“If you haven’t got a sense of humour, you’ve got 8 weeks to develop one.” So begins the training course for the latest batch of candidates for a job within the NSW Ambulance Service as a Paramedic.

The latest doco-reality series from Cordell Jigsaw – Recruits: Paramedics – is a confronting look at what is faced by those looking to establish themselves in a career within emergency medical care, and it’s confronting reality TV in it’s truest form. Following a number of recently graduated recruits as well as the latest class entering the 8 week training course that begins your career as a paramedic, this series delivers an interesting view on what Ambulance men and women face on a daily basis.

After graduating the 8 week classroom-based course (where even the lecturers aren’t short on offering the students practical experience) the recruits move into the field to complete their training over 3 years, working the entire time with a mentor who offers practical and situation-based training through that time. It’s no easy job – facing everything from psychosis to the outcome of fights; from hit and run injuries to unconscious patients to dead bodies; variety is certainly the spice of life.

As with all similar products from Cordell Jigsaw (Bondi Rescue & the original police-focused series Recruits) Andrew Gunsburg narrates and guides us through the ever-changing location and situation, and provides a consistent sense of calm across what often is anything but.

Recruits: Paramedics isn’t going to change the world, but it’s a great insight into some of the hardest working and often overlooked men and women in our society. People who see us all often at our very worst and most vulnerable and yet offer us dignity at a time when we display very little. A big thanks to all the Ambos out there.

Recruits: Paramedics – Thu 7:30pm, Ch10.