Casualty

totally amazed, and brilliant love this program

From the very first episode "Gas" I was hooked. The characters were already fully-formed, 3 dimensional human beings, warts and all. A collective of multi-racial, as well as cultural, characters all working for the NHS, and yet even in the first episode, Casualty took great pains in showing the difficulties which can occur in a hospital, politically as well as socially, the difficulties between the staff, the camaraderie, the teamwork, the professionalism, despite either personal or professional difficulties they might be having. It was wonderful.





However, from mid-Season 16 this wonderful foundation which had been meticulously built over the years began to crumble with a sudden change in format, such as switching from the Nursing Staff's perspective to those of the Consultants/Doctors. This began the slide into what Casualty is today - a glorified, stomach-churning SOAP that the PTBs consistently decline to admit to (despite giving numerous interviews to the SOAP rags). The Paramedics became glorified taxi drivers, the nursing staff became bed pan operators, the walk-in area and therefore the receptionist became almost non-existent, the porters became wheelchair attendants, but the Doctors/Consultants, well they became the department's White Knights in shining Armour, the glory makers of the department and everyone else were their skivvies.





It breaks my heart that after 24+ years of watching this program I have had to stop because it is that abysmal now. Not one of the characters are believable or inspirational now, save Charlie Fairhead. Gone are the days when Casualty had something to say, whether it was political, social or personal and TV is less smarter because of that.





Casualty may still be walking and talking, but the heart and the mind of the program are long since dead and have become a zombie of what Casualty first started out as. So so sad

Caasualty must be the best hospital drama on the televison and thats coming form a 14 year old girl.


i do not mind all the blood and gust in fact i find it interessting.


it always has a interesting story line i have never saw a epsiode where i have been bored and turned it off. i like it when the bring in new doctors and nurse and some are like 'how muh do u bet why she got kick out the old hospital'


i'm like can this get any better well done the one thing the can do a bit better is not just maje it a one week thing i think they should think about maybe do it on the wednesday as well as there is nothing gd on a wednesday


well done Casualty keep it up

I used to love casualty Its real Drama. The Characters i used to love were Selena, Harry, Maggie and Stich. But Now they have left it isnt the same at alll and the story lines are fading with there dramacticness! I guess its still good but i miss them guys soo much they for me Made casualty what it was!





Liz carling is a great actoress and playes selena AMAZINLY i loved her in it and without it its just not the same i am afraid.! I love her(:





Susan Cookson is another great actoress and was a great accompany to selena there frindship made casualty so great! i love her!(:





Harrry was great and really made casualty exciting love himm Stich was classic!

I've been watching this show for as long as I can remember. Who can forget the eerie siren from that spine tingling theme tune echoing out of their TV screens, Charlie Fairhead rubbing the back of his head in that long white coat and the gritty pollitical storylines of the 80's being shoved in your face all the subtulty of a brick.


Yes, Casualty's back - the world's longest serving medical drama.





Now back for a new series, Casualty has been home to many famous faces down the years (Orlando Bloom, Kate Whinslet, Robson Greene, Brenda Fricker...)home to many explosions, fires, suicides, punch-ups, extreme violence and just the odd broken leg - it has been almost home-less in many instances by the wrath of NHS cuts and corruption and is still standing for another year.





The main focus of the show has been super nurse Charlie Fairhead and his ever passion for the NHS and his staff of nurses, his dedication to his patients and his dry sense of homour. This man is the main reason I still watch and back a few years ago when the writers tried to sideline him, just last year the true Charlie returned once more, fighting for his nurses and the NHS. The show may be a lot different than way back in 1986 when it debuted. "More sex than staples" was the headline in a few papers and the shift from pollitics and gritty medical storylines in favour of younger, sexier docs and nurses getting it on in the office began to creep in, slowly...until it just became a soap with a a hint of medical gargoun and the backdrop an A+E department.


With countless silly love triangles, pointless laughable deaths and no need for for medical accuracy, Casualty had become a farce. But nevertheless, recently the pollitical focus and more patient orientated story lines have come back and it now seems more like the Casualty of old.


