Synopsis

This episode takes a moving - and sometimes light-hearted - look at when boys become men, and passing the baton between the generations. Twenty-six-year-old Nicholas has been punched in the face in a random attack. His jaw is fractured and dislocated and he can't close his mouth or speak. Consultant craniofacial surgeon Rob, a world-renowned specialist, puts Nicholas's jaw back in place with his 'magic thumb'. Tyrell has damaged his big toe playing football. The 17-year-old's blackened toe nail needs to be removed and his dad, Adrian, uses the opportunity to lecture him that experiencing pain is what separates men from boys and about the importance of knowing his family tree as well as he knows Spanish football. Ho, who's 26, has brought his 78-year-old grandma Amoui to King's after finding her collapsed in her flat. Amoui came to Britain during the Vietnam war and she's been like a mother to Ho. The thought of losing her is almost too much for her grandson to bear. Meanwhile, consultant Rob, the first person in his family to go to university - 'or, for that matter, to do an A level' - recalls his own rite of passage to becoming a man, with his father, who left school at 13 to work in a brick yard to support his family.

Aired on 05/22/2013


24 Hours in A&E • S03E07