This first episode opens with West Midlands Ambulance Service call assessor Shanie as she deals with the cries of a woman in labour. Shanie has just graduated from training, but with a supervisor watching overshe calmly guides the caller through delivering the baby. When she hears the paramedics arrive, she can safely leave the caller and the newborn in safe hands, and is thrilled to have successfully helped deliver the baby over the phone.

In an average week, crews across the West Midlands respond to 30 stabbings. Pete and Matt, a specialist trauma team, are called to treat the victim of a brutal knife attack. They carry out urgent medical intervention at the scene in a bid to save the man's life. Paramedics Christine and Chris start their day shift with a man who has collapsed in Worcester town centre after a suspected drug overdose. They give him an opiate antidote to stop him slipping into a coma, but the effect is only temporary. With A&E departments across the region busy, ambulance crews face waiting times of up to two hours before they can hand over their patients. When Jo and Tracey are called to 90-year-old Dennis, who has been vomiting, they want to save him from the inevitable delay at hospital. But GP surgeries are under pressure too. and they can't get through to his doctor. They have no option but to take Dennis to hospital and join the queue.