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 Digest Award for Outstanding Villainess in a Drama Series – Daytime Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villainess in a Drama Series – Daytime "The Soap Opera Digest" Award for Outstanding Villainess in a Drama Series – Daytime has been given every year since the first "Soap Opera Digest" Award in 1984 until the award's end in 2005. There were no awards presented in 1987, 2002 or 2004. The category was split up into "Soap Opera Digest" Award for Outstanding Villain/Villainess in a Drama Series – Daytime only in 1993, 1994, and 2000. In the lists below, the winner of the award for each year is shown first, followed by the