General Hospital (UK TV series)
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General Hospital was a British daytime soap opera which ran on ITV from 1972 to 1979. It was modeled 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 predecesor, 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 General Hospital's "homely" feel was considered to be old fashioned, in the wake of newer grittier dramas, and it was cancelled..
[edit] Castlist
Dr Neville Bywater 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
[edit] External links
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