Current chararacters Ruth, Toby, Adam, Abs and ofcourse Charlie are my favourites and last series had more good episodes than bad.





Continuity, character development and the horrible modern theme tune are it's downside still, but they are working on it and I suggest if you've left Casualty years ago now might be a good time to go back becasue it definalty has improved heaps since 2003-2007.





LONG LIVE CASUALTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even in Series One this program ,although very different back then, was a great show with highly entertaining storylines and characters. Classic characters like Duffy and Charlie are casualty and you cannot call yourself a fan if you don't know who they are. My personal favoured series is 15. It had two main gripping storylines. I preferred the one with Duffy and Andrew. They way they acted around each other after Duffy got pregnant again was so realistic. Andrew was played brilliantly and acted like a typical man who blamed the wife and refused to accept that he played a part. The sadness was not long after he did accept the fact she was pregnant and decided he wanted a baby he was killed. Yes some storylines may be repeated but i bet very view realise unless they have watched nearly all episodes of the program. But It has lost some of its regular viewers but getting rid of classic character and forgetting about the ones we like best by constantly brining new ones in that we don't want to know about. Despite this to me Casualty is still the best television show on Tv.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I used to be a total Casualty addict – I’m over that phase in my life now!





After discovering more fast-paced, less repetitive and better scripted shows where the characters have better chemistry and are more realistic, I stopped watching. Casualty simply didn’t interest me anymore.





Now that the show has been running for over 20 series it has become monotonous, especially since it started being shown every week without a hiatus.





One of the other reasons I turned off was that the cast was constantly changing. The end of series 19 where Bex left on a boat and Claire went ‘slightly’ crazy and plunged her car into the sea really brought about the death of this show for me and that’s when I stopped watching it regularly. After that all the paramedics left (Woody, Nina, Comfort & Luke) and I couldn’t be bothered with it anymore.





The only reason I gave it such a high rating is because from series 16 (When I started watching properly) till series 19, it was a great show.

Saturday night casualty used to be brilliant, but i feel that it has lost its way a bit. I think that a lot of this is too do with the characters. In the days of Lara, Patrick, Holly and Barney, the show had character and great storys, we had Hollys stalker, and then they went and killed off Patrick. Since then the character replacements havent been the same. since Josh the paramedic left we were introduced to Dixie, and Cyd, who i dont care about. Tears were shed when Patrick died and Josh was stabbed, now i dont care about the characters for the programme to mean as much as it used to.

After watching Casualty for many years i have found the show becomming increasingly less interesting. I used to watch it all the time but now i dont really care if i miss a few episodes. When a really great storyline comes along, say the death of Ellen and injuring of Josh, the program gets really interesting but the rest of the episodes also need to reach that kind of standard which they have since, continually failed to reach. all in all i still find the program interesting and feel it has another few years of life left.

It's been so long you may be beginning to wonder why is Casualty still going??? It's because the show is everything you want it to. While sticking faithfully to the medical side it still manages to deliver the romance, the deaths, the betrayals etc. in a new way. YOu'll never see the exact same storyline twice, meaning you'll never get bored or tired of the series. I definitely recommend this show and if you think you won't understand what's going on, you'll be suprised how easy it is to pick up. The series is constantly bringing up new and fresh ideas, some of them you will have never seen before. Definitely a one to watch

Overall I enjoy the show but I think it should pick up a few tips from some of the faster moving shows such as the American 'ER'. Casualty is based more around drama then around medicine in my opinion, but as it is set in the hospital they have the great opportunity for action. Indeed I think the best episodes of Casualty are those where some truly massive accident causes a huge intake of patients and overloads the hospital with work. Better yet, if the staff or hospital itself are involved in the accident, which seems to happen quite often. These special higher budget episodes still find room to keep the drama but they turn a mundane dialogue based show into a more exciting watch. Still, I would say that the concentration on drama is good for the majority of episodes as we do need the characters to be developed before we see them getting stuck into these situations.

