Emergency – Ward 10 Emergency – Ward 10 Emergency – Ward 10 is a British medical soap opera series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. Like "The Grove Family", a series shown by the BBC between 1954 and 1957, "Emergency – Ward 10" is considered to be one of British television's first major soap operas. The series was made by the ITV contractor ATV and set in a fictional hospital called Oxbridge General. Growing out of what was originally intended to be no more than a six-week serial (entitled "Calling Nurse Roberts"), the series became ITV's first twice-weekly evening soap opera. "Emergency –
Soap opera early 1970s and in 1972, debuted "Emmerdale Farm" (now "Emmerdale"), based on the successful format of the Irish soap opera. In the late 1970s, "The Riordans" was controversially dropped. The creator of that series would then go on to produce the second of his "Agri-soap" trilogy "Bracken", starring Gabriel Byrne, whose character had appeared in the last few seasons of "The Riordans". Bracken was soon replaced by the third "Agri-soap" "Glenroe", which ran until 2001. As RTÉ wanted a drama series for its Sunday night lineup rather than a soap opera, "On Home Ground" (2001–2002), "The Clinic" (2002–2009) and "RAW"