TV Drama

General Hospital 1972-79

A series set in a large, modern hospital building and followed the oscillating relationships, personal and professionals, of the medical staff.

Broadcast details

ITV, 19 October 1972 (30 mins/60 mins)

Production company

ATV

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Editor

Ian Fordyce;Royston Morley

Credits

Brian Finch;  Max Marquis

Cast

Adams, Tony (Dr Neville Bywater); Garth, David (Dr Matthew Armstrong); Kerry, James (Dr Martin Baxter); Leigh-Hunt, Ronald (Dr Robert Thorne); Buxton, Judy (Nurse Katy Shaw); Sinclair, Peggy (Sister Helen Chapman); Bellingham, Lynda (Nurse Hilda Price); Jones, Lewis (Dr William Parker-Brown); Munroe, Carmen (Sister Washington); White, Ian (Dr Peter Ridge);

Notes

19 October 1972 - 19 December 1979, 110 x 30 mins, then 54 x 60 mins episodes. Initially twice weekly afternoon. In 1975 it became an hour long programme and was seen in peak viewing time.

Angels 1975-1983

A hospital based drama serial following the lives of a group of student nurses as they tried to cope with their work at St. Angela's hospital, their chaotic personal lives, and each other. It was a kind of gritty, semi-documentary look at the nursing profession.

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1975 (50 minutes/25 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Credits

Milne, Paula

Cast

Fullerton, Fiona; Cole, Julie Dawn; Cheriton, Shirley; Apanowicz, Kathryn; Quirke, Pauline;

Notes

Drama television: 57 episodes x 50 mins (Dir Ron Craddock) and 97 episodes x 25 mins (Dirs Julia Smith and Ben Rea). The 25 minute episodes were transmitted twice weekly (Monday and Wednesday)

Telford's Change

Drama series about Mark Telford, an international banking hotshot, who yearns for the simple life and achieves it, against his London-based, career-carving wife's wishes, by getting himself transferred to the managership of a small branch bank.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 7 January 1979 (50 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Director

Mark Shivas

Editor

Barry Davis

Credits

Brian Clark

Cast

Barkworth, Peter; Gordon, Hannah; Barron, Keith

Notes

10 episodes x 50 mins. 7/1 - 11/3/79

The Network (about a maternity clinic)

Play about an exclusive maternity clinic

Series

Play for Today 1979-1983

Broadcast details

BBC1, 20 December 1979 (75 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Editor

Derek Lister

Minor Complications

TV play by Peter Ransley, based on the actual case, about a divorced mother, with two children to support, whose sterilisation operation goes badly wrong. Follows her fight to get compensation.

Series

Play for Today 1979-1983

Broadcast details

BBC1, 18 November 1980 (75 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Director

Moira Armstrong

Credits

Peter Ransley

Cast

Various

Serial: The History Man

Sociology lecturer Howard Kirk who with his wife Barbara were well known as Watermouth University’s most 'progressive' couple.

Series

The History Man

Broadcast details

BBC2, 4 January 1981 (50/60 minutes)

Production company

BBC Birmingham

Medium

TV

Genre

comedy series

Producer

Michael Wearing

Director

Robert Knights

Credits

Christopher Hampton

Cast

Sher, Anthony; James, Geraldine; Blair, Isla; Brooke, Paul; Davenport, Laura; Quilligan, Veronica; Steed, Maggie

Notes

2 eps X 50 mins, 2 eps X 60 mins satirical serial

The Cause (hospital worker and Spanish Civil War)

George Harley reminisces about his days fighting in the Spanish Civil War, during his involvement in a union dispute at the London hospital at which he is a union official.

Series

Play for Today 1979-1983

Broadcast details

BBC1, 3 February 1981 (75 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Director

Barry Davis

Maybury 1981-1983

The first drama series to be set in hospital psychiatric unit, presenting stories reflecting typical case histories. The aim was to demythologize mental illness and psychiatry in an entertaining fashion.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 12 May 1981 (50 mins)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Director

Ruth Boswell

Editor

Barry Davis;Michael Simpson

Credits

David Pownall;  Don Taylor

Cast

Stewart, Patrick

Notes

13 episodes x 50 mins/7 episodes x 50 mins. Shown 12 May to 4 August 1981 & 24 June to 5 August 1983

Going Gently

Thomas Ellice's psychologically and emotionally stunning play features a pair of terminal cancer patients and their nurse in a bleak hospital ward setting.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 5 June 1981 (70 mins)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Director

Stephen Frears

Editor

Innes Lloyd

Credits

Thomas Ellice (adapted for television from the novel by Robert C.S. Downs)

Cast

Wisdom, Norman; Mackay, Fulton; Dench, Judi;

No Visible Scar (a nurse and a terrorist organisation)

A wounded member of a terrorist organisation is tended by a British nurse...she is imprisoned, interrogated and then released to face another form of interrogation.

