"Casualty" (1986) TV series 1986-????

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 | unknown

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 (353 episodes, 1986-2009)
Ian Bleasdale	...	Josh Griffiths / ... (299 episodes, 1991-2007)
Suzanne Packer	...	Tess Bateman (273 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 / ... (158 episodes, 1986-2006)
Kwame Kwei-Armah	...	Finlay Newton / ... (153 episodes, 1994-2004)
Jane Hazlegrove	...	Kathleen 'Dixie' Dixon / ... (145 episodes, 2006-2009)
Sam Grey	...	Alice Chantrey (144 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:

Radio D.J. Mark Burrows once played the part of a corpse, uncredited, but it took two hours to film it as he couldn't stop sneezing.

Quotes:

Sean Maddox: Get on the train.
Tina Seabrook: It's so unfair.
Sean Maddox: This may be our last chance. Come on, get on.
Tina Seabrook: Marry me.
Sean Maddox: What?
Tina Seabrook: You heard, marry me.
Sean Maddox: Shut up and get on the train.
Tina Seabrook: Well?
Sean Maddox: Look, get on the train.
Tina Seabrook: Just say you'll marry me.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Comic Relief: The Invasion of the Comic Tomatoes (1993) (TV)

The hospital feels real, but that's about it...

I am not a Casualty buff, but what I do see of it is always quite good. It is drama at its most realistic - you are instantly brought into the serious, morbid, emotional world of modern hospitals. The lack of blood and gore only make everything seem even more real. When a death occurs, you sure do know about it - it manages to hit really hard, unlike in Hollywood movies. The drama itself is superb and somewhat painful at times - anyone who has been in a hospital will feel things coming back to them after an episode of this. The lack of musical score save for the credits and the complete lack of glamorisation in any form strip this down to the bare bones of realism. But sadly, this show is not perfect. While there's enough to warrant a viewing of a full episode, there really isn't much to make you want to keep coming back. And though the characters feel like real people, you just don't really know them and you can't sympathise with them - and that is the worst thing for a show like this. This is a real zombie of a show - it is moving and aware, but just doesn't feel alive, and just kind of drones for the hour each episode it plays. And, in spite of what I said earlier, there's way more blood and sweat in real hospitals too. 7/10