Medical drama

Last updated

A medical drama is a television movie or film [1] in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, physician's office, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical dramatic programming goes beyond the events pertaining to the characters' jobs and portray some aspects of their personal lives. The longest running medical drama in the world is the British series Casualty , airing since 1986, and the longest running medical soap opera is General Hospital , running since 1963. [2]

Contents

History

City Hospital , which first aired in 1951, is usually considered to be the first televised medical drama. (The first serialized medical drama was probably the Dr. Kildare film series (1937–1947), starring a number of actors in the eponymous role, and Lionel Barrymore throughout the series.) Medic , which featured Richard Boone, ran two seasons, from 1954 to 1956. The genre became a staple of prime time television with the enormous popularity of Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey , both debuting in 1961. The BBC series Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962–1971) is an early example of another common variant of the genre in which a medical practice is used as a focus for stories detailing the life of a (usually small) community. The long running Australian series A Country Practice (1981–1993) is a later example of this subgenre. From 1969 to 1976, the series Marcus Welby, M.D. and Medical Center were extremely popular for their both orthodox and unorthodox way of presenting medical cases. In 1972, the series Emergency! , starring Robert Fuller and Julie London, was the first medical drama ever to combine both, a fire department paramedic rescue program with an emergency room in a general hospital, which also focused on real-life rescues. [3] Also in 1972, the first episode of M*A*S*H aired; the show's tone was generally comedic, but dark—poignant moments emanating from the death caused by war were not uncommon. This trend of comedy with undercurrents of darkness in medical TV shows can also be seen in St. Elsewhere , Doogie Howser, M.D. , House M.D. , Grey's Anatomy , Scrubs , ER , Code Black and Chicago Med . In 1986, Casualty started airing on BBC One in the United Kingdom. Casualty continues to be aired, making it the longest running TV medical drama. Its sister show Holby City aired from 1999 to 2022. [4] In 2000, the BBC commissioned Doctors , a medical drama soap that continued to air and became the BBC's flagship daytime series. [5] In 2023, Doctors was axed by the BBC after 23 years on air, with the final episode airing in November 2024. [6]

Communications theorist Marshall McLuhan, in his 1964 work on the nature of media, predicted success for this particular genre on TV.

One of the most vivid examples of the tactile quality of the TV image occurs in medical experience. In closed-circuit instruction in surgery, medical students from the first reported a strange effect-that they seemed not to be watching an operation, but performing it. They felt that they were holding the scalpel. Thus the TV image, in fostering a passion for depth involvement in every aspect of experience, creates an obsession with bodily welfare. The sudden emergence of the TV medico and the hospital ward as a program to rival the western is perfectly natural. It would be possible to list a dozen untried kinds of programs that would prove immediately popular for the same reasons. Tom Dooley and his epic of Medicare for the backward society was a natural outgrowth of the first TV decade. [7]

According to Professor George Ikkos, the president of the psychiatry sector of the Royal Society of Medicine, medical dramas have accumulated large audiences because the characters in the shows are often depicted as everyday citizens who have extraordinary careers, which promotes a sense of relatability among viewers. [8] Medical drama is sometimes used in medical education; a systematic review of such uses indicated that it is a "feasible and acceptable" complement to medical education. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

A soap opera, daytime drama, or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns.

<i>Doctors</i> (2000 TV series) British television soap opera

Doctors is a British medical soap opera, first broadcast on BBC One on 26 March 2000, and concluded on 14 November 2024. Filmed in Birmingham and set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff of both an NHS doctor's surgery and a university campus surgery, as well as the lives of their families and friends. Initially, only 41 episodes of the programme were ordered, but due to the positive reception, the BBC ordered it as a continuing soap opera. Doctors was filmed at the Pebble Mill Studios until 2004; production then relocated to the BBC Drama Village, where it filmed until 2024. Episodes are filmed three months prior to transmission. The show was typically broadcast Mondays to Thursdays at 2:00 pm on BBC One, as well as having classic episodes broadcast on Drama. It took three annual transmission breaks across the year: at Easter, during the summer and at Christmas.

