24 Hours in A&E

This episode looks at how A&E is a place where mums and girlfriends show their natural instinct to protect their men. Four-year-old Alfie is rushed to King's with a broken thighbone after falling off his bike into a sandpit. The medical team are concerned that Alfie may have ruptured an artery, causing internal bleeding. It's a shock for Alfie's mum, Toni, who reveals why she is so protective of her son: her sister was murdered when she was a child. Nineteen-year-old Chris is brought in from a rugby match in Kent, having suffered suspected neck and spinal injuries from a hard impact during the game. Chris is experiencing numbness and the injuries look serious, so the medical team perform a series of tests, including a CT scan. He's accompanied by his mum and dad, as well as by his girlfriend, Becky, who stays by his side as they await news. Meanwhile, 42-year-old James has chest pains and is struggling to breathe. While the medical team find out what's wrong, James and his wife Fiona joke that he's a hypochondriac. But the tests show that they were right to come to King's.

King's is a specialist stroke centre, treating over 1300 stroke patients each year. This episode features the work of the stroke team over 24 hours in the Emergency Department. Laura, who's 72, is rushed to King's after suffering a suspected stroke. She can't speak and her husband Camillo, her daughter Gabby and her grandchildren are soon by her bedside. With scans showing a blood clot on Laura's brain, the family have to decide, with the help of the medical team, whether she should have the clot-busting drug that could reduce the risk of permanent brain damage, but that carries a low risk of serious side effects. Father-of-three Nic walks into King's and collapses in reception. He's the over-40s National BMX Champion and has fallen 20 feet off his bike while performing a stunt in training. The medics are concerned that Nic doesn't appreciate how bad his injuries could be. Meanwhile, 83-year-old Marjorie has come to King's with pain behind her eye following a recent bout of shingles. While Marjorie is treated, her husband David talks about being born in a workhouse and how his family life only began after he met Marjorie, when her dog 'got naughty' with his.

Patients and staff at King's reflect on getting older and coming to terms with mortality. Brian, who's 74, is brought into King's by ambulance after falling backwards down a flight of stairs and being knocked unconscious. Brian has severe dementia and lives in sheltered accommodation, but he was staying at his partner Margaret's house at the time of the accident. Margaret speaks about the challenges of Brian's illness as well as their life together. 'The one thing he does keep saying is that he loves me. I think when that goes, that will really seem like the end,' she says. Meanwhile, Sylvester has brought his two-year-old son, Sylvester Junior, in to paediatric A&E after the toddler hit his head on a chair at church and cut his forehead. Sylvester speaks about the joys of fatherhood and how Junior can't keep still. And 70-year-old Leonard, a builder from South London, comes to King's with his partner Susanne. He's lost sensation down his left side and the medics are worried that he may have had a stroke, particularly as he has suffered a previous mini stroke. As the medics treat Leonard, he and Susanne describe how they met - when she was an 18-year-old croupier and he was a cab driver two decades her senior driving her home after a shift - as well as having six kids and what keeps Leonard feeling and acting younger than his age.

This episode focuses on older patients who've had to show resilience in their lives. Ellen, who's 86, has been brought in by ambulance after her daughters Carole and Janet found her collapsed on the floor at home. As she was on the floor for a long time, Ellen's body temperature has dropped dangerously low to just 27 degrees. She's also lost five pints of blood. The medics want to get Ellen warmed up as soon as possible, give her a blood transfusion and find out why she's lost so much blood. Meanwhile, Carole and Janet talk about their mum's uncomplaining nature and her lifelong work ethic. Martin, who's 75, is rushed to King's with severe abdominal pain. Doctors think appendicitis could be the cause. They give him morphine for the pain and prepare him for emergency surgery. As the medical team treat him, Martin talks about living alone and never being happy. But he also reveals his pride in his son Steve, a history professor based in America, and how much he looks forward to his visits home. Meanwhile, 70-year-old Lula is brought in after suffering a suspected stroke. The mum of 10 arrived in England from Sierra Leone in 2003, just after the civil war ended. Neurologists scan Lula's head to find out what's happened and have to decide whether to operate. And toddler Zara has come to A&E with some Lego stuck up her nose. It falls to junior doctor Jim to try to extract it.

This episode shows how A&E is somewhere that wisdom and insight is passed not just from medic to medic, but also from generation to generation. Fifteen-year-old Linden is brought to A&E having badly cut his leg while back-flipping off a shed roof onto a trampoline. As well as calling an ambulance, Linden's friends filmed the accident on their mobile phones and happily show the clip to A&E staff. But Linden's mum Liz is less impressed and worries whether her son will ever learn to be more careful. Junior doctor Sammy is looking after 88-year-old Panayiota, who's been referred to hospital with breathing difficulties. Originally from Cyprus, Panayiota speaks very little English and Sammy has to telephone a translator to help with the diagnosis and treatment. Panayiota's daughter Maria talks about her strained relationship with her strict mum. Meanwhile, 55-year-old lorry driver Antony has come to King's having lost all feeling in his left leg. An ultrasound scan reveals that Antony has a blocked artery and needs emergency surgery or he could lose his leg. Antony's smoked for 40 years. He realises that it's likely to have contributed to his condition, but he says that it's his only enjoyment in life.

It's a busy Mother's Day at south London's King's College Hospital as 23-year-old builder Jamie is rushed in by paramedics having fallen from the roof of a three-storey building, landing on a brick wall. The team performs an emergency ultrasound to determine whether he has suffered internal injuries or fractured his ribs and spine, and spot a punctured lung that needs to be reinflated. Four-month-old Weston has been brought to paediatric A&E after suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting for more than 24 hours, while doctors suspect David, 74, has had a stroke. Junior doctor Matt looks after 80-year-old Daphne, who has dislocated her replacement hip.

Max, 16, is brought to King's College Hospital by air ambulance after falling 14ft onto his face at a skate park, and the results of the CT scan show a life-threatening bleed on his brain, meaning the next 12 hours are critical, as well as being an agonising wait for his parents. Meanwhile, 13-year-old Hector has injured his hip playing football and needs an X-ray to confirm whether his leg is broken.