The battle of the nurses.

Using audio footage, the programme explores the changing image of nurses. It attempts to discover how the popular stereoptypes were created and compares the image with the reality. It also traces the history of nursing back to the days of the monasteries', when the sick were ministered to by nuns. Recordings feature, Florence Nightingale, some of her friends and contemporaries, and excerpts from later Càrry on Films', where the actress Hattie Jacques became the embodiment of the Ward Sister, as well as readings from Charles Dickens and from Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. It also includes several excerps from the archive recordings of real nurses, who recount their various experiences of nurse training and the reality of day-to-day nursing, as well as during the war, and epidemics etc. Claire Raynor explores how nursing has changed over the years, and brings the story of nursing up to date, and makes comparisons between the loses and the gains which have resulted.