It used to be a really good show but it has started to go downhill and if they do indeed close HolbyED and end the show for good it would be about time. but also, though i don't watch the show as much as i used to because it got boring and they were doing far too many episodes on the one storyline if it did go for good i would be dissapointed as i have watched it since i was little.


My favourite character at the moment is Alice. I love how timid she is and her crush on Guppy is so sweet. I think Sam likes alice tho. I hope Alice realizes that Sam likes her and they get together because Guppy can be nasty and moody at times.


Oh well thats all i can think of for now.

I do like Casualty very much, i watch the older "classic" episodes on UKTV Gold sometimes and i never miss an episode, recent storylines have got me hooked. But the one thing i have too say is, are they losing their creativity, because they've went back to the original Theme Tune, which is spookily annoying. Though i have to admit, most of the episodes and episode titles are original.

I think that Casualty is Fantastic. Every episode is full of action. I think that it has to be one of the best hospital dramas around. The storylines are always good and each episode is different. There is never a dull moment in Casualty. Saturdays are boring without it. It is fab.

This hasn't always been my favrouite program. when i was 5 (very young!) i was scared of it. but when i was 6 ( stiil very young) i watched it again and understood it more so loved it ! know i don't go a week without watching it ... Even abroad i saw it. It's charters stroylines are brilliant . One of my favroutie ones is Duffy's 3rd pregnancy and Andrew's murder. It is a real eye opener. It lets you see illnesses you've never heard of ! I love this program but some episodes ( that are good) go over the top for example . Sereis 15 the final . The stacker thing was fine but Andrew's murder aswell was over the top. ( but we love them for it) I've got lods of people who hated the program adicted to it by watching either old or new episodes! So if you don't like new episode watch old ones!

These days, it's not normal for a show to be original and have new storylines every week. Most shows copy eachother and constantly go over the same storylines every couple of months. However, Casualty doesn't do that. One week there's a road accident, next week there's a building collapsing. The show isn't just great because of the obvious traumas that happen, there's also alot of great storylines and dilemmas for the staff of the hospital to deal with. For example marriages, divorces, pregnancies, affairs.


Also, Casualty deals with medical issues that could help people in real-life. It can also help the viewers be prepared for problems and solutions on what to do if you're ever in trouble.


Casualty isn't over the top. It deals with situations that can easily arise in real-life.

Casualty is a staple of Saturday night viewing. Though the cast has changed many times, there are still the old regular characters who seem to have been working at Holby General Hospital since the dawn of time. Every noe and then they 'go to Canada' (a euphemism for 'ask for more money and gt refused') but characters like Charlie and Duffy will never really travel far.





Every episode still starts with the set-ups. Such a small child walking off on his own towards a burning car, or a young girl ice-skating and boasting about how she never falls down and gets her face sliced with a skate blade. It's only a matter of time before they are being wheeled into triage with a concerned friend or relative dragging a laboured backstory behind them.





Unlike their sister drama Holby City, the Casualty staff seem to find time to treat patients between their rape ordeals, drug addictions, run-ins with the Estonian mafia, racist attacks, failed marriages and rows with the bed manager. Every now and then they will solve a mystery, or reveal a great secret, like part-time Miss Marples in scrubs.





Yes, it's slightly ridiculous compared to the gritty realism of ER, where patients are regularly shot or given Ebola, but the cases of measles and babies swallowing marbles are light relief from the countless surgical dramas that come from across the pond intent on making our stomachs churn. Long live Casualty!

I remember watching Casualty as a little kid on a saturday night. The show was on top, it had realistic injuries, it had a darker atmosphere. The staff had the morbid humour that you found in hospitals. There were real everyday accidents blended in with the one horrific, most of the time fatal accident.


Now...it's pure soap and it's boring. Suddenly all the staff have graduated from modelling school. The patients seem to know more about their condition than the medics. Every week there's a pile up or stabbing, and now we have to be interested in what the doctors house looks like or what car they're driving.


Since when has then been entertaining. I liked the fact that all the action, in the original 80's version, started at the doors of A&E and ended there too.


It was alright introducing Paramedics more, because more cases are dealt by PMs, but the paramedic and nurse relationship doesn't happen. Who wants to work with you, sleep with you and then marry you. Its boring and its nothing but propaganda for the NHS.

