Another awful one - Emmerdale this time - ITV

[Sally71]

Apologies if I’ve just sowed the seeds to any would be murderer, but as it's already been seen on TV…

LOL, now you’ve just got to find someone who uses two different concentrations of insulin…

 

[Robin]

LOL, now you’ve just got to find someone who uses two different concentrations of insulin…

What I don’t know is whether the high concentration has a different coloured thread bit at the bottom. My Novorapid is orange, and my Levemir green, and you can’t change those. So if you were paying attention you might notice.

Oh, come to think, I believe the high strength insulins are only available in disposable pre-filled pens, to avoid mistakes. So bang goes that theory, and maybe the programme have got it wrong.

(I should get a life!)

 

[Sally71]

Yes they were all shown with orange threads, and I did wonder if different strength ones would come in different colours in order to try to avoid accidental mix ups. Or as you say, only in disposable pens!

Isn’t it bad that we’re sitting here determined to find a fault with the way that diabetes has been shown in this (fictional) programme. Clearly our standards aren’t very high, based on how it is usually depicted. And they were doing so well, such a shame if they’ve got that bit wrong! I know the general population wouldn’t know any different, but I think if you are going to depict any medical condition or other specialist subject, you should get it as accurate as you can, for those who do know (and in case of any have-a-go-heroes who might try to help you in completely the wrong way because they saw it on the telly)

 

[Sally71]

Oh dear, it did descend into ridiculousness… diabetic character managed to take a trip to France all by himself with no-one to help him with his injections, and then delivered a baby when he came back (he was a retired doctor, who seemed to have lost none of his faculties apart from the original suggestion that he couldn’t remember to take his insulin), in fact the diabetes was never mentioned again, and of course it turned out that the au pair was not the real baddie after all. I won’t add anything else just in case anyone is thinking of watching - it did keep me entertained for a couple of evenings, and there were some plot twists that I really didn’t see coming (although I’m not always very alert to the clues lol), but I’ve seen far better dramas! What actually was going on was not impossible, but really pushing the boundaries in my opinion…
The diabetic grandad was played by David Suchet, of Poirot fame!

 

[saffron15]

if i could add an aside to this, years ago family would be irratated when i critiqued representatiions of lawyers and courts in the soaps. obviously in dramas they wont show the boring bits. however, i particularly remember a court scene involving a youth. i think it was cornation street. There should be at least one male and one female magistrate, they got the seating wrong and the way people were addressed. there were other errors too. Most viewers wont ever go in a court let alone a youth court but the risk is they will take the representation as true so its important they get the basics right.
i therefore sympathise that if they choose to have a character with diabetes they should get the basics right. with the Youth court it was a lost opportunity to show how it worked in a subtle way.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

i therefore sympathise that if they choose to have a character with diabetes they should get the basics right. with the Youth court it was a lost opportunity to show how it worked in a subtle way.

I think it’s the same as any dramatic representation. If you know anything about the reality of whatever it is, it can be infuriating (or hilarious) to watch. Internet ‘hackers’ is another classic. Or in Silent Witness when they all wander round crime scenes in their special white oversuits, but with their hoods down - which can’t be right at all, but makes better TV.

Not just drama either, but also these things can creep into reality TV. I’ve spent quite a big chunk of my career in branding, design, and identity - I have to leave the room if The Apprentice is on, because the way the (completely unskilled) contestants even talk about brand proposition, and their complete tin-ear for visual language is just unbearable. It pains me to think that many people will now have that as their yardstick for how that work is done.

 

[Sally71]

Yes, we only know that the diabetes bit is wrong because we happen to have insider information; most people wouldn’t know what U100 means, they’d just get the gist that medication was being interfered with. Which is probably all you really need to know in terms of the story. But it does make you wonder what else they are showing that isn’t strictly correct; and even though it’s a fictional story, it would be better if all details pertaining to medical issues, courtrooms or anything else which exists in real life, is as accurate as possible, because it’s annoying and because people base a lot of their knowledge on such things. There are many people out there who struggle to differentiate between fiction and reality, and therefore if you want to educate, get things right!

@everydayupsanddowns I can’t stand The Apprentice any more either; I only started watching it years ago because people used to talk about it at work, and then I think it was on immediately after something else I watched (in the days when I actually used to watch live TV instead of recording everything!) and I couldn’t be bothered to change the channel . But over the years I’ve found it increasingly cringeworthy, I don’t really like watching people making fools of themselves no matter how big headed they might be, I only watch it now because my daughter likes it and we like to watch something together in the evening. I’m usually only half watching it though, and playing something on my iPad at the same time!