Casualty, styled as
CASUAL+Y, is the longest running
emergency medical
drama series in the world,
and the second-longest-running medical drama in the world behind
America's
General
Hospital. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was
first broadcast in 1986 and transmitted in the UK on
BBC One (with repeats on
Watch). The producer was
Geraint Morris. The programme is based around
the fictional
Holby City
Hospital and focuses on the staff and patients of the
hospital's
Accident and Emergency
Department. The show has close ties to its sister programme
Holby City which began as a spin
off from
Casualty in 1999. The show's plots and characters
occasionally crossover between the two programmes.
Casualty is filmed approximately 3 months in advance of
broadcast and runs for most of the year, with each series defined
by approximately a month's break during the summer.
The programme and its history
Location
Casualty is set in the fictional city of Holby.
The show is filmed
almost entirely in Bristol
and
well-known landmarks such as the floating harbour
and Clifton Suspension Bridge
are often visible in outdoor scenes.
City of Bristol
College
was used as the location for most exterior shots of
the hospital from 1986 until 2002 when a new exterior set was built
on lawrence hill industrial park in the city at .
It was
confirmed on 26 March 2009 that the BBC will
move the filming of Casualty to studios in Cardiff
in
2011.
About the show
The drama concerns a group of doctors, nurses and administrators
who work in the Accident & Emergency department (since Series
18 termed the Emergency Department (ED)). The show centres around
the work of the medical staff and depicts their struggle to do
their job effectively whilst dealing with bureaucracy and the
difficult working environment of the
NHS. This has been a recurring theme
over the years, particularly in the early series, when the show was
frequently criticised for endorsing criticism of
National Health Service management
under the
Conservative
government of the day.
History and broadcast
The programme has usually been transmitted on Saturday nights,
although for a period in the late 1980s and early '90s it switched
to Fridays. The first two series each consisted of 15 episodes;
series 3 ran for 10 episodes (although one of those episodes was
postponed following the death of its guest star,
Roy Kinnear); series 4, 5 and 6 were 12, 13, and
15 episodes long respectively.
The final episode of series 6, which focused
on a plane crash, was postponed until February 1992, after being
initially scheduled for transmission on 20 December 1991 - one day
before the 3rd anniversary of the Lockerbie
disaster.
When the show moved back to Saturday nights in September 1992, the
series length was extended to 24 episodes per year, and placed in a
pre-watershed slot at approximately 8pm. This initially caused some
controversy due to the graphic and controversial nature of some of
the storylines. In 1997-8, the episode number was increased again,
with 26 episodes (including two 75-minute specials) making up
series 12. Subsequent series each saw an increase in episodes;
series 13 ran for 28 episodes, series 14 ran for 30 episodes,
series 15 ran for 36 episodes, series 16 and 17 ran for 40 episodes
and series 18 ran for 46 episodes. Since 2004, popularity of the
show resulted in a switch from a traditional seasonal format to an
almost year-round production and transmission - every series since
series 19 (2004/5) has lasted for 48 episodes.
Casualty has no fixed time slot, and usually begins airing
in the 20:00 - 21:30 slot on BBC1, although it is sometimes
broadcast after 21:00. The show is very rarely broadcast before
20:00, however, special events such as
Eurovision and sporting events sometimes see the
schedule moved around. On some of these occasions,
Casualty is taken off air for the night to make way for
alternative shows. It has been known in the past that if an episode
is in two parts, part one will be aired on the Saturday, and part
two aired one day afterwards on the Sunday.
Guest stars
A survey published by
Radio
Times magazine in March 2004 revealed that
Casualty has featured more future stars than any other UK
soap or drama series. Actors who appeared in the show prior to
becoming famous include
Kate Winslet,
Orlando Bloom,
Minnie Driver,
Christopher Eccleston,
Parminder Nagra,
Sadie Frost,
Ray
Winstone,
David Walliams,
Jonny Lee Miller,
Helen Baxendale and
Brenda Fricker. Discussing her 1993
appearance in
Casualty, Winslet told the
Radio
Times: "In England, it almost seems to be part of a jobbing
actor's training [to appear in
Casualty]. As far as I was
concerned it was a great episode, a great part. Appearing in
Casualty taught me a big lesson in how to be natural in
front of the camera." In addition, the series has featured a
variety of more established stars, including
Norman Wisdom,
Amanda
Redman,
Anita Dobson,
Jenny Seagrove,
Rula
Lenska,
Prunella Scales,
Celia Imrie,
Maureen Lipman,
Frances Barber,
Andrew Sachs and
Russ
Abbott in cameo roles.
