Episode 1

An Hour to Save Your Life explores the critical decisions facing doctors in the first hour of emergency care. Against a ticking clock, each episode follows three patients from the moment the 999 call is made, minute by minute, as frontline doctors and paramedics battle to keep them alive and treat their injuries. Combining medical detail with compelling actuality, this series gives a unique insight into the most life-and-death moments in medicine.

In this episode, moped rider Martin is fighting for his life after a collision with a lorry in London. Doctors are concerned he may have severe head and spinal injuries after the wheel of the lorry pressed against his neck. He is transferred to a major trauma centre, where CT and MRI scans find bleeding around his spinal cord. Worried that his spinal cord may be damaged and Martin may be paralysed, doctors must decide whether he needs an emergency operation to remove the blood.

Also in London, police officer David is diagnosed with a heart attack after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest at the gym. He is taken to Barts Heart Attack Centre for an angiogram and an emergency heart bypass operation, which successfully treats a blockage in his coronary artery.

In Northumberland, cyclist Julian comes off his bike with a nasty facial injury. Once in hospital, he begins to deteriorate and suffers a major stroke before undergoing an emergency operation to remove part of his skull and relieve the swelling in his brain. Julian faces a long process of rehabilitation after his injuries.