Ulysses Pilchard
Played by Khalid Abdalla
| Fact title | Fact data |
|---|---|
| Date of birth |
10 October 1877
|
| Place of birth |
Strood
|
| Age at outbreak of WW1 |
36
|
| Occupation |
Doctor
|
Like his colleague Howard Argent at the Bevan, Ulysses Pilchard is military doctor with little training in psychiatry. Though united in their ultimate goal to make soldiers well again, the two are deeply divided when faced with a new illness, described generally as "shell shock" or medically as "war neurosis". So whilst Howard takes an unorthodox, analytic approach to treatment, Ulysses subscribes to more widely accepted methods of the time: "suggestion", "re-education" and "discipline".
He even dabbles with the new technology of faradism (electro-shock therapy) on patients such as Private Matthews who appear to be suffering from "hysterical" symptoms such as mutism. Ulysses is a product of his age, genuinely believing that his punitive approach is more effective and beneficial in the long run to both the patient and the war effort.
