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The Royal

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A medical drama is a television movie or film in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, physician's office, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical dramatic programming goes beyond the events pertaining to the characters' jobs and portray some aspects of their personal lives. The longest running medical drama in the world is the British series Casualty , airing since 1986, and the longest running medical soap opera is General Hospital , running since 1963.

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77-428: The Royal is a British period medical drama , produced by Yorkshire Television (later part of ITV Studios ), and broadcast on ITV from 2003 until its cancellation in 2011. The series is set in the 1960s and focuses on the lives of the staff at the fictional "St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital", a National Health Service hospital serving the fictional rural seaside town of Elsinby and its surrounding area. The programme

154-511: A central service under the STV brand. The company had several disputes with ITV plc in the late 2000s and early 2010s over network programming. STV aimed to broadcast more Scottish programmes at peak times and so removed several key ITV plc programmes from their schedule in July 2009 including The Bill , Midsomer Murders and Lewis . Despite STV's explanation of expense, ITV plc were angered by

231-411: A considerable amount of syndicated unscripted US programmes in daytime during the 90s, such as Judge Judy and The Jerry Springer Show . By 1996, ITV had been quiet with US series in primetime, particularly as Channel 4 and Sky One increased the competition for securing the most popular US dramas and sitcoms. However, that summer, ITV debuted the primetime soap Savannah , in a 9pm Friday slot. It

308-493: A couple of hours after midnight, replacing gambling broadcasts: the time between the news and the shopping is usually kept for re-runs, with ITV repeating its primetime entertainment shows, films, or sports programming from ITV4. ITV continues with its regular scheduled programming after the shopping service finishes at around 3am with showbiz news bulletin FYI Extra and repeats, many of which have on-screen BSL signing for

385-400: A dedicated CITV programming block now broadcasting on ITV2 every morning, from 2 September 2023. Schools programming on the network began in 1957 in some regions and expanded as more regions began broadcasting. It was a contractual obligation for some ITV companies to broadcast schools programming, and this was initially broadcast as part of the normal scheduling. The programmes were moved into

462-529: A light-touch regulator, the ITC ; companies became able to purchase other ITV regional companies and franchises were now being awarded based upon a highest-bidder auction, with few safeguards in place. This heavily criticised part of the review saw four operators replaced, and the operators facing different annual payments to the Treasury : Central Independent Television, for example, paid only £2,000—despite holding

539-451: A lucrative and large region—because it was unopposed, while Yorkshire Television paid £37.7 million for a region of the same size and status, owing to heavy competition. Following the 1993 changes, ITV as a network began to consolidate with several companies doing so to save money by ceasing the duplication of services present when they were all separate companies. By 2004, the ITV network

616-737: A monthly political programme, most non-news regional programming in the English regions was dropped by ITV plc in 2009, although it continues in Wales and the Channel Islands, as well as on STV and UTV and ITV Border in Scotland from 2014 to cover mainly Scottish politics whilst ITV Border in England broadcast network programming . On 14 January 2013, ITV plc regional news programmes titles were discontinued in favour of more generic branding under

693-451: A passion for depth involvement in every aspect of experience, creates an obsession with bodily welfare. The sudden emergence of the TV medico and the hospital ward as a program to rival the western is perfectly natural. It would be possible to list a dozen untried kinds of programs that would prove immediately popular for the same reasons. Tom Dooley and his epic of Medicare for the backward society

770-485: A public service broadcaster, the ITV network is obliged to broadcast programming of public importance, including news, current affairs, children's and religious programming as well as party election broadcasts on behalf of the major political parties and political events, such as the Budget. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing and audio description. In exchange for this programming,

847-489: A segment for broadcast during the day in the 1960s, under the banner Independent Television for Schools and Colleges and from 1987 were broadcast on Channel 4 in the ITV Schools on Channel 4 segment. In 1993, this segment became Channel 4 Schools and later in 2000 4Learning . These strands of programming consisted of schools programming from all the ITV companies or from independent sources. The schools strand itself

