Don’t believe everything your doctor tells you. Or, in Dr Phil Hammond’s case, don’t believe anything he tells you.
Known principally for his TV appearances and Private Eye column, Dr Phil presented his sold-out show about the silly games you can play with your doctor to make life more fun.
The serious message was to get involved and help save the NHS, making it a healthier body for the future. This was conveyed in a number of political rants, during which the show became more like a lecture, a lecture that had been delivered many times before and had thus lost its bite.
Serious Dr Phil, with his rapid-fire bedside manner, came across as a supercilious man. Some wit mixed with the factoids might have made him more engaging.
Funny Dr Phil was very much the annoying schoolboy prankster, with his bodily function funnies and awkward audience interaction – “Hands up if you’ve ever had a sexually transmitted disease?” Much of this show was a comedy of embarrassment.
Dr Phil’s final twist was to turn the entire preceding 90 minutes into one big childish prank and then wait for his approbation, like the emperor in his new clothes. Not a game a revalidated doctor should be playing.
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