loftus with his "issues". He's not too sure about his sexual orientation himself.
 * Black Comedy: Some of the blackest.
 * Color Wash: Used to make the hospital setting look suitably bleak.
 * The Danza: Director Peter Capaldi appears in some episodes as a psychiatrist called... Peter.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Kim Wilde.
 * Gender Blender Name: Sister Den Flixter, and Matron Hilary Loftus who also has a Gender Blender Title.
 * George Jetson Job Security: who is forced to reapply for her own job... and fails to get it.
 * Hair Trigger Temper: Hilary.
 * Hey Its That Guy: Who could have imagined Terri Coverly and Malcolm Tucker in the caring professions?
 * Hospital Hottie: Peter the psychiatrist, who is swooned over by the female staff, Pippa is something of an Abhorrent Admirer.
 * Jittercam
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Damaris.
 * Named After Somebody Famous: Nurse Kim Wilde, who is somewhat less glamorous than her namesake. Apparently the non-nurse Kim Wilde approves.
 * No Social Skills: Pippa, who seems unable to empathise with patients and staff alike. A performance review gives her an embarrassingly low score for communication skills:


 * Only Sane Man: Kim, who remembers the NHS before health and safety legislation made everyone's jobs so much more difficult.
 * Real Song Theme Tune: Roll River Roll by Richard Hawley.
 * Shown Their Work: Jo Brand drew on her experience of working as a psychiatric nurse at London's Maudsley Hospital.
 * This Is Your Premise On Drugs: This is The Thick of It on statins!