Adaptations and related media
Holby City
Holby City began on 12 January 1999 as a
spin-off from
Casualty and is
named after the fictional
Holby City
Hospital in which both series are set. The show follows the
lives and careers of staff and patients on the surgical wards of
the hospital, and deals with a range of clinical and ethical
issues. Similar to
Casualty, the regular characters are
all surgeons, nurses and other medical and ancillary staff, with
patients played by guest actors - which have included some famous
names such as
Eric Sykes,
Phill Jupitus,
Michael Jayston,
Michele Dotrice,
Ronni Ancona,
Emma
Samms,
Lee Ryan,
Nikki Sanderson and
Johnny Briggs. The show was created by
Mal Young and
Tony
McHale, who is currently its
Executive Producer and occasional
screenwriter.
Casualty@Holby City
Casualty@Holby City credits
Reflecting
Holby City's origins as a spin-off from ''Casualty'' and
the closely-related premises of the two programmes, the BBC has
screened occasional crossover mini-dramas entitled ''Casualty@Holby
City'' and featuring a number of characters from each of the two
casts. Mervyn Watson, [[Executive Producer]] of ''Casualty'', has
commented on the origins of the idea to fully cross the two sister
shows over for the first time: "I think the idea came from somebody
in the comedy department, who casually said to the Controller of
Drama "Wouldn't it be a good idea if...." The Controller did think
it was a good idea, spoke to myself and Holby's Executive Producer,
got it commissioned by the Head of [[BBC One]] and the rest is
history."{{cite
web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/casualty/christmas2004/interview/|title=Crossover
Interview|publisher=[[BBC.co.uk]]|date=December
2004|accessdate=2007-09-14}} Filming of ''Casualty@Holby City''
episodes is usually divided between ''Casualty'''s Bristol set, and
''Holby City'''s Elstree studios, although a large proportion of
the Christmas
2005 crossover was also filmed on location in a road tunnel in
Caernarfon
, Gwynedd, North Wales
. The theme tune used for crossover
Casualty@Holby City episodes consists of a shortened
version of both the
Casualty and
Holby City theme
tunes, played over one another in sync, critizised by
The Mirror for being "basically both theme
tunes played at once." There have been four crossovers to date
involving both casts:
The
Christmas
2004 crossover featured a fuel
tanker
lorry crashing into the Accident & Emergency department of
Holby City Hospital.
Casualty character
Jim Brodie died
rescuing his colleagues from the burning hospital building. In
August 2005, an
Interactive episode was
screened as part of the
BBC's DoNation season,
raising the profile of
organ donation
issues. Viewers voted for one of two patients to receive an organ
donation during the show. The plot was designed to raise awareness
of the scarcity of organs and encourage viewers to consider joining
the
NHS Donor Register. A
third crossover was produced for
Halloween 2005. This four
episode special focused on issues around youth violence, featuring
an ambulance hijack and an assault on character
Comfort Newton by
pupils at a failing
secondary
school. The last crossover to date aired at
Christmas 2005 and saw a
group of staff involved in a road collision when a tunnel collapsed
en-route the hospital Christmas party. Former character
Nick Jordan returned, and
Paramedic Woody Joyner died
saving the life of a baby.
Interviewed prior to broadcast of the Christmas 2005 crossover,
Executive Producer Mervyn Watson
commented on the future of
Casualty@Holby City: "We can't
guarantee any crossovers for next year, but the audience likes
them. And as long as the Controller of BBC One wants them, then
we'll be happy to oblige." In November 2007,
Holby City
producer Diana Kyle added: "We like to do crossovers whenever we
can, but it's tricky because both
Holby City and
Casualty film for 52 weeks a year, so the actors on each
show have to work flat-out on their own programmes. We are trying
to create more opportunities where the two dramas can merge,
though." Oliver Kent, producer of Casualty recently confirmed in an
interview that another crossover is planned for February
2010.
