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
The Box (TV series) The Box (TV series) The Box is an Australian soap opera that ran on ATV-0 from 11 February 1974 until 11 October 1977 and on 0-10 Network affiliates around Australia. "The Box" was produced by Crawford Productions who at the time was having great success producing police drama series in Australia. "The Box" was Crawford's first soap opera, and was launched as a reaction to the enormous success of the rival adult soap opera "Number 96". "The Box" was a drama set in fictional television station UCV Channel 12. It featured elements that satirised the Australian television industry. Characters in