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924-462: A sign language service within the broadcast as part of its quota and licence requirements. ITV's strong daytime line-up helped by programmes such as This Morning , Loose Women , Dickinson's Real Deal and game shows Tipping Point and The Chase are very popular, achieving the highest audience share during the daytime slot. In recent years the network has tried to use formats that ITV Studios own outright (whether they have originated in

1001-406: A spokesperson stated later that the production of the shows was simply "resting". No official news was given that the show was axed, but like Heartbeat , the series ended with a cliffhanger surrounding one of its main characters, when the final episode was aired on 31 July 2011. To date, only the first two series of The Royal have been released on DVD, in both Region 2 and Region 4 . Series One

1078-511: A systematic review of such uses indicated that it is a "feasible and acceptable" complement to medical education. ITV (TV network) ITV , legally known as Channel 3 , is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is branded as STV . It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition, eliminating what had been

1155-455: Is an early example of another common variant of the genre in which a medical practice is used as a focus for stories detailing the life of a (usually small) community. The long running Australian series A Country Practice (1981–1993) is a later example of this subgenre. From 1969 to 1976, the series Marcus Welby, M.D. and Medical Center were extremely popular for their both orthodox and unorthodox way of presenting medical cases. In 1972,

1232-425: Is not owned or operated by one company, but by a number of licensees, which provide regional services while also broadcasting programmes across the network. Since 2016, the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc. The network is regulated by the media regulator Ofcom who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences. The last major review of

1309-453: Is now defunct, with no particular branding segment used. ITV was originally very reliant on broadcasting American series, with westerns such as Gunsmoke and Rawhide in particular being considerable successes for the network during its earlier years. Action drama The Fugitive and sci-fi anthology The Twilight Zone were also broadcast by various regions in the early 1960s, with Batman and I Dream of Jeannie shown later on in

1386-462: The Dr. Kildare film series (1937–1947), starring a number of actors in the eponymous role, and Lionel Barrymore throughout the series.) Medic , which featured Richard Boone , ran two seasons, from 1954 to 1956. The genre became a staple of prime time television with the enormous popularity of Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey , both debuting in 1961. The BBC series Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962–1971)

1463-567: The ITV News title with the region listed as the subheading. However some "heritage" brand names were retained including Calendar , Granada Reports and Lookaround . On 28 June 2014, ITV News Cymru Wales returned to its historic name of Wales at Six . The network broadcasts children's programming under the CITV (Children's ITV) strand. Children's programming was originally provided during weekday afternoons and weekend mornings, however following

1540-583: The ITV News brand. ITN has long been respected in the news industry as a source of reliable information and news, and as a result the service has won many awards for their programmes, the latest being in May 2011 when News at Ten was named best news programme by the Royal Television Society and BAFTA . The ITV National Weather forecast was first broadcast in 1989, using data supplied by

1617-459: The Met Office , and was presented by a number of weather forecasters. The forecasts are sponsored with the sponsor's message appearing before and after the forecast. The forecasts are made immediately after the main national news bulletins. Prior to the creation of the national forecast, each regional company provided its own regional forecast. The regional forecasts today are incorporated into

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1694-488: The North Riding of Yorkshire , including Whitby . Below is the list of ratings of The Royal , giving an overall result for each series. In 2007, ITV commissioned a daytime spin-off of The Royal , entitled The Royal Today . The spin-off focused on the same settings of the main show, but set in the present day with a new cast of characters. The show ran for one series in 2008 between 7 January to 14 March. The show

1771-462: The Unwind slot, but this was eventually phased out and replaced with the aforementioned news and information service. This overnight programme service is very different to what used to be shown on the network in the years after 24-hour broadcasting was introduced - this included new entertainment, imports, sports and other information programmes, and, in some regions, a job finder service, however due to

