Hospital Dramas

As the world’s longest-running prime time TV medical drama Casualty turns 40, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode look at the small screen’s long love affair with hospitals.

Mark speaks to media academic Dr Hannah Hamad about the evolution of the hospital drama, from the reassuring bedside manner of 1950s and 60s series like Dr Kildare and Emergency Ward 10, to the relentless intensity of American hits ER and The Pitt.

Ellen talks to psychiatrist-turned-screenwriter Dr Grace Ofori-Attah about Malpractice, the ITV drama she began writing while still working as a junior doctor, and about the relationship between the realities of modern medicine and the stories we see on screen.

And to mark Casualty's 40th anniversary, Ellen also speaks to the series creators, Paul Unwin and Jeremy Brock, about its origins, the controversies it has weathered, and why it continues to stay relevant four decades on.

Producer: Jane Long
A Prospect Street production for BBC Radio 4