Transition to Adulthood

Last year, Channel 4 cameras followed the work of police, fire and ambulance staff in Blackpool to reveal modern Britain through the eyes of the emergency services. Now the series returns, but this time its focus is on the emergency service that gets to know us most intimately: the ambulance service. The new series follows ambulance staff across the country who know that every 999 call they race to could be a matter of life or death. The ambulance service is under huge pressure, with 11 million emergency calls a year and an ambulance dispatched every five seconds at an average cost of £250. Paramedics and call handlers speak powerfully and frankly about the challenges they face, and the Britain they see, while patients and their loved ones reveal the story behind their call for help. The series shows how the ambulance service is picking up the pieces of our society, including: the growing number of people battling with mental health issues; the realities of living with addiction to drink and drugs; the struggles of 'coming of age', and the challenges of caring for a rapidly aging population. The first film in the series explores the struggles of becoming an adult in modern Britain. Cases include a young man in Southend who's been stabbed multiple times, an 18 year old who got very drunk on his first night out in central London, and a 19-year-old student in Nottingham who's taken an overdose of anti-depressants and drunk hair bleach.