General Hospital (UK TV series) General Hospital (UK TV series) General Hospital is a British daytime soap opera produced by ATV that ran on ITV from 1972 to 1979. It was not modelled after the American drama of the same name. Rather, it was an attempt to replicate the success of its predecessor, "Emergency - Ward 10". The original theme music was "Girl in the White Dress" by the Derek Scott Orchestra which was used until 1975, when it was replaced by Johnny Pearson's "Red Alert" for the 60-minute episodes. In 1972, ITV started to broadcast programmes on weekday afternoons, triggering a new wave of
A Flame in the Wind as the lead-in for "General Hospital". "A Flame in the Wind" was replaced in the 2:00 p. m. slot by the musical variety series "Where the Action Is". The changes to the series did succeed in raising the ratings significantly. For the 1964-1965 TV season, "A Flame in the Wind" received a 2.8 ratings. For the 1965-1966 TV season, "A Time for Us" improved to a 4.0 rating. Unfortunately, ratings then leveled off. Despite the improvements, the soap was still the lowest rated soap opera on the air (other, lower rated soap operas, proceeded to pass it when their ratings