Series

Play for Today 1979-1983

Broadcast details

BBC1, 17 November 1981 (75 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Director

Moira Armstrong

Credits

Rosemary Davies

Cast

Various

Notes

Based on the true story of Sheila Cassidy, arrested and tortured in Chile in 1975

Tishoo

By the mid-1980's the economy has not improved. For 17 years Prof. Frank Merrick has been working on a cure for the common cold. He is very near success, but he has to avoid being a victim of the cutbacks.

Series

Play for Today 1979-1983

Broadcast details

BBC1, 9 March 1982 (75 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Director

Gerald Blake

Credits

Brian Thompson

Cast

Various

Boys from the Black Stuff

This black comedy-drama about the individual and collective lives of a Merseyside tarmac gang developed from Alan Bleasdale’s 110-minute play The Black Stuff (BBC-2, 2/1/80). The play was produced by David Rose from BBC Birmingham.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 10 October 1982- 7 November 1982

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

Michael Wearing

Editor

Philip Saville

Credits

Alan Bleasdale

Cast

Michael Angelis;  Bernard Hill;  Tom Georgeson;  Alan Igbon;  Peter Kerrigan;  Gary Bleasdale

Notes

The first series ran from 10 October - 7 November 1982

Walter

A mentally handicapped man, Walter, is taken to live in a long-stay mental hospital after the death of his mother.

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 2 November 1982 (75 minutes)

Production company

Central Independent Television/Randel Evans Prod'ns for Channel 4

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Producer

Nigel Evans;Richard Creasey

Director

Stephen Frears

Credits

David Cook

Cast

Jefford, Barbara (Mother); McKellen, Ian (Walter); Melody, Tony (Mr Hingley); Whybrow, Arthur (Father); Ryall, David (Mr Richards); Polan, Linda (Miss Rushden)

Notes

Broadcast on the first night of Channel Four.  See Screen Online:  http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/510827/index.html

Intensive Care

Denis is determined to be there when his father dies. But Dad lingers on, the hospital wants Denis out of the way and maybe Denis wants his Dad out of the way...until night nurse Valery arrives.

Series

Play for Today 1979-1983

Broadcast details

BBC1, 9 November 1982 (75 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Director

Gavin Millar

Byker

The changing face of a close-knit working-class community from the late 1960s to the early 1980s

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 1983

Production company

Amber Films/ Northern Arts

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Director

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen

Cast

Chester, Cathy; Day, Norma; Denman, Joel; Doran, Gwen; Fulton, Nora

Notes

Amber Films, founded in Newcastle 1968, became one of Channel Four's regional workshops.  They have produced a consistent output of documentaries and docudramas rooted in the working class life of the North East of England.www.amber-online.com


Financial assistance for Byker also came from Northern Arts

The Ploughman’s Lunch

In 1982, at the time of the Conservative Party Conference following the Falklands War, an ambitious radio journalist researches a book about Suez, whilst pursuing an affair with a woman television researcher whose mother, a Socialist historian, has also written on the subject.

Broadcast date

1983

Production company

Greenpoint Films; Goldcrest Films and Television; Michael White

Medium

Film

Genre

Drama

Producer

Richard Eyre

Director

Simon Relph;Ann Scott

Credits

Ian McEwan

Cast

Pryce, Jonathan (James Penfield); Curry, Tim (Jeremy Hancock); Haris, Rosemary (Ann Barrington); Finlay, Frank (Matthew Fox); Dore, Charlie (Susan Barrington); De Keyzer, David (Tom Gold)

Birth of a Nation

First of four acclaimed dramas by David Leland looking at different aspects of young people and education. In the first play a comprehensive schoolteacher objects to the use of corporal punishment.

