History of the National Health Service Emergency Ward 10 was first broadcast in 1957 on ITV and ran until 1967 and followed the life and loves of the staff and patients of the fictionalised Oxbridge General. ITV later followed this up with General Hospital which borrowed much from Emergency Ward 10 in terms of its themes and focus. The idea of a medical hospital as a suitable and popular setting for a soap opera continued to take root in the 1980s. Casualty, set in an A&E department, was first broadcast in 1986 and has since become the longest running medical drama in the world. At a
Frank Hursley Frank Hursley Frank Hursley (November 21, 1902 – February 3, 1989) is an American soap opera writer. He was a writer on the Western series "Have Gun, Will Travel", but became famous in 1957 when he began writing for CBS Daytime's "Search For Tomorrow". He continued to write "Search for Tomorrow" even after the show that he co-created with his wife, "General Hospital" had premiered. Another married couple of television writer, Theodore and Mathilde Ferro, wrote the show in its early months. They created the medical drama "General Hospital", for ABC Daytime in 1963; it was the first serious effort