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 Practice (1985 TV series) The Practice (1985 TV series) The Practice was a 1985 British television soap opera produced for ITV by Granada Television, which aired for two series in 1985 and 1986. The series was first introduced as a twice-weekly medical drama in January 1985, becoming Granada's second regular networked soap opera along with "Coronation Street", with the idea being that its hard-hitting storylines would be a competitor with the BBC's "EastEnders" which started airing the following month. The Practice was set in a GP's surgery in the fictional Manchester suburb of Castlehulme and had an initial run of 34 episodes airing for