| General Hospital | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Starring | Tony Adams Lynda Bellingham Judy Buxton David Garth Monica Grey Lewis Jones James Kerry Ronald Leigh-Hunt Carmen Munroe |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Associated Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 19 October 1972 – 19 December 1979 |
| Status | Ended |
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, with each episode being more self-contained, 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. Many episodes are still missing from television archives.
Cast list
- Tony Adams as Dr Neville Bywaters
- Lynda Bellingham as Nurse Hilda Price
- Judy Buxton as Nurse Katy Shaw
- David Garth as Dr Matthew Armstrong
- Monica Grey as Sister Edwards
- Lewis Jones as Dr William Parker-Brown
- James Kerry as Dr Martin Baxter
- Ronald Leigh-Hunt as Dr Robert Thorne
- Carmen Munroe as Sister Washington
- Peggy Sinclair as Sister Helen Chapman
- Ian White as Dr Peter Ridge
- John Halstead as Arnold Capper
- Patricia Maynard as Dr Joanna Whitworth
- Eric Lander as Dr Richard Kirby
- Carl Rigg as Dr Knight
- Tom Adams as Dr Guy Wallman
- Jason Rowe as Dr Chipapo
- Pippa Rowe as Sister Holland
- Amber Thomas as Nurse Stevens
- Archie Tew as Dr Mayhew
- Judy Loe as Dr Helen Sanders
- Victoria Burton as Staff Nurse Nelson
External links
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