The British have a great knack for producing some of the worlds longest running television programmes, that bring excitement and entertainment to the masses for generations. Dr Who now back after a brief hieatus is about to celebrate its forty-second year, and later this year stalwart soap opera Coronation Street became the worlds longest running drama weighing in at a healthy 45 years of constant broadcasting. Another long running drama to hail from Britain is the hit series Casualty set in and around the fictional town of Holby, and the exploits and lives of the nurses, doctors and paramedics who work tirelessly to heal the sick and patch up the injured.





First broadcast in 1986 the show follows a similar format to other medical dramas from around the world, but has certain elements that set it aside and allow the programme to give other more bigger budget dramas such as ‘ER’ a real run for their money. Though originally intended as a one off drama series, the show proved so popular that it was picked up for a second series and is now into its 20th season and has showcased such acting talents as Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom, Emma Thompson and many others who would go onto greater things.





The show centres around the busy Accident and Emergency (A&E) department of Holby City hospital, and the staff who work there. Charlie Fairhead (played by Derek Thompson of the Long Good Friday fame), a senior nurse who begins the series as a happy go lucky character, who tends to lean to more militant attitudes with his views of how the NHS (National Health Service) should be run and its nurses treated. For many years Charlie has been the central character, rising in position to that of Clinical Nurse specialist, and although he has been the hub of the series since the very first episode, he is not the only character. Over the years many nurses and doctors have come, and gone in Holby, some in very dramatic ways, including murder, explosion, fire and many more gruesome deaths.





The original premise of the show centred around the night shift of the hospital and the problems that the staff faced weekly. In a unique format for this style of programme, each week we would see how the victims of injury would suffer their accidents and what would bring them to the casualty department, and follow their stories, intertwined with those of the staff of the hospital. This led to some very exciting television as we watch a group of teenagers on a school trip make their way home, knowing fully well that some disaster was about to befall them. When the said disaster was a massive traffic pile-up, that also included a van carrying illegal immigrants and one of Holby’s finest young doctors who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, it can only lead to tension and excellent television.





Originally hampered by cheap sets and some poor scripts, over the years the series has gone on to become a stalwart of British television and something of a landmark in the industry. It seems that many young talents cut their teeth on the show before moving on to greater things, or award winning actors are attracted to the show and its spin off Holby, such as Art Malek (True Lies), Robert Powel (Jesus of Nazareth, Tommy) , and Simon MacCorkendale (Manimal, The Colbys) drawing on the wealth of British talent.





In the mid nineties the show was given a complete re-vamp and brought up to the standard it deserves and given far better sets and a larger budget for each season. That said the show has never been one to shirk away from topics that other dramas see as taboo and has dealt with AID’s, rape, murder, incest, among others on more than one occasion, each dealt with tact and never debased, giving real strength to the characters that appear in the show each week, and the dilemmas they deal with.





From huge explosions that rock an airport, to a runaway tanker that smashes headlong into the very hospital itself, viewers are always treated to at least one visual extravaganza each season, and when it happens, the effects will often change the dynamic of the characters for months or years to come. Killing off the family of likeable paramedic Josh Griffiths (played by Ian Bleasdale) had repercussions that would affect the character for many years to come, or a serious train crash would lead to the marriage of two of the most popular characters, and end up with one of them being stabbed to death some months later. Never a dull moment in the city of Holby!





With excellent scripts and some of the best actors that Britain has to offer, Casualty and its sister show Holby have become a staple component in the television diet of millions of people in the UK, and shows very little sign of slowing down yet. A more recent venture has been to merge the two shows together for one-off episodes that are even more dramatic than normal if such a thing is possible. Whichever we look at it though, Casualty and Holby are here for a good while yet, as after all there is always someone who needs patching up after a night on the town!

i think the storyline with woody and his 'SON' is a brilliant storyline, i hope Jasdoes resign quietly, his is guilty for those drugs trials and Harry is guilty of nothing. with nina's old love turns up at holby it think that it will turn out to ba great storyline.