Broadcast details

ITV, 19 June 1983 (150 mins)

Production company

Central TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

Patrick Cassavetti;Margaret Matheson

Editor

Mike Newell

Credits

David Leland

Cast

Broadbent, Jim

Flying into the Wind

The second drama of Birth of a Nation features the problems of a family choosing to educate their children at home.

Series

Birth of a Nation

Broadcast details

ITV, 26 June 1983 (150 mins)

Production company

Central TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

Margaret Matheson

Editor

Edward Bennett

Credits

David Leland

The Nation's Health  1983

Four-part drama series in which writer, G.F.Newman, presents his thesis that doctors under the present system do their patients more harm than good. He explores this through the character of Dr Jessie Marvill, a young hospital doctor who finds her work is causing her to question the attitudes of those around her and her own beliefs about the proper practice of medicine.
Acute  6 October 1983 21:30;                        
Decline  13 October 1983;                               
Chronic  20 October 1983;                             
Collapse  27 October 1983

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 6 October 1983  21.30 (100 minutes)

Production company

Euston Films Ltd Production

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Director

Les Blair

Editor

Irving Teitelbaum

Credits

G.F.Newman

Cast

Ritchie, Vivienne; Shaw, Sebastian; McDiarmid, Ian; Boyde, William; Thompson, Alan; Moriarty, P.H.; Ireson, Richard, Fox, Julian

Notes

See Sherryl Wilson's paper on the 'No Such thing as society' website:                         http://www.nosuch-research.co.uk/index.htmlalso see BFI Screen online:

Made in Britain

The fourth drama in Birth of a Nation features the articulate skinhead Trevor

Series

Birth of a Nation

Broadcast details

ITV; Channel 4, 10 July 1983; 2 May 1984 (85 mins)

Production company

Central TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

Margaret Matheson

Director

Alan Clarke

Credits

David Leland

Cast

Roth, Tim

Rhino

The third drama of Birth of a Nation features a 14 year old playing truant from school to look after a 3 year old.

Series

Birth of a Nation

Broadcast details

ITV, 3 July 1983; 26 April 1985; (85 mins)

Production company

Central TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Director

Margaret Matheson

Cast

MacLeod, Delta (Charley); Patridge, Andrew (Gary); Buffong, Michael (Mr Bartlett); Warrior, James (Phil); Fairbrace, Penny (Key worker); McCarthy, Barry (Superintendent); Oliver, Ronald (Angie's Father); Fagon, Alfred (Tony);

Auf Wiedersehen Pet 1983-86;

A popular comedy-drama series about a group of seven British migrant construction workers: Wayne, Dennis, Oz, Bomber, Barry, Neville and Moxey who, in Series 1, are living and working on a German building site.

Broadcast details

ITV then BBC1, 11 November 1983 (50 - 60 minutes)

Production company

Central for ITV and Witzend Productions for BBC-1

Medium

TV

Genre

Comedy-Drama

Producer

Dick Clement;Ian La Frenais

Credits

Roddam, Franc; Clement, Dick; La Frenais, Ian

Cast

Heally, Tim; Whately, Kevin; Nail, Jimmy; Holton, Gary; Spall, Timothy; Roach, Pat; Fairbank, Christopher

Notes

TV drama:11 November 1983 – 29 December 2004, 50mins (1983-1986), 60 mins (2002-2004), Series 4, Episodes 40

ITV (1983-1986), Repeated on BBC-1 (2002-2004)

Meantime

Memorably bleak Mike Leigh film about feuding East London families. The travails of an East London family, all of whose members are unemployed.

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 1 December 1983 (102 minutes)

Production company

Central Production, Mostpoint for Channel Four

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Producer

Graham Benson

Director

Mike Leigh

Cast

Bailey, Marion (Barbara); Daniels, Phil (Mark); Roth, Tim (Colin); Ferris, Pam (Mavis); Robert, Jeff (Frank); Molina, Alfred (John); Oldman, Gary (Coxy);

District Nurse  1984-1987

Megan Roberts was a district nurse trying to do her job around the villages of South Wales in the 1920s and often in conflict with the hypocrisy of the tight-knit communities. In the later series set during the 1930s she lived int he chaotic household of Dr Emlyn Isaacs who practiced in a Welsh seaside town.

