A Very Dangerous Doctor, Channel 4, review

[Alison J Stevens]

A Very Dangerous Doctor, Channel 4, review

Michael Deacon reviews A Very Dangerous Doctor, Channel 4′s documentary about contentious paediatrician Dr David Southall.

Paediatrician Professor David Southall. Photo: Channel 4

By Michael Deacon5:36PM BST 12 May 2011

A Very Dangerous Doctor (Channel 4) was a documentary about another provocative topic. This was the story of Dr David Southall, an eminent paediatrician, and the women who deny his allegations that they harmed their own children. In 2007, the General Medical Council decided to strike Dr Southall off the medical register for serious professional misconduct after he accused a mother of murdering her son. His appeal in the High Court was dismissed. He made a second appeal; this one was upheld. The police interviewed him under suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm to a child. The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to pursue the case against him.

Dr Southall has been the subject of a documentary before, a 2009 edition of Panorama that had the same title. He should think carefully before appearing in another. If he gave this interview in the hope of restoring his reputation in the eyes of the public, I doubt he did himself many favours by so often speaking in a supercilious, high-handed manner, or as though he were reading stiffly aloud from a prepared statement (“I remain of the view that…”). He also had the habit, while speaking to camera, of very slightly tilting his head back, thereby giving the unfortunate impression that he was looking down his nose at us.

“I’m getting very concerned about what you’re asking here,” he protested to the interviewer, late on. “What I feel is that the tone of this programme you’re making has suddenly changed, to become rather negative.” Asked why a mother would spend 20 years trying to clear her name if his allegations weren’t false, he said, “Revenge.” The truth, he said, was “being bent”; there had been a “build-up of people” who had “reasons to be against” him. The mothers, he added, had “been aided by the media, in a very big way, because it’s very entertaining”.

Last night’s documentary lasted from 9.00pm till 10.40pm. I’d be surprised if anyone found even a minute of it entertaining. It was dense, complex and sad. By the end I felt certain of nothing, other than that defending yourself on television is not only about what you say, it’s about how you say it.