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
Soap Opera Digest and Ritterman earned a handful of Daytime Emmy Award nominations, with Dick Clark Productions, for co executive producing the "Soap Opera Digest" Awards. "Soap Opera Digest" coined the term and popularized the use of "soap speak," in which show names are abbreviated as acronyms to save space. These abbreviations have come into more extensive use outside the magazine with the advent of internet chat rooms and message boards. For example, current soap operas and their acronyms include "General Hospital" ("GH"), "The Bold and the Beautiful" ("B&B"), and "The Young and the Restless" ("Y&R"). "Days of Our Lives" is referred to