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1984 (30 mins)

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

Julia Smith

Cast

Hughes, Nerys; Jones, Freddie;

Howards' Way 1985-1990

Set in the lush countryside of Hampshire and along the River Hamble: the wealthy world of swanky yachts, powerboats, and marine business originally centred on Tom Howard, a former aircraft designer who took his career and the family funds into the boatyard industry.

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1985 (50 - 55 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

Gerrard Glaister

Credits

Glaister, Gerard; Prior, Allan;

Cast

Colbourne, Maurice; Harvey, Jan; Highmore, Edward; Childs, Tracey; Gray, Dulcie; Owen, Glyn; Gilmore, Susan; Yardley, Stephen;

Defence of the Realm

A tabloid journalist investigating a parliamentary sex scandal uncovers a darker story involving a top-level government cover-up.

Series

Film 4

Broadcast details

Channel Four (Film 4), 1985

Production company

Enigma Films; Rank Film Productions; National Film Finance Corporation

Medium

TV

Genre

Film drama

Producer

David Puttnam

Director

David Drury

Credits

Martin Stellman

Cast

Byrne, Gabriel (Nick Mullen); Schacchi, Greta (Nina Beckman); Elliot, Denholm (Vernon Bayliss); Bannen, Ian (Dennis Markham); MacKay, Fulton (Victor Kingsbrook); Paterson, Bill (Jack Macleod)

Sharon and Elsie

When Elsie decides that life would be more convenient if she and Sharon worked a flexi-time system, she doesn't realize that she is stirring up industrial unrest.

Series

Sharon and Elsie

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1985 (30 mins)

Production company

BBC Manchester

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Director

Mike Stephens

Credits

Arline Whittaker

Cast

Forsyth, Brigit; Beverley, Janette; Landry, John;

The Practice 1985-6

Life in a modern Health Centre - and another busy day as patients and staff face questions such as: Should a man with a bad heart drive a taxi? Is my vasectomy really necessary? Can the doctors help?

Broadcast details

ITV, 18 January 1985, 20:00 (30 mins)

Production company

Granada Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

June Howson

Director

Sita Williams

Editor

Sarah Harding

Credits

Mike Stott

Cast

Fraser, John (Dr Lawrence Golding); Morris, Ted (Edwin Nottley); Buck, David (Les Utley); Barker, Judith (Pauline Kent); Forsyth, Brigit (Dr Judith Vincent); Latham, Bernard (Kevin Eccles); Kennedy, Joyce (Dorothy Fuller); Barlow, Jonathan (Tony Montgomery); Rutherford, Susan (Patricia Milne); Brierley, Tim (Dr David Armitage); James, Rachel (Debra Bates); O'Brien, Eileen (Carol Stansfield); Halliwell, Steve (Peter Bishop); Holmes, Michelle (Susan Turner); Meagher, Karen (Justine Montgomery); O'Neill, Lesley Clare (Annette Eccles); Forbes, Frank Allan (Raymond Bailey); Lewis, Howard Lloyd (PC Harry Harris); Ward, Howard (Garry, carsalesman)

Notes

Compared by Vahimagi (British Television BFI 1996) to ATV's General Hospital (1972-79) which began as an 'afternoon stethoscope saga' at 30mins, then was transferred (1975) to peak viewing time at 1 hour, and dealt with 'oscillating relations' between the medical staff.

The Setbacks: Doctor's Orders (problems encountering the NHS)

Series in which the Setback family encounter the problems involved with dealing with the National Health Service and with doctors.

Series

The Setbacks: Doctor's Orders

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 9 December 1985 (50 minutes)

Production company

Thames Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

Alan Afriat

Director

Alan Afriat

Credits

David Stafford

Cast

Rowlands, Patsy; Marsh, Reginald;

Blood Red Roses

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 1986 (55 minutes)

Production company

Freeway Films/Lorimar

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

John McGrath

Cast

MacLennan, Elizabeth (Bessie Gordon); Grant, James (Sandy); Fisher, Gregor (Alex McGuigan); Archibald, Dawn (Catriona); Beattie, Louise (Young Bessie); Walker, Amanda (Ella);

Notes

4-18-12/1986 3 x 55 minutes

A Very Peculiar Practice 1986-1988

Satirical drama series about a crisis stricken university. A young doctor in his new job as part of a group practice at Lowlands University. But his enthusiasm takes a knock as he gets to know his new colleagues and observes life at the University.