1848-906: The Unwind with ITV sequences to fill small pieces of time before this. Teleshopping on ITVBe starts at 01:00 and continues until 07:00. There are some occasions when other coverage means this cycle of programmes get misplaced, for example a live event overnight, such as the Super Bowl or the Oscars , both of which ITV started airing in 2024, or, over Christmas, failing to sell Teleshopping slots, meaning more repeats, films and long Unwind sequences are used as filler instead. Overnight, STV broadcasts an overnight rolling news and information service, mixing reports from STV News and other information-based services, instead of ITV's shopping slot and Unwind . Due to STV opt-outs, this service can start later than or earlier than ITV's teleshopping. STV originally simulcast

1925-544: The 1960s. Like Heartbeat , the show had a number of anachronisms , such as the use of the expression "the glass ceiling " Filming of the interior scenes of "St. Aidan's" used both The Leeds Studios and St Luke's Hospital, Bradford . Most of the exterior scenes were shot during the summer months at the Red Court building on Holbeck Road, South Cliff, Scarborough , as well as the nearby park area and Holbeck Clock Tower. The remaining exterior scenes were filmed elsewhere in

2002-667: The 75% limit as possible. The group cut the number of regional news programmes offered from 17 in 2007 to 9 by 2009, resulting several regions being merged to form one programme, including the Border and Tyne Tees regions, the Westcountry and West regions and the removal of sub regional programming, with some regions only represented by pre-recorded segments. Sub-regions were restored in 2013. STV Group plc owns two franchises, covering central and northern Scotland, through subsidiary companies STV Central and STV North, broadcasting

2079-468: The Channel 3 broadcasting licences for every region except for central and northern Scotland, which are held by STV Group. Today, ITV plc simply commissions the network schedule centrally; programmes are made by its own subsidiary ITV Studios and independent production companies. Regional programming remains in news and some current affairs series. In Northern Ireland, ITV plc used the brand name UTV as

2156-483: The Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators' licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. While this has been the longest period that the ITV network has gone without a major review of its licence holders, Ofcom announced (following consultation) that it would split the Wales and West licence from 1 January 2014, creating a national licence for Wales and joining

2233-760: The ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the EPG of all providers. Since the launch of the platform in 1998, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the digital terrestrial television platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned ITV2 , ITV3 , ITV4 and ITVBe in their region. UTV and STV (formerly Scottish Television and Grampian Television ) previously broadcast their own services – UTV2 in Northern Ireland and S2 in central and northern Scotland – until 2002, when they adopted

2310-855: The ITV plc channels. Despite this, STV was given a broadcasting licence for what would become the STV2 channel in 2013, however this was short-lived and the channel closed in 2018. The broadcasters all make use of the Digital 3&4 multiplex, shared with Channel 4 . CITV launched in March 2006 (closed September 2023). ITV Encore launched in June 2014 (closed May 2018) and ITVBe launched in October 2014. ITV Box Office launched in February 2017 (closed January 2020). On 13 September 2022, ITV confirmed that during

2387-838: The North Riding of Yorkshire, and focuses on the lives of the staff who work in St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital – a cottage hospital established by the ancestor of its hospital secretary, T. J. Middleditch, to serve its local community. Placed under the care of the National Health Service, the staff do their best to offer their patients care and treatment, including maintaining casualty facilities and operating theatres , while coping with their own lives. Like Heartbeat , episodes mainly focused on either one big story or two major storylines, medical problems, and an occasional side story, with overarching plotlines concerning

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2464-892: The North of England, with separate franchises for Weekdays and Weekends. The first ITV service to launch was London's Associated-Rediffusion on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. Following these launches, the ITA awarded more franchises until the whole country was covered by fourteen regional stations, all launched by 1962. The network has been modified several times through franchise reviews that have taken place in 1963, 1967, 1974, 1980 and 1991, during which broadcast regions have changed and service operators have been replaced. Only one service operator has ever been declared bankrupt, WWN in 1963, with all other operators leaving

2541-545: The UK with their Lifted Entertainment company or have come from production companies they own abroad), though some popular programme formats like The Masked Singer have still been acquired from other companies abroad. Currently ITV are behind the formats for Dancing on Ice , The Voice UK (the format originally coming from their Dutch production company) and I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! , while forthcoming music game show Walk The Line has been co-developed by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment and ITV. Since