<i>Casualty</i> (TV series) British medical drama series

Casualty is a British medical drama series broadcast on BBC One. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it first aired in the United Kingdom on 6 September 1986. The show was originally produced by Geraint Morris and has been a staple of British television ever since. Casualty is recognised as the longest-running primetime medical drama series in the world.

<i>Holby City</i> British medical drama television series

Holby City is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999; the show ran until 29 March 2022. It follows the lives of medical and ancillary staff at the fictional Holby City Hospital, the same hospital as Casualty, in the fictional city of Holby, and features occasional crossovers of characters and plots with both Casualty and the show's 2007 police procedural spin-off HolbyBlue. It began with eleven main characters in its first series, all of whom subsequently left the show. New main characters were then periodically written in and out, with a core of around fifteen main actors employed at any given time. In casting the first series, Young sought actors who were already well known in the television industry, something which has continued throughout its history, with cast members including Patsy Kensit, Jane Asher, Robert Powell, Ade Edmondson and John Michie.

Holby is a fictional city in the United Kingdom, the setting for the BBC medical dramas Casualty and Holby City, and the police drama HolbyBlue. It is based on the real city of Bristol, where Casualty was formerly filmed, and is notionally located in the fictional county of Wyvern in South West England, not far from the border with Wales. While Casualty has been filmed in Cardiff since 2011, Holby City was filmed in Elstree, Hertfordshire. Both shows are set in the same fictional Holby City Hospital. Holby has an airport called Holby International.

Alex Newcombe Walkinshaw is a British actor. He has played the long-running roles of Dale "Smithy" Smith in the ITV police procedural series The Bill and Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher in BBC medical dramas Casualty and Holby City. He also played PE teacher Jez Diamond in BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road.

<i>Casualty@Holby City</i> British television series

Casualty@Holby City (styled as CASUAL+Y @ HOLBY CI+Y) is a series of special crossover episodes of BBC medical dramas Casualty and Holby City. While Casualty was launched on 6 September 1986, and its spin-off Holby City was first aired on 12 January 1999, the first full crossover episode between the two programmes was not broadcast until 26 December 2004. As of 27 December 2005, four crossover specials have been aired, comprising nine episodes total. Although further crossovers of storylines and characters have since occurred, they have not been broadcast under the Casualty@Holby City title.

The first series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 12 January 1999, and concluded on 9 March 1999. The show was created by Mal Young and Tony McHale as a spin–off from the BBC medical drama Casualty, intended to follow the treatment of patients from Casualty as they were transferred onto the hospital's surgical wards. McHale served as the programme's lead writer throughout the first series, which ran for nine episodes. Young cast actors who were already established names in the acting industry, particularly from a soap opera background. Several cast members shadowed real surgeons and nurses in preparation for their roles to increase the show's realism. The series received mixed reviews from critics. It was compared favourably with Casualty, but received negative reviews in which it was contrasted poorly with the American medical drama ER. The series première attracted 10.72 million viewers, falling to 8.51 million by the series finale.

Sandra Huggett is an English actress.

The twelfth series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 20 October 2009. The series deals with the repercussions of the death of ward sister Faye Byrne's son Archie, including the resignation of consultant Connie Beauchamp and the return of former registrar Thandie Abebe-Griffin. It also focuses on staff members' romantic and family lives. F1 Oliver Valentine becomes romantically involved with registrar Jac Naylor and ward sister Daisha Anderson, and his sister Penny embarks on a secret romance with a heart transplant patient. Consultant Linden Cullen is reunited with his estranged daughter Holly, nurse Donna Jackson decides to adopt her half-niece Mia, sister Chrissie Williams gives birth to a son, Daniel, and Faye becomes pregnant by her estranged husband Joseph. The series includes a crossover episode with sister show Casualty and it also has the highest number of episodes to date, as the series contains a small number of episodes which air during the same week.

The second series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 25 November 1999, and concluded on 9 March 2000.