Broadcast details

BBC, 21 May 1986 (50 minutes)

Production company

BBC 1

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

David Tucker

Credits

Andrew Davies

Cast

Davison, Peter (Stephen Daker); Crowden, Graham (Jock McCannon); Flynn, Barbara (Rose Marie); Troughton, David (Bob Buzzard); Hillwood, Amanda (Lyn Turtle);

Notes

21 May 1986-6 April 1988, 2 series of 7 x 50 mins each plus 1 special (A Very Polish Practice, 6 September 1992)

Casualty  1986-

Casualty would become the longest running hospital drama series. The first series featured a night shift under threat of closure in the accident and emergency department of a busy general hospital in Bristol. Episodes presented multi-strand stories and many sub-plots.

Broadcast details

BBC, 6 September 1986 (50 minutes)

Production company

BBC1

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Credits

Jeremy Brock;  Paul Unwin;  Peter Salt

Cast

Thompson, Derek (Charlie Fairhead); Shipton, Catherine (Lisa 'Duffy' Duffin); Watson, Julia (Dr Barbara 'Baz' Samuels); Fricker, Brenda (Megan Roach);

Notes

1986-present, 18 series of 50 min episodes.
see Sherryl Wilson's paper on the 'No Such thing as society' research website http://www.nosuch-research.co.uk/index.html

The Last of England

England in the future: a nightmarish journey through a dark landscape of totalitarianism and despair.

Broadcast date

1987

Production company

Anglo International; British Screen

Medium

TV

Genre

Film Drama

Director

Derek Jarman

Cast

Terry, Nigel (Voice); Swinton, Tilda; Leigh, Spencer; McArthur, Gerrard; Phillips, John; Gaynor, Gay; Hawkins, Matthew

The Moneymen

Broadcast date

1987

Medium

TV

Genre

Television drama

Director

John Bruce

Credits

Tony Marchant

For Queen and Country

Reuben, a young black soldier, returns to his council flat in London after fighting in the Falklands war. He and his best friend, Fish, find themselves facing unemployment, poverty and powerlessness, while local tensions threaten to explode in violence.

Broadcast date

1988

Production company

Atlantic Ent. Group; Working Title Films

Medium

Film drama

Genre

Drama

Producer

Martin Stellman

Director

Tim Bevan

Credits

Trix Worrell

Cast

Washington, Denzel (Reuben); Healy, Dorian (Fish); Chapman, Sean (Bob Harper); Redman, Amanda (Stacey); Gonet, Stella (Debbie)

Serial: Campaign

Sarah Copeland, a rising copywriter at the HFK advertising agency, is pitching for the most prestigious account in the business.

Series

Campaign

Broadcast details

BBC2, 6 January 1988 (50/55 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama serial

Producer

Ruth Boswell

Director

Brian Farnham

Credits

Gerard MacDonald

Cast

Dowine, Penny; Bennett, Rosalind; Engels, Robbie; Cardy, David; Fortune, John; Waldhorn, Gary; Daly, Peter-Hugo;

Notes

6 episodes x 50/55 minutes drama serial. 6/1-10/2/88

Serial: A Very British Coup

An elected leftwing Labour government begins a programme of radical change, including the removal of American nuclear weapons from British soil. But it soon finds itself underminded by dark forces in the Establishment.

Series

A Very British Coup

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 19 June 1988 (55 minutes)

Production company

Skreba Films/Parallax Pictures for Channel 4

Medium

TV

Genre

drama serial

Producer

Ann Skinner;Sally Hibbin

Director

Mick Jackson

Credits

Chris Mullin;  Alan Plater

Cast

McAnally, Ray (Harry Perkins); MacNaughtan, Alan (Browne); Allen, Keith (Thompson); Kavanagh, Christine (Liz); Beevers, Geoffrey (Wainwright); Carter, Jim (Newsome); Madoc, Philip (Fison); McInnerny, Tim (Fiennes)

Notes

19/6-3/7/1988 3 x 55 minutes

Serial:Capital City

The high-pressure world of City money traders at a London merchant bank and their professional and personal pursuits was the central theme of this drama series. Senior trader Declan McConnochie was one of the leading characters operating out of international bank Shane Longman.

