The Surgeon

This week, we follow consultant breast surgeon Sascha Dua working within one of the largest specialist breast units in the country - Broomfield Hospital in Essex.

As well as running a packed clinic and performing complex surgeries, Sascha is also a single mum to teenage daughter Athene. With long and demanding hospital hours, Sascha has a tricky juggle between work and home life.

Alongside her dedicated team, Sascha delivers results, compassion and reassurance in abundance to women going through some of the most vulnerable times of their lives, as well as inspiring the next generation of female surgeons along the way.

We follow Sascha as she breaks some difficult news to 36-year-old mum Jess who needs an operation to remove a cancerous tumour. Four weeks later, we follow the tricky operation itself, as Sascha operates to remove all the cancer whilst working perilously close to vital blood vessels.

Sascha offers breast cosmetic work as well as cancer treatment, in the belief that the way a woman looks and feels about herself after her operation plays a major part in her recovery. One of her patients is wife and grandmother Toni, who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. In a complex operation, Sascha not only needs to remove Toni's two tumours, but also perform a dramatic breast reduction at the same time. Later, Toni and her husband discover whether all the cancer was successfully removed.

Following consultant brain surgeon Omar Pathmanaban at Salford Royal Hospital in Greater Manchester as he operates on Adyita, who has a rare tumour that has been growing in his brain since birth and Emmanuel who has a malignant tumour so deep in his brain that Omar will have to operate through the nose.

Following consultant heart surgeon Inder Birdi at the Cromwell Hospital as he performs open-heart surgery on 70-year-old retired engineer Mike and fixes 59-year-old Sara's leaking heart valve using state-of-the-art technology to operate through a 3cm incision.