Casualty 40th Anniversary

“Ironically, for a show about accidents and emergencies, it makes you feel safe.” So says The Guardian’s TV reviewer John Crace of Saturday night drama series “Casualty”.

The “Grand Daddy of medical dramas” is set in a west country hospital, and according to the Radio Times, “Casualty” has launched the careers of more actors than any other soap or drama series – among them Kate Winslet, Brenda Fricker and Alfred Molina.

Its first episode in September 1986 began with Junior Charge Nurse Charlie Fairhead (played for 38 years by Derek Thompson) driving his yellow VW beetle across the Clifton Suspension Bridge. He arrives at the hospital, gets out of the car wearing a battered flying jacket, and lights up the first cigarette of his shift.

The message was clear - every day is another battle on the frontline of Britain’s NHS.

Not everyone was happy. The Royal College of Nursing complained about the portrayal of nurses in the series. And freshly appointed junior heath minister Edwina Currie blasted the whole thing as “left-wing propaganda which unfairly tarnished the institution of the NHS”.

Joining presenter Kirsty Wark are a group of people who’ve all been associated with the long running drama: Lisa Bowerman who played Sandra Mute, the show’s first female paramedic; Catherine Shipton, best known as nurse “Duffy” and Debbie Roza-Mercier who portrayed receptionist Susie Mercier; co-writers and series creators Paul Unwin and Jeremy Brock, and Peter Salt, medical consultant and real-life nurse in Bristol who became the inspiration for the character of Charlie.

Producer: Howard Shannon
Editor: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4