Ambulance chief: “I cried at documentary series”

The chief executive of West Midlands Ambulance Service said that he cried at every episode of a television series about the service.

Dr Anthony Marsh said watching the hard work and dedication of staff on the BBC series Ambulance was an emotional experience.

Dr Marsh said he was left in tears watching each episode and then spent an hour after each episode contacting staff to thank them.

He said: “Ambulance was one of the best, most emotional things that I can remember happening to us.

“We actually won a Bafta – I could not believe it. There were all these film and television stars and then one of our call handlers up on stage picking up an award.

“The team that represented us that night were magnificent.

“The whole series was an emotional experience. I would spend an hour watching it in tears at the moving stories told and the hard work and dedication of our team.

“And then at the end of each episode I had our communications team provide me with the mobile phone numbers of everyone who had featured in each episode and I contacted them personally.

“And that meant I spent the next hour crying as well, hearing back off them and their thoughts and experiences about the show.

“It was simply amazing. My Thursday nights were completely taken over by this wonderful show.

“Now it is focused on the North West Ambulance Service so I have my Thursdays back.

“But it was a wonderful experience and I am so proud.”

One of the most moving episodes of the series documented a fatal car crash in Birmingham.

It showed the aftermath of the crash in which six died in the city in December 2017.

Another episode focused on the death of Tahnie Martin in Wolverhampton city centre during Storm Doris in February 2017.