Series

Capital City 1989-1990

Broadcast details

ITV, 1989 (60 minutes)

Production company

Euston Films Ltd Production for Thames TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama serial

Producer

Irving Teitelbaum

Credits

Andrew MacLear

Cast

Hodge, Douglas; Healy, Dorian; Saxon, Rolf; Armstrong, William; Kanska, Joanna; Isaacs, Jason;

Making Out 1989-91

Comedy-drama series about a group of defiant women toiling away at Lyne Electronics, a dilapidated factory making modern technological components.

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1989

Production company

BBC1

Medium

TV

Genre

comedy drama series

Editor

John Chapman

Credits

Franc Roddam

Cast

Clarke, Margi; Kilburn, Melanie; Davies, Rachel; Stelfox, Shirley; Brady, Moya; Tobias, Heather; Bennett, Tracie; Keogh, Barbara; Allen, Keith; Hibbard, Brian

Talking Heads

A stockbroker's widow finds life stripping her of her assets.

Series

Talking Heads

Broadcast details

BBC2, 1989 (35 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Producer

Tristram Powell

Director

Innes Lloyd

Credits

Alan Bennett

Cast

Cole, Stephanie

Elephant

The first of three dramas from Northern Ireland. It is said that for those who live in Northern Ireland the Troubles are easy to ignore as an elephant in your living room. Alan Clarke's film is a chilling commentary on the pitiless sectarian murders that have become an almost routine featuer of the news from Ireland.

Series

three dramas from Northern Ireland

Broadcast details

BBC2, 25 January 1989 (40 minutes)

Production company

BBC Northern Ireland

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama

Producer

Danny Boyle

Director

Alan Clarke

Children's Ward 1989 - 2000

British medical drama set in a children's hospital and told the stories of the patients and staff present there. Aimed at older children and teenagers, Children's Ward was a long-lived series for a children's drama.  During the course of its run, however, Children's Ward won many plaudits for covering difficult issues such as cancer, alcoholism, drug addicton and child abuse in a sensitive manner. The programme won many awards, including in 1996 a BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama, won by an episode in which a murderer lures children to him via the internet and is - highly unusually for children's television - not eventually caught.

Broadcast details

ITV, 15 March 1989 (30 minutes)

Production company

Granada Television

Medium

TV

Genre

children's drama series

Producer

Steve Finn;Alan Bell

Credits

Paul Abbott;  Kay Mellor

Cast

Harvey, Carol (Dr Charlotte Woods); Higgins, Tom (Dr Gallagher); Luckraft, Jenny (Keely Johnson); Beverley, Janette (Diane Meadows); Vincent, Tim (Billy Ryan);

Notes

15 March 1989- 4 May 2000                                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Ward
The series was based on the play Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night.  By Paul Abbott and Kay Mellor for the children's Dramarama anthology strand.  At the time they were Granada staff writers, also working on Coronation Street. Kay Mellor went on to write numerous television dramas, includingBand of Gold ITV (1995) was awarded the OBE in 2009.Paul Abbott, who went on to explore his troubled childhood in Shameless (C4 2004-) originally wanted to set the series in a care home.
Filmed at Bolton General Hospital (now Royal Bolton Hospital), Lancashire.

Medics 1990-1995

The everday lives and loves, trials and tribulations of the doctors, nurses, patients and administrative staff of a large teaching hospital in the north-west of England near the city of Manchester

Broadcast details

ITV, 14 November 1990 (50 minutes)

Production company

Granada Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Drama series

Producer

Richard Standeven;Colm Villa

Credits

Sam Snape

Cast

Harkishin, Jimmi (Dr Jay Rahman, registrar); Baker, Tom (Prof. Geoffrey Hoyt, general surgeon); Cunningham, Emma (Dr Gail Benson, senior house officer); Gaddas, James (Dr Robert Nevin, senior registrar); Johnston, Sue (Ruth Parry, administrator); Thompson, Teddie (Dr Alison Makin, house officer); Stabb, Dinah (Miss Helen Loman, plastic surgeon); Kerrigan, Patricia (Dr Sarah Kemp, senior registrar); Quarshie, Hugh (Dr Tom Carey, research consultant); Smith, Clarence (Billy Cheshire, charge nurse); Ryan, Francesca (Dr Claire Armstrong, senior registrar); Burton, Penny (Dr Jessica Hardman, medical student)

Notes

From 14 November 1990, 50 mins x 40 episodes.