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
Soap opera opera parody programs "Echo Beach" premiered alongside its sister show, the comedy "Moving Wallpaper". Both "Echo Beach" and "The Royal Today" ended after just one series due to low ratings. Radio soap opera "Silver Street" debuted on the BBC Asian Network in 2004. Poor ratings and criticism of the program led to its cancellation in 2010. UK soap operas for many years usually only aired two nights a week. The exception was the original "Crossroads", which began as a weekdaily soap opera in the 1960s, but later had its number of weekly broadcasts reduced. Things started to change in 1989