HolbyBlue
In April 2006, the BBC announced that a spin-off drama from
Holby City, to be named
HolbyBlue, was in early stages of production.
The series focuses on the police service of Holby South, and aired
for the duration of its first series on
BBC
One on Tuesday nights, with
Holby City switching back
to its former Thursday night slot at 20:00. Despite Holby Blue
being billed as a spin-off from
Holby City, the first
series saw no crossovers between characters from either show. Long
running
Casualty character
Charlie Fairhead appeared in
HolbyBlue's first episode, and a full two part crossover
episode with
Holby City aired at the beginning of the
show's second series. The BBC announced in August 2008 that they
had dropped the show and it would not be returning for a third
series.
Casualty 1906, 1907, 1909
In
December 2006, the BBC broadcast a historical medical drama titled
Casualty 1906, reflecting
life in the 'Receiving Room' (A+E was a concept not yet developed)
of the Royal London
Hospital
100 years previously, based on historical hospital
records and news reports of the time. A three episode
miniseries, titled
Casualty
1907, was developed for broadcast in 2008. Although not a
direct spin-off, nor set in the same fictional location, the
Times have suggested "that this is BBC
high-concept brand- extension at its very best", with the BBC using
the popularity of and viewer familiarity with
Casualty to
launch a new historical drama - a conclusion
The Guardian also assert. A third series,
Casualty 1908, featuring
Cherie
Lunghi was also commissioned.
On 25 March 2009, it was announced that the BBC would be airing
"Casualty 1909", a six part series due to begin on 14 June
2009.
Characters
Note that departing or returning characters are not listed
here, and can be found in the relevant section further in this
article. They are ordered by arrival date.
|}
Recurring characters
Awards and accolades
In 2007 Casualty won its first major award, the
BAFTA for the best continuing drama.
Long serving Ian Bleasdale, who played the character Josh
accepted the award at the ceremony, which took place at the
London
Palladium
. He
said "To the doctors, nurses and ambulance crews, thank you for
doing the job you do. I hope we go some way to showing exactly what
it is," and dedicated the award to show's original producer,
Geraint Morris, who died in 1997.
The cast of the show released the single "
Everlasting Love", which peaked at 5 in the
UK in 1998.
Wins
Since its conception,
Casualty has won and been nominated
for the following awards.
Nominations
Casualty Series 1 DVD
release
DVD release
The first series of
Casualty was released on DVD
(Region 2, UK) by 2 Entertain/Cinema Club on 10 April
2006. The second series was released on 10 July, with series three
released on 11 September. The third was released to coincide with
the show's 20th Anniversary celebrations. There are no future DVD
releases planned at present.
Theme music, titles and credits
The Casualty theme music was composed by Ken Freeman, who also
composed the theme for sister show, Holby City. The closing music
was traditionally quite different from the opening theme, although
in recent years there have been few differences. In 2000 the garage
duo Oxide & Neutrino sampled the theme tune in the song 'Bound
4 Da Reload (Casualty)', which got to number one in May. Different
variations of the theme music have been introduced throughout the
show’s history. The longest running was the original theme, which
ran for fifteen years between 1986 and 2001. Series 16, beginning
in 2001, saw a new, ‘poppier’ version of the theme, used until the
end of series 20 in 2006. A new theme more akin with the original,
again composed by Ken Freeman, was introduced in season 21. From
the start of the 22nd series onwards, the 2001-2006 theme is once
more being used; the 2006-07 theme is retained for previews and
recaps.
There have been nine different variations of the opening titles and
closing credits since the show’s
inception. In 2001 the show’s characters have appeared in the
opening titles, in place of previous generic hospital environment
shots. From 2002-2006, generic shots were used again; but from 2006
onwards, the titles mixed in generic hospital shots with the
characters.
Episode list
See also
- Holby City - Spin off set in the main
department of the same Hospital.
- E.R - US Medical Drama based on
the same area (emergency medicine) as Casualty.
References
- " Awards for Casualty", IMDb.
Retrieved 2007-07-08.
External links
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