General Hospital

When the UK broadcasting rules were relaxed in 1972, ITV commissioned programmes from each of its regions to fill the new afternoon schedules, aimed at stay-at-home mums and students etc.

ATV's contribution to these schedules was GENERAL HOSPITAL a twice-weekly medical 'soap' of 25 minutes and was set in the fictional Midland General Hospital. It first aired on Thursday 19th October, 1972 at 2pm (and also on Fridays) and continued in this format till March 1975. Later in 1975 it was revamped for prime time TV in an hourly format with self contained stories.

The daytime run was very popular, particularly after a repeat run from about a third of the way through on weekdays at approximately 4pm., bridging the gap between the end of the daytime serial and the start of the new prime time format.

Favourite characters included Senior Consultant Surgeon Mr William Parker-Brown, world-weary Senior Medical Consultant and Hospital Administrator Dr Matthew Armstrong, Dr Martin Baxter, Nurse Hilda Price, Porter Arnold Capper, Sister Edwards and Sister Frances Washington...and later Dr Neville Bywaters. Many famous faces from the 1970's appeared as patients including Joanna Lumley, Windsor Davies, Alun Armstrong, Patsy Rowlands, and Michael Culver.

The series finally ended in January 1979.

Back in the 1970's afternoon TV was awful. Although during school holidays the networks did made an effort to put on suitable shows for the kids, but if you were off school due to sickness or there was a teachers strike all you had was the dreary Crown Court, or the mundane Emerdale farm followed by an old movie with either Jack Warner or Richard Greene in it. But General hospital was a soap opera which was bearable. Ironically This soap did not flounder as badly as say Albion Market or Eldorado but neither did it last as long as say Brookeside.

It was a hospital soap with all of the usual goings on that you would imagine in a hospital, it was not a heavy drama although it had it's moments but although not a comedy it did have it's lighter moments. too. I think the hospital was based in the Midlands although I can't be sure.

Stand out characters were the patriarchal head surgeon Dr Armstrong, the gruff and no nonsense Dr Parker Brown of the old school and the smooth housewife's choice Dr Bywaters (who after hanging up his stethoscope moved into the motel business became the scheming Adam Chance on Crossroads). Lastly the campy devious orderly "Caper" who was never far from the main plot lines of the day.

The staff remained virtually the same during the period 1975-76 when I saw it but what made it interesting was the rotation of the patients through out that run. Typical national heath they got you in and out, no hanging about!

General Hospital by the mid 70's was broadcast at about 4 p.m. and came on just before children's television and built up a following as consequence. In fact it was a 30 min episode each day but in 1976 the series was canceled on the existing format but returned to the screens months later for just one hour per week with very few of the original cast in it. It's a shame that it happened because clearly their was a market for hospital or medical soaps as the a few years later afternoon TV was full of Australian shows such as the young doctors , the country practice and the flying doctors.