2618-645: The United Kingdom. Casualty continues to be aired, making it the longest running TV medical drama. Its sister show Holby City aired from 1999 to 2022. In 2000, the BBC commissioned Doctors , a medical drama soap that continued to air and became the BBC's flagship daytime series. In 2023, Doctors was axed by the BBC after 23 years on air, with the final episode airing in November 2024. Communications theorist Marshall McLuhan , in his 1964 work on

2695-400: The breakfast service. All licences listed here were renewed until the end of 2024. Licences in England and Wales were held by the individual regional ITV plc owned companies prior to November 2008. The appointment to provide national news for Channel 3 is also subject to approval by Ofcom. This appointment has been held by ITN since the channel's inception, and has also been approved through

2772-399: The creation of ITV Network Limited (and given Channel Television is now owned by ITV plc), it has been replaced by an affiliation system. Approved by Ofcom, this results in ITV plc commissioning and funding the network schedule, with STV and UTV paying a fee to broadcast it. All licensees have the right to opt out of network programming (except for the national news bulletins), but, unlike

2849-456: The day of Monday 19 September, the day of the state funeral for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II , all programming schedules on ITV's digital channels will be scrapped, with the main ITV News coverage being shown live and uninterrupted on every channel. This was the first time ITV decided to do this, with the company keeping their digital channels' schedules mostly as advertised in the run up to

2926-560: The deaf community. Replacing the information-based ITV Nightscreen slot in 2021 was Unwind With ITV , programming produced in association with the Campaign Against Living Miserably . At around 4am each night this mindfulness programme shows calming shots of natural landscapes and relaxing animations for around an hour, with versions of the footage also seen on ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4. These three channels continue programming until around 02:30, sometimes using

3003-400: The decade. Due to the varying schedules of many ITV regions, acquired content was not broadcast by some franchises. By the 1970s, most ITV regions were airing the likes of Hawaii Five-O , Happy Days , and The Brady Bunch . 1972 also saw the beginning of ITV's daytime programmes at lunchtime, a slot that would become associated with the many Australian soap operas that were broadcast in

3080-436: The decision, as a recent schedule change had made The Bill central to their programming, and broadcast the programmes on ITV3 as well to ensure Scottish viewers could see the programmes. On 23 September ITV plc was reported to be in the process of suing STV for £20 million, as ITV felt dropping the shows constituted a breach of network agreements; STV subsequently counter-sued ITV plc for £35 million. The dispute

3157-477: The end of 2024. For over 60 years of ITV, its homegrown programmes have become among the best remembered as well as being extremely successful. Before the 1990s, nearly all of the content for the channel was produced by the fifteen franchise licensees: the regional companies. However, following legislation in the Broadcasting Act 1990 imposing a 25% quota for commissioning of independent productions,

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3234-485: The end of their runs. A heavy emphasis on action, fantasy and science fiction series was also placed by ITV during this 1980s, with The A-Team , Buck Rogers in the 25th Century , and Airwolf being broadcast by the network, as well as the likes of Baywatch and SeaQuest DSV by the 1990s. ITV also picked up a glut of older-skewing CBS dramas through that period, including Murder, She Wrote and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman . In February 1989, in tandem with

3311-471: The ending of productions such as World in Action ( Granada Television ), This Week ( Rediffusion London / Thames Television ), First Tuesday ( Yorkshire Television ), Network First , Survival ( Anglia Television ), and Weekend World ( LWT ) and their replacement with populist shows such as Tonight . News at Ten was also axed in 1999, although it was reinstated in 2001. In December 2009,

3388-611: The entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc , which runs the ITV1 channel and the UTV channel – now branded as ITV1, and STV Group , which runs the STV channel . The ITV network is a separate entity from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004. ITV plc holds

