Emergency Ward 10 - Theme Tune & The Famous Interracial Kiss - ATV 1964

Описание: Emergency Ward 10 - the very first TV soap ser in a hospital in Britain. Made by ATV at their Elstree/Borehamwood studios, it ran from 1957 to 1967 on ITV. It also spawned a 1959 film called 'Life In Emergency Ward 10'.
The famous interracial kiss in 1964 between Dr Giles Farmer (John White) and Dr Louise Mahler (Joan Hooley) was not, as is often thought, the first to be shown on British television. That honour was, until recently, thought to be held by a 1962 Granada/ITV play called You In Your Small Corner. However it is now believed that a 1959 broadcast of Ted Willis's play Hot Summer Night on ITV holds the record.
Sadly, the character of Dr Mahler was later scripted out of Emergency Ward 10. Having been sent 'back' to Africa on holiday she was fatally bitten by a snake! Joan Hooley is in fact a Jamaican-born actress.
Set in a hospital with the very contrived name of 'Oxbridge General', Emergency Ward 10 was compulsory viewing in many households with its two half-hour shows per week for much of its run. When ratings of the show began to wane it was reformatted to a once per week one hour programme, but that did not save it from extinction.
Later Sir Lew Grade regretted having cancelled it and so ATV launched General Hospital (the British version) in its stead in 1972. The format was very deliberately identical to that of its predecessor.
The hospital drama format is of course enduring ... Cardiac Arrest, Casualty, Holby City not to mention all of the American imports.
In 1961 Emergency Ward 10 had a spin-off series 'Call Oxbridge 2000' which was unsuccessful and lasted only 2 series.