Radio and TV: Odd essay on NHS

You know this story. At some level, there's something so very basic about a man on a quest, searching for the woman he loves in a strange place full of mazes and strange characters, that even without being told that Gregory Burke's ONE NIGHT IN EMERGENCY is based on Homer's Odyssey, it would seem as familiar as a fairytale, as primal as a myth. This is not your average hospital show, that's for sure: this is the world of dreams, not reality, where things happen because they must

And if that all sounds a bit pretentious, be reassured: this is Burke, after all, whose Black Watch has been a genuine popular phenomenon as well as a critical one. There are quite a few laughs too.

His first television play is an ambitious one and everyone involved in this production seems to have raised their game accordingly; not least BBC Scotland, which in these cash-strapped times, like all broadcasters, is usually constrained to more conventional formats.

The star, Kevin McKidd, has likewise been kicking his heels in American TV, but while he might also be in a hospital environment in the gooey Grey's Anatomy, this is a very different one, and not just because it's the NHS. He plays Peter, a slightly smug middle-class professional whose boozy office night out is cut short when his wife calls to say she's been sent to hospital for some tests. Trying to sober up, he sets off to join her in a hazy state, but is beset by obstacles along the way.

Apparently the chaotic casualty department that inspired Burke's story was in London, but anyone who has ever visited the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, with its strange conglomeration of buildings of various ages, underground corridors and convoluted directions, may recognise something closer to home. But the maze which greets Peter isn't just physical: it's a clash of worlds, as he and his wife, who can normally easily avoid the underside of society, are stuck in the same waiting room with people they'd never normally see. That's the NHS; that's why this story couldn't really work in an American setting.

The wife is played by Michelle Ryan, who someone, somewhere, must like as an actress as she increasingly turns up in everything. She's not awful, but a weakish link in a fine cast of character actors – including Ewen Bremner, Gary Lewis, David Hayman, Tam Dean Burn and James Cosmo – who pop up along the way. It's fair to say that this is a story where men get all the best lines: Ryan just suffers, while a sexy nurse smoulders like she's stepped out of a "Dear Penthouse …" letter, although there does turn out to be a reason for that.

And McKidd is terrific, keeping his character interesting even as he has to react to the strange people he meets. He's pursued by a lumbering security guard with an eyepatch, the Cyclops of the original myth, played by Igal Naor, whose physical presence instantly reminds you of classic black and white horror films.

"Every night we are spat on, attacked, assaulted, lied to," he says, meaning hospital staff who sadly do have to face such things. But that's not really what this drama is about, though to reveal any more would give the game away.

One Night In Emergency isn't perfect: there are some parts which aim for archetype and fall into clich, and it hovers uneasily at times between reality and fantasy. But I don't want to quibble too much, because it's so refreshing to be given something so weird and bold. In an increasingly formulaic, safe TV environment, anything outside the usual boundaries is to be grabbed and hugged.

NURSE JACKIE is also a hospital show and in its own way it nudges the boundaries a little, though this is much more conventional stuff. It's a star vehicle for Edie Falco, the best thing about the overrated Sopranos, who has had her hair cropped to show that she's playing a completely different character than the wealthy mafia wife.

We've had umpteen maverick doctors; Jackie is a maverick nurse. OK, so she takes a "little bump" of coke to get her through her shift and has sex in the supplies room. But she's still better at diagnosis than the cocky young resident who ignores her advice and kills a patient. And she cares, of course, though she might seem like she doesn't.

I can see this show becoming cult viewing for nurses, who should enjoy the dry gags about bad backs and arrogant doctors, as well as the skewering of the "angels" stereotype while still showing what a tough job they have. But it does get a bit soppy by the end, as the show doesn't quite have the courage to make its heroine too unsympathetic.

As if early January wasn't depressing enough, here's the return of CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER. This year's turkeys have not been announced at the time of going to press, though everyone from Boy George to Jedward has been rumoured. But it hardly matters: we, and the participants, all know the script by now and the roles are as defined as a panto.

As both the celeb and non-celeb versions are confined to the I Heart The Noughties archives, Channel 4 is promising to pull out all the stops, like the last binge of festive chocolates before the crash diet. Try not to be sick.

ONE NIGHT IN EMERGENCY

Monday, BBC1, 9pm

NURSE JACKIE

Monday, BBC2, 10pm

CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER

Tomorrow, Channel 4, 9pm

• This article first appeared in the Scotsman on Saturday 2 January, 2010