3465-662: The fields of sports coverage and drama productions, and it continues to schedule national news in primetime. Breakfast Television programmes have been broadcast on ITV at breakfast since 1 February 1983. It was initially run by an independent contractor - TV-am , and later GMTV - until GMTV Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Historically, ITV aired breakfast programmes from 6am until 9.25am but ITV extended this to 10am on weekdays on 6 January 2020. and now broadcasts two breakfast programmes on weekdays - Good Morning Britain and Lorraine . Good Morning Britain keeps viewers up to date with all

3542-497: The final edition of ITV's long-running arts programme, The South Bank Show was broadcast. ITV's primetime schedules are dominated by its soap operas, such as the flagship Coronation Street and Emmerdale . At the start of the 21st century, ITV faced criticism for including a large amount of "reality TV" programmes in the schedule, such as Celebrity Fit Club , Celebrity Wrestling and Celebrity Love Island . In its defence, ITV does continue to show its major strengths in

3619-504: The funeral (with a few amendments for cancelled sporting events on ITV4) and all royal coverage being on their main channel. ITV plc owns thirteen of the fifteen franchises and broadcasts to England, Wales, southern Scotland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland through its subsidiary company ITV Broadcasting Limited. The company also owns the breakfast television licence , which as of January 2020, broadcasts across

3696-472: The latest news, sports, features and weather, whilst Lorraine predominantly focuses on celebrity interviews, recipes, fashion and showbiz. Until 27th August 2023, the service would show a simulcast of the CITV channel, but since that service has closen has shown a mix of repeated programming whilst the CITV service that still exist broadcasts at breakfast time on ITV2 (which has the CITV block), ITV3, ITV4 and ITVBe from 7am show other repeats some of which provide

3773-568: The launch of the CITV channel in 2006, all children's programming, with the exception of the weekend ITV Breakfast slot, were relocated from the ITV line-up to the CITV channel in 2007, a move which was challenged by Ofcom in April 2007. In 2023, ITV announced that CITV would cease broadcasting as a linear channel, and would be replaced by ITVX Kids , a streaming media service which launched in July 2023. The CITV channel closed on 1 September 2023, with

3850-420: The main regional news bulletins, and in the summer months, includes a pollen count. Currently only new episodes of long-form news and current affairs programmes like Exposure , Peston and On Assignment are being scheduled after News at Ten , with the latter title only appearing on a monthly basis, typically on the last Tuesday of the month. The channel broadcasts a partnership teleshopping service for

3927-711: The modern network. The origins of ITV lie in the passing of the Television Act 1954 , designed to break the monopoly on television held by the BBC Television Service . The act created the Independent Television Authority (ITA, then IBA after the Sound Broadcasting Act) to heavily regulate the industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London, the Midlands and

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4004-457: The monopoly of BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990 , it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time: BBC1 , BBC2 and Channel 4 . ITV was for four decades a network of separate companies that provided regional television services and also shared programmes among themselves to be shown on

4081-469: The name of the channel, until the ITV channel was rebranded as ITV1; it is still, however, used for local programming shown there. This was the name used by former owner UTV Media (now known as News Broadcasting ). ITV plc bought UTV in 2016. Although the ITV network's history goes back to 1955, many regional franchisees changed over the years. Some of the most important names in the network's past – notably Thames , ABC and ATV – have no connection with

4158-422: The nature of media , predicted success for this particular genre on TV. One of the most vivid examples of the tactile quality of the TV image occurs in medical experience. In closed-circuit instruction in surgery, medical students from the first reported a strange effect-that they seemed not to be watching an operation, but performing it. They felt that they were holding the scalpel. Thus the TV image, in fostering

4235-448: The network as a result of a franchise review. Separate weekend franchises were removed in 1968 (with the exception of London) and over the years more services were added; these included a national breakfast franchise from 1983 onward—operating between 6:00 am and 9:25 am—and a teletext service. The Broadcasting Act 1990 changed the nature of ITV; the then regulator the IBA was replaced with

