General Hospital (UK TV series)

"General Hospital" was a British daytime soap opera produced by ATV which ran on ITV from 1972 to 1979. It was modelled after the American drama of the same name.

In 1972 ITV started to broadcast programmes on weekday afternoons triggering a new wave of productions to fill out the extended schedules. Among the first of these shows, which were aimed at giving advertisers access to 'stay at home mums' and housewives in general, were the long-running rural soap "Emmerdale Farm" (YTV) and the twice-weekly medical drama General Hospital.

Set in a fictional Midlands town, the series followed the romantic and professional lives of its doctors and nurses. While the location and the characters names had been changed, in most other respects General Hospital was almost identical to its predecessor, "Emergency Ward 10", a deliberate attempt to recreate its success.

In 1975, after 110 twice-weekly episodes, "General Hospital" was given a primetime slot on Friday evening. The move saw the episode lengths double from 30 to 60 minutes, while on-screen medical procedures, including detailed scenes of surgery, became more prominent.

The main star of the series was actor Tony Adams who played Doctor Neville Bywaters; he later went on to appear as Adam Chance in "Crossroads" (1964-1988, 2001). Among the other familiar faces to appear was Lynda Bellingham, who gained national fame as the mother in a series of commercials for Oxo stock cubes, and later as Helen Herriot in the series "All Creatures Great and Small", based on the books by James Herriot.

By 1979 the "homely" feel of "General Hospital" was considered to be old fashioned, in the wake of newer grittier dramas, and it was cancelled.

By the time the final series went to air, like its predecessor, Emergency Ward 10 had also done, prior to it being axed, it had switched from being a twice-weekly soap opera to different stories each episode.

Castlist

Dr Neville Bywaters Tony Adams

Nurse Hilda Price Lynda Bellingham

Nurse Katy Shaw Judy Buxton

Dr Matthew Armstrong David Garth

Sister Edwards Monica Grey

Dr William Parker-Brown Lewis Jones

Dr Martin Baxter James Kerry

Dr Robert Thorne Ronald Leigh-Hunt

Sister Washington Carmen Munroe

Sister Helen Chapman Peggy Sinclair

Dr Peter Ridge Ian White

Arnold Capper John Halstead

Dr Joanna Whitworth Patricia Maynard

Dr Richard Kirby Eric Lander

Dr Knight Carl Rigg

Dr Guy Wallman Tom Adams Dr Chipapo Jason Rowe

Sister Holland Pippa Rowe

Nurse Stevens Amber Thomas

Dr Mayhew Archie Tew

Dr Helen Sanders Judy Loe

Staff Nurse Nelson Victoria Burton

External links

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