Frankie
Frankie joins the growing throng of medical shows slowly trying to wrestle back control of the TV schedules from the crime dramas tonight, and looks to fill a niche that has been revitalised by a group of 1950s midwives and provide a fuzzy, warm show with just enough kicks to keep it interesting.
By far the bulk of the show’s appeal is its titular lead character, a nurse with a heart of gold that has just enough foibles to not become an annoying saint. She drinks perhaps more than the medically recommended allowance of wine, she wakes up with her hair in an unkempt mess, she badly sings along to The Clash whilst speeding her way to work.
All this whilst having a big toothy grin on her face and being all sorts of lovely to her patients. She’s fun but flawed in a way that anyone really great at their job is, and it makes her all the more appealing.
Eve Myles is a big part of this. For years she was able to use her natural charm to overcome the occasionally clunky nature of Torchwood and she brings all of that Welsh wit to Frankie too. She’s the beacon that the rest of the show revolves around and does more than her fair share of the heavy lifting.
The show’s resemblance to Call The Midwife isn’t just in the genre it lives in though, as Frankie feels very much like the spiritual partner to the surprise ratings blockbuster. Both of the shows delight in the human details of the job. Be that the interactions between the nurses and nuns in Midwife or Frankie talking to Ken Bruce whilst driving along, both shows take great care to show off the personal side of nursing without going full Casualty melodrama mode.
While district nursing might not be as well-known as normal hospital work or even midwifery, the show does a great job of keeping it all interesting. Following Frankie from patient to patient never gets tiresome and gives each episode enough variety to stop it becoming tired and samey.
It might not set any new benchmarks or move any boundaries, but Frankie treads the fine line between overwrought drama and Doc Martin style fun and games well enough that it could just be this year’s antidote to those suffering withdrawals from Call The Midwife.
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