For me the narrator can make or break a programme. There are so many amateur, monotonous narrators used for TV programmes such as this. Reciting inane comments over and over, for example a man has a cardiac arrest and the narrator says 'time is of the essence' or 'must get him to hospital as soon as possible', do they think we lack the intelligence to know that already?
Worse is when they repeat full sentences already uttered by the show's participants, word for word, for example 'where's your pain?' 'in my leg', so the narrator tells us 'the patient has pain in his leg', yes we heard it the first time thank you.
They add nothing to the show, and if subtitles are available I watch them with the sound down. There are several medical fly on the wall docs on channel 5 who do not use narrators at all, what a breath of fresh air they are.
Of course, there are many good examples of narration, with my personal favourites being Sue Perkins, Mark Strong, Phil Davies, Cheri Lunghi, Mel Giedroyc to name a few. I guess the show's budget negates some of the best in the business, but come on producers, have a thought for the end user and invest in your narration, it's so important and can make or break a show.
