PICTURE the scene: What would happen if you encountered a fox seriously hurt in a road crash or a seal found close to death?

Who are you going to call?

It will always be South Essex Animal Hospital which works tirelessly, all year round to nurse sick and injured animals back to health.

The outstanding efforts of the 24/7 animal hospital is now set to hit prime-time TV with a new Channel 4 series, called “Wildlife Rescue”.

TV crews followed the dedicated team at South Essex Wildlife Hospital as they tended to the need of sick, injured, and orphaned animals.

The first episode of the four-part series airs on Channel 4 on Thursday at 8pm and focuses on the hospital, based in Orsett, but serves the whole of south Essex.

The wildlife hospital is focussed on “protecting and rehabilitating” wildlife across Essex with the main intention of every rescue is to return the animals back into the wild.

Sue Schwar, founder of the South Essex Wildlife Hospital, said: “We got approached initially a couple of years ago by a production company to make a show about wildlife hospitals across the country.

“We were initially told it would include a number of wildlife hospitals, and organisations, and we would contribute to that.

“So, we accepted and after a few weeks of filming, we were very busy, and were told in fact that was enough here alone to make the series.

“So, that is how the TV show on the South Essex Wildlife Hospital all happened.”

South Essex Wildlife Hospital was originally founded back in the 1990s and has rapidly grown since caring for thousands of animals every single year.

The charity moved to its current base in 2009, where founder Sue, and lead vet Tom Linsel, live so they can provide care to the animals 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Sue added: “We are excited but also a bit hesitant to see it. As programmes like this are made and heavily edited for entertainment.

“So, we will have to see what we make of it all.

“But it should show the journey and process of helping animals from the moment they arrive through to when they are hopefully recovered and released.

“We didn’t actually get paid for this at all, we did it all for free.

“As you can’t buy publicity like this, and as a charity, which has grown so much, we thought it would be positive publicity and we can show the work we do.”