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 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"