4312-527: The network between 6:00 and 10:00am each morning using the Good Morning Britain (previously Daybreak ) and Lorraine names. The company broadcasts a centralised service under the ITV1 brand. In Northern Ireland, ITV used the UTV brand name as the name of the channel until April 2020. The group also owns ITV Studios , the production arm of the company and formed from an amalgamation of all

4389-526: The network launching its national weather forecast, and as part of a new early evening lineup which involved the shortening of Children's ITV, Australian soap Home and Away was acquired by ITV, particularly to compete with the success of rival Australian soap opera Neighbours on BBC One. ITV also broadcast Beverly Hills, 90210 beginning in early 1991, in the same Saturday teatime slot that Baywatch had occupied, although some episodes were broadcast in later time slots. It moved to Sky One beginning with

4466-476: The network started, Independent Television News Limited (ITN) has held the contract to produce news for the ITV network, with 30-minute national news bulletins currently broadcast at 1:30 pm , and 10:00 pm, and an hour-long bulletin at 6.30pm. These bulletins were broadcast under the ITN brand from 1955 until 1999, when a new network identity reinforced the ITV brand, resulting in the new bulletins being broadcast under

4543-531: The newly expanded schedule, including The Sullivans and The Young Doctors . By the 1980s, more were added to the schedule, such as Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice . In primetime by the 1980s, ITV was broadcasting the likes of Hill Street Blues (which ITV began showing just one week after its debut on NBC in the United States) and L.A. Law . It was also early in the decade when Australian evening soap opera Prisoner: Cell Block H

4620-408: The newly separated West region to Westcountry Television , to form a new licence for the enlarged South West of England region. All companies holding a licence were part of the non-profit body ITV Network Limited, which commissioned and scheduled network programming, with compliance previously handled by ITV plc and Channel Television . However, due to amalgamation of several of these companies since

4697-517: The number of programmes from independent production companies not connected to the traditional ITV network, has increased rapidly. Notable examples include Talkback Thames (one half of which, Thames Television , was itself a former ITV franchisee), producers of The Bill and co-producers of The X Factor , and 2waytraffic , producers of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? . From the late 1990s, ITV's long-standing commitment to strong current affairs and documentary programming began to diminish with

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4774-549: The outdoor scenes were primarily shot within North Yorkshire , including within Whitby and Scarborough , with interior shots filmed at both The Leeds Studios and St Luke's Hospital, Bradford . The programme remained popular on television until its cancellation, generating its own spin-off, The Royal Today , with episodes later repeated on ITV3 . The Royal takes place within the fictional seaside town of Elsinby in

4851-464: The plots centred on medical emergencies or serious medical cases, and often featured moral dilemmas. The Royal largely avoided political topics, though the Vietnam War was briefly the subject of one episode, and its main themes were the conflict between progressive and conservative social ideals, and the ethical challenges and social changes faced by the hospital's staff, reflecting the setting in

4928-454: The previous system, will receive no fee refund for doing so. Therefore many do not opt out due to pressures from the parent company or because of limited resources. Prior to the affiliate system being introduced, STV would frequently (and sometimes controversially) opt out of several popular network programmes – such as the original run of the first series of Downton Abbey – citing the need to provide more Scottish content to its viewers. As

5005-512: The production departments of the regional licences they own. The company produces a large proportion of ITV's networked programming (around 47%, but previously as high as 66% according to some reports ), with the rest coming primarily from independent suppliers (under the Broadcasting Act 1990, at least 25% of ITV's total output must be from independent companies). ITV plc hopes to increase the amount of in-house programming to as close to

5082-460: The relationships and personal lives of the main characters. For the first three series, episodes featured crossovers with Heartbeat through some of the Heartbeat cast making appearances in plots on The Royal , the most prominent of these being Bill Maynard , William Simons and Mark Jordon , but this element of the programme was dropped after the third series of The Royal . The majority of