The first series of the British medical drama television series Casualty began airing on 6 September 1986, and concluded on 27 December 1986. The show was created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin after the pair were both hospitalised for different reasons. Brock and Unwin were deeply concerned with what they saw within hospitals and decided to pitch a document in 1985 for the BBC. It was reported the pitch document 'read like a manifesto', and the show was then commissioned. Geraint Morris was appointed as the show's producer. Casualty was commissioned to boost ratings on BBC One at peak times after ratings began to decline between 1984 and 1985. Prior to first series airing, Brock and Unwin visited a hospital in Bristol where they met a charge nurse called Pete Salt. Salt was appointed the series medical advisor.

The eighteenth series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on 13 October 2015, and concluded on 4 October 2016. The series consists of 52 episodes. Oliver Kent continues his position as the show's executive producer, while Simon Harper serves as the series producer. Sixteen cast members reprised their roles from the previous series, while several recurring characters, and numerous guest stars feature in the series. Four actors depart during the series and two cast members reprise their roles after taking breaks in the previous series. Jemma Redgrave appeared in the series between February and September 2016 as general surgeon Bernie Wolfe. Jason Robertson joined the semi-regular cast in February 2016 as Jason Haynes, and two new cast members joined the serial in summer 2016: Marc Elliott as registrar Isaac Mayfield and Lucinda Dryzek as F1 doctor Jasmine Burrows.

The nineteenth series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 11 October 2016 and concluded airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 December 2017. The series consists of 64 episodes; an increase from the previous series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group Animal</span> 61st and 62nd episodes of the 19th series of Holby City

"Group Animal" is a two-part episode of the British medical drama Holby City that served as the 61st and 62nd episodes of the show's nineteenth series, and the 900th and 901st episodes overall. The first part aired on 5 December 2017, and the second on 7 December 2017 on BBC One in the United Kingdom. Both parts were written by Andy Bayliss and directed by Paulette Randall. The plot sees the arrival of Professor John Gaskell at Holby City Hospital, shortly before Fredrik Johanssen goes on a shooting spree, which results in the death of Raf di Lucca.

"CasualtyXHolby" is a two-part crossover of the British medical dramas Casualty and Holby City. The first part aired on 2 March 2019, and the second on 5 March 2019 on BBC One. Both episodes were written by Michelle Lipton and directed by Steve Brett. The plot sees Holby City Hospital experience a loss of power due to a cyberattack. Consultants Connie Beauchamp and Jac Naylor also come into conflict when they learn there is only one theatre available while treating two of their colleagues.

The thirty-seventh series of the British medical drama television series Casualty began airing on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 20 August 2022. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of medical and ancillary staff at the emergency department (ED) of the fictional Holby City Hospital. Jon Sen continues his role as the executive producer and Liza Mellody begins her position as series producer. Series 37 marks the return to regular filming protocols after the COVID-19 pandemic. The series has been marred by scheduling conflicts, with one episode premiering on BBC Two.

References

  1. ↑ Planca, Daphne (15 September 2015). "Andrew Garfield-starred true-life medical drama 'Breathe' jointly goes to Bleecker Street, Participant Media". ASZ News.
  2. ↑ "Longest-running TV medical drama". Guinness World Records.
  3. ↑ "The Show That Started It All". emsworld.com. January 18, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  4. ↑ Kanter, Jake (2 June 2021). "'Holby City': Stalwart BBC Medical Drama Canceled After 23 Years". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  5. ↑ Honebeek, Talya (29 November 2021). "Where is Doctors filmed? All the BBC soap's Birmingham filming locations". Birmingham Mail . (Reach plc). Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  6. ↑ Warner, Sam (18 October 2023). "Doctors axed by BBC after 23 years". Digital Spy. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  7. ↑ Marshall McLuhan (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man . Chap. 31
  8. ↑ Roxby, Philippa (2012-11-10). "Why are medical dramas so popular?". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  9. ↑ Hoffman, B. L.; Hoffman, R.; Wessel, C. B.; Shensa, A.; Woods, M. S.; Primack, B. A. (2018). "Use of fictional medical television in health sciences education: a systematic review". Advances in Health Sciences Education. 23 (1): 201–216. doi:10.1007/s10459-017-9754-5. PMID   28083814. S2CID   46842723.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.