Emergency – Ward 10 Emergency – Ward 10 Emergency – Ward 10 is a British medical soap opera series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. Like "The Grove Family", a series shown by the BBC between 1954 and 1957, "Emergency – Ward 10" is considered to be one of British television's first major soap operas. The series was made by the ITV contractor ATV and set in a fictional hospital called Oxbridge General. Growing out of what was originally intended to be no more than a six-week serial (entitled "Calling Nurse Roberts"), the series became ITV's first twice-weekly evening soap opera. "Emergency –
Soap opera primarily broadcast live, interspersed with short pre-recorded film clips and still photos to remind the audience of the previous week's episode. The first long-running prime time soap opera was "Peyton Place" (1964–1969) on ABC. It was based in part on the eponymous 1957 film (which, in turn, was based on the 1956 novel). The popularity of "Peyton Place" prompted the CBS network to spin-off popular "As the World Turns" character Lisa Miller into her own evening soap opera, "Our Private World" (originally titled "The Woman Lisa" in its planning stages). "Our Private World" was broadcast from May to September 1965.