Saturday, May 26, 2018

Britannia Hospital (1982)

A dark comedy and satirical look at Britain, especially the National Health Service which is seen at being in thrall to money (so still quite topical then!)

Strange things are going on in Britannia Hospital and Malcolm McDowell is investigating them. The hospital is in trouble, an African dictator is a patient (sparking protests outside) and half the staff are on strike due to the extravagant demands of private patients, while elderly NHS patients are left to die. The mad Professor (Graham Crowden) seems only interested in his bizarre medical experiments including putting a brain in a blender and tricking people to drink it!

It all starts getting a bit weird and the medical experiments become quite frankly grotesque. We end up with a cyborg, which then starts to break down.

As a dark comedy it works, as a satire I'm not so sure. It is maybe a bit too much. The cast is great though, including appearances by Mark Hamill and Leonard Rossiter.