Philip Hoare, Professor in Creative Writing, delves into the dark past of a local WW1 landmark for the BBC television programme ‘Inside the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley’, which airs this evening (Tuesday, 2 September) on BBC4 at 8.00pm.
During WW1, Netley was the largest hospital in the world where thousands of injured soldiers – including the war poet Wilfred Owen – were sent from the front line. However, Netley wasn’t all that it seemed following revelations that hospital doctors faked footage of cures for shell shock.
Professor Hoare, author of the book Spike Island: The Memory of a Military Hospital, examines the evidence and reveals some other real life human tragedies at the Hospital.