Monroe

The walls of defence that doctors build up to stop them getting emotionally attached to their patients come crashing down when one of Monroe’s team ends up in theatre. The medic in question has a life-threatening aneurysm and the neurosurgeon is up against the clock before his co-worker’s brain is starved of oxygen. With the stakes so perilously high, it’s no surprise that the operating scenes regain the intensity and drive that’s been lacking in the previous couple of instalments.

There are a few unnecessary sequences featuring James Nesbitt striding purposefully down moodily lit corridors, the sleeves of his lab coat hitched up to his elbows, but such indulgences are forgivable in what is one of the strongest and most satisfying episode of the series.