Casualty

by Ailsa Osborne

Casualty is a medical drama based on fact.  Or is it all fiction.? That's for the viewer to decide.
It appears to be factually correct due in part to Medical Advisers who check the synopsis of each incident, and to the close research done by its writers.

Casualty started in September 1986 with an episode entitled ‘Gas’
The story is based on the everyday lives of the people who frequent the Accident and Emergency department of the fictional Holby City hospital, both staff and patients. It was created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin and has run for 27 series.It is very different to earlier medical programmes such as Dr Kildare and Emergency Ward 10 in that the action isn’t always kept to the hospital.

The storylines focus as much on the lives of the staff as the patients. There are some very interesting characters whose backgrounds have slowly filtered into the programme giving it a sense of continuity and stability. Although the incidents and injuries vary each week, each episode leaves the viewer wanting to know what happens next. The incidents that the staff  face amongst themselves include abortion, domestic violence, alcoholism and excessive drug use resulting in the near death of a character. These stories were all tastefully and respectfully handled with the show admirably offering information onscreen after the show ended on accessing help for any viewers who identify with the problems shown.

 There have been the expected changes in staff during the last 28 years since Casualty first opened its door but Charlie Fairhead, played by Derek Thompson, has been in over 580 episodes . We have watched him rise through the ranks and face the death of his ‘wife’ and the distressing agonies of seeing his son go off to California to live with his stepfather. This is a situation that many viewers could identify with and also the news that he was going to be a granddad to a baby whose mother had drink problems throughout her pregnancy. From this you can see that the storylines are very creative, such as a plane crash in the area and the derailing of a train at the nearby station, the programme never fails to impress with its stunts and pyrotechnics.

Ian Bleasedale who plays the character Josh Griffiths has been in 428 episodes since he joined the cast in 1989 and leaving in 2007. Suzanne Packer has played the part of Tess Bateman in 399 episodes since 1996 and is still wiping brows and checking pulses even now.

There have been many writers during this time including Michael Owen Morris who wrote 30 episodes from 1988 to 2000 almost matched by Alan Wareing who wrote 24 of the shows between 1987 and 2001. Casualty has been nominated for various show awards such as the Bafta awards which it won in 2007 and the National Television Awards from 1997 to 2010. The Writers Guild of Great Britain called it the ‘best continuing drama’ in 2011 and it was nominated by them in 1996 for ‘The best Original TV Drama series’.

I believe that the storylines are in the main likely and conceivable and have characters who are believable. Sometimes it would appear that there is a casual, almost nonchalant, regard for some of the patients who are there because of relatively minor injuries but this is augmented by the dedication of the majority of the team which mainly consists of adequately competent staff facing realistic situations.