"Casualty" (1986) TV series 1986-????

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Creators:

Jeremy Brock
Paul Unwin

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24

Release Date:

28 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The everyday lives of the people frequenting the frenetic Accident and Emergency department of Holby City hospital.

Plot Keywords:

Accident | Hospital | Nurse | Doctor | Retirement

Awards:

6 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Derek Thompson	...	Charlie Fairhead (345 episodes, 1986-2009)
Ian Bleasdale	...	Josh Griffiths / ... (294 episodes, 1991-2007)
Suzanne Packer	...	Tess Bateman (269 episodes, 2003-2009)
Simon MacCorkindale	...	Harry Harper (229 episodes, 2002-2008)
James Redmond	...	John 'Abs' Denham (213 episodes, 2003-2008)
Martina Laird	...	Comfort Jones / ... (205 episodes, 1995-2006)
Susan Cookson	...	Maggie Coldwell / ... (174 episodes, 1998-2009)
Janine Mellor	...	Kelsey Phillips (168 episodes, 2005-2009)
Catherine Shipton	...	Lisa 'Duffy' Duffin / ... (157 episodes, 1986-2006)
Kwame Kwei-Armah	...	Finlay Newton / ... (153 episodes, 1994-2004)
Sam Grey	...	Alice Chantrey (143 episodes, 2006-2009)
Jane Hazlegrove	...	Kathleen 'Dixie' Dixon / ... (141 episodes, 2006-2009)

Also Known As:

Casual+y (UK) (alternative spelling)
Front Line (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

50 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Bristol, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

On one episode the "current patients" board had the ingredients of a recipe for English Breakfast written on it.

Quotes:

Sean Maddox: I love you. With all my feet.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "One Foot in the Grave: Hole in the Sky (#5.5)" (1995)

Good For It's First Several Years But Has Perhaps Gone On For Too Long

Casualty started in 1986 and was a brilliant show about the working lives of Holby City Accident & Emergency Department doctors and nurses. In my opinion, from 1986 to about 1999 it was consistently good drama. It was very realistic at times and showed us the bad side of Britain's National Health Service and the politics that governed it.

Casualty always provided entertainment. The main problem is, how do you continually top things? How do you push that envelope? Casualty has had plane crashes, train crashes, diseases, NHS cutbacks etc. In a way, the current series of Casualty are not as good. They have become victims of their own success. Perhaps they should have saved the bangs for later.

One criticism I do have of Casualty's later years is the focus on the staff's private lives. I do like to get a little glimpse of the doctors and nurses private lives but sometimes they overdo it (The Bill does the same and London's Burning too). If Casualty is to keep me as a viewer, then it will have to tone back on the private lives of the staff and focus more on the job itself. And it needs to stop axing popular characters. All characters run their course eventually but these last few years, Casualty has had a habit of axing characters before they've even been given a chance.

If it can try to focus more on the job and think before axing characters, then Casualty has a great future.