Nip/Tuck

Starts 10 pm on Tuesday 13 January 2004 on Sky One; www.skyone.co.uk
Rating:****

After a fierce bidding war, the arrival of the hit US series Nip/Tuck on British television marks the birth of a new type of medical drama. Ryan Murphy, creator, says the programme is "essentially about all of the reasons why we as a society hate ourselves."

Nominated for Golden Globes, Nip/Tuck centres around a flourishing cosmetic surgery practice in Miami and the lives of the two surgeons who run it. One surgeon is obsessed with sex, normally with his patients; his colleague is undergoing a mid-life crisis; and an ethical code seems alien to them both. The series practically juxtaposes equally graphic scenes of sex and surgery. Plots range from helping a drug dealer to flee the country by altering his face to coercing young female patients into the practice. Because of this, Nip/Tuck has become hugely popular and has polarised American opinion. Rod Rohrich, president elect of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, said: "There's no realism in it at all. We think it's an abomination of what real plastic surgeons and true patients do . . . I think about 20 patients have talked to me about how despicable it was-but of course, they watched."

British plastic surgeons have reacted similarly to scenes like the spectacularly botched liposuction and refusal to treat burnt children. Norman Waterhouse, consultant plastic surgeon and president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said: "The show does not portray the 'real life' world of plastic surgery and, in fact, does a disservice to millions of patients who benefit from cosmetic procedures." Judy Evans, also a consultant plastic surgeon and a member of the association's council, said: "The show's premise is ghastly. It is difficult enough for a patient to pluck up the courage to come to see a surgeon in the first place."

Compared with medical dramas like ER or Casualty, Nip/Tuck focuses specifically on one specialty rather than general medicine. Aesthetic plastic surgery in Miami was an obvious choice for sensational television. But, just as police dramas have portrayed corrupt cops, Nip/Tuck simply presents a dark side to doctors, without implying reality. The series explores the breathtakingly painful extremes to which patients are willing to go for beautiful bodies and points the finger at our shallow society as the cause of this desperation. Nip/Tuck is a reflection of how, in the eyes of many, looks are of the utmost importance and plastic surgery merely a means to an end. Nip/Tuck is compelling, if at times horrifying, viewing, but if you remember that the stories are fictional, this adventurous series is hugely entertaining; after all, where else could you see a plastic surgeon driving a speedboat called the Boatox?