5159-754: The series Emergency! , starring Robert Fuller and Julie London , was the first medical drama ever to combine both, a fire department paramedic rescue program with an emergency room in a general hospital, which also focused on real-life rescues. Also in 1972, the first episode of M*A*S*H aired; the show's tone was generally comedic, but dark—poignant moments emanating from the death caused by war were not uncommon. This trend of comedy with undercurrents of darkness in medical TV shows can also be seen in St. Elsewhere , Doogie Howser, M.D. , House M.D. , Grey's Anatomy , Scrubs , ER , Code Black and Chicago Med . In 1986, Casualty started airing on BBC One in

5236-643: The small audience this was phased out and replaced by more relaxed and niche programming. Before 24-hour broadcasts, ITV's franchises simply closed down and restarted the following morning with ITV Morning News , followed by breakfast TV. The regional ITV companies are required to provide local news as part of their franchise agreement together with local weather forecasts, with the main local bulletin at 6pm and regional bulletins located after each national news programme. In addition to this, traditionally ITV companies would provide other regional programming based on current affairs, entertainment or drama. However, apart from

5313-623: The third season. ITV reshuffled its daytime schedules in the Autumn of 1993, and just a few months prior, Central began broadcasting the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street . The revamp saw more ITV companies pick it up, with Scottish Television the only region to reject the series outright. Central also broadcast the Australian soap opera Echo Point around the same time, although no other franchises picked it up. ITV also aired

5390-515: Was a considerable success for ITV's standards, and it became the highest rated new American series of that year. Despite this success, ITV moved the show for its second season, no longer networking the series and moving to late night slots. ITV tried again at broadcasting an American drama series in September 1997, with the ABC legal drama The Practice , which ran in the same slot that Savannah had

5467-488: Was a natural outgrowth of the first TV decade. According to Professor George Ikkos, the president of the psychiatry sector of the Royal Society of Medicine , medical dramas have accumulated large audiences because the characters in the shows are often depicted as everyday citizens who have extraordinary careers, which promotes a sense of relatability among viewers. Medical drama is sometimes used in medical education;

5544-445: Was a spin-off of ITV's period drama series Heartbeat and the first three series featured crossovers with Heartbeat and appearances by its cast members. From the start of the fourth series, the crossover elements were removed, and The Royal focussed on stories involving its own cast. The series initially began with its cast including Ian Carmichael , Wendy Craig , Robert Daws and Amy Robbins , and gradually expanded. Much of

5621-410: Was axed due to low ratings. Speculation surrounding the future of both Heartbeat and The Royal began in 2009, when ITV announced on 4 March that a loss of £2.7 billion was forcing it to make cutbacks in employment numbers, the biggest of which were made at ITV Yorkshire Studios. Many raised concerns that the shows were to be axed, after reports were made to that effect in early January, though

5698-438: Was bought by ITV, and was broadcast after News at Ten . By 1982, Channel 4 had launched, and despite originally being related to ITV, it competed against its parent network to screen popular American programmes such as St. Elsewhere and Cheers , although the latter did receive a single ITV broadcast as part of a night showcasing Channel 4 programmes. Both Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law had moved from ITV to Channel 4 by

5775-473: Was ended in 2011 with STV agreeing to pay ITV plc £18 million. The signing of the new affiliation deal has resulted in STV paying a flat fee for all networked programming, and so to drop any programmes is unlikely due to the large costs involved. There are fifteen regional licences, covering fourteen regions (there are separate weekday and weekend licences for the London region), and one national licence for

5852-498: Was owned by five companies, of which two, Carlton and Granada had become major players by owning between them all the franchises in England, Wales, the Scottish borders and the Isle of Man. That same year, the two merged to form ITV plc with the only subsequent acquisitions being the takeover of Channel Television , the Channel Islands franchise, in 2011; and UTV, the franchise for Northern Ireland, in 2015. The ITV network

5929-463: Was released on 3 October 2011 in Region 2, and on 5 December 2012 in Region 4. Series Two was released on 27 February 2012 in Region 2, and on 6 March 2013 in Region 4. Series 3–8 of The Royal remain unreleased, as of 2024. Medical drama City Hospital , which first aired in 1951, is usually considered to be the first televised medical drama. (The first serialized medical drama was probably

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