Casualty 1900s

Casualty 1906
Casualty 1906 title sequence
Genre	Medical drama
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	1
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Original airing	3 December 2006
Chronology
Followed by	Casualty 1907

Casualty 1907
Casualty 1907 title sequence
Genre	Medical drama
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	3
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	30 March 2008 – 17 April 2008
Chronology
Preceded by	Casualty 1906 (Pilot)
Followed by	Casualty 1909

Casualty 1909
Casualty 1909 title sequence
Genre	Medical drama
Directed by	Bryn Higgins (eps 1–3); Mark Brozel (eps 4–6)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	6
Production
Producer(s)	Bryn Higgins
Running time	58 Minutes
Production company(s)	Stone City Films
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One BBC HD
Original run	14 June 2009 (2009-06-14) – 19 July 2009 (2009-07-19)
Chronology
Preceded by	Casualty 1907

Casualty 1900s (broadcast in the U.S. as "London Hospital") is a British hospital drama spin-off miniseries, broadcast by the BBC.

It places the viewer in the Receiving Room of The London Hospital in London's East End. The drama is shot with the pace and action of its modern day counterpart ER, not to be confused with the new US series, The Knick, which also portrays a hospital in the 1900s. In the London Hospital 1900, every case and character is based on real cases, characters and events taken from the actual hospital records, nurses' Ward Diaries and intimate memoirs. Casualty 1909, like its preceding series, is an unbroken experience of life with pioneering doctors and nurses a hundred years ago amongst the desperately poor.

It began with a single episode of Casualty 1906, followed by three episodes of Casualty 1907, and six episodes of Casualty 1909.^[1]

Episodes

Casualty 1907

Episode one

Nurse Ada Russell has to decide whether or not to take the job of Ward Sister of Wellington ward, as it threatens to spoil her engagement to Dr James Walton. The hospital is using a radical new technique, ultra-violet light, to treat skin disease caused by unsanitary living conditions in the East End. Queen Alexandra visits with her sister the dowager empress of Russia to see the hospital.^[2]

Episode two

Probationer Ethel Bennett goes through a night of rising tension as she nurses Thomas Hooley, the injured docker whose leg wounds are not healing. She clashes with ward sister Ada Russell, who is overwhelmed by the strain of running of a large, busy ward and worried about her true feelings for her fiance. Nobby Clark, leader of the violent Blind Beggar Gang, is hospitalised with alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, aged just 15. Driven mad by cravings and nightmares, his path crosses with Ada with unexpected results.^[3]

Episode three

With the hospital facing imminent financial collapse, chairman Sydney Holland launches an inspired campaign to raise money. The cost of building the modern city is revealed when workers on the new Rotherhithe Tunnel are admitted with agonising diver's bends. Ethel, working in the receiving room, contracts scarlet fever from a patient.^[4]

Casualty 1909

Episode one

Revolution grips the East End as an explosion brings fears of a bomb, and Ethel Bennett and Dr Millais Culpin struggle to control the angry victims. When detectives arrive, Matron Luckes and Chairman Sydney Holland fear the hospital is in danger of becoming an extension of Scotland Yard. Meanwhile, Sister Ada Russell battles with irascible star surgeon Mr Henry Dean, whose addiction to cocaine is an open secret. And ambitious young Dr Ingrams faces catastrophe in the operating theatre.^[2]

Episode two

A scandal brews as Nurse Goodley suspects that Mr Dean is ignoring the terrible side-effects of a new anaesthetic, and battles internally as whether she should risk everything and turn whistleblower. Sister Ada Russell copes with her first day in reception following reassignment. Nurse Bennett fears that her secret alliance with Dr Culpin has been discovered when Matron Luckes sends her into private nursing.^[3]

Episode three

The strain of being 'married to the hospital' takes its toll on Sister Ada Russell, as she nears collapse. On one of the London's Jewish wards, Nurse Goodley finds herself increasingly drawn to the charismatic radical Saul Landau – but Saul has a life-threatening illness.^[4]

Episode four

Sister Russell discovers the secret of probationer Nellie Bowers when she catches her sneaking out to see a mysterious young man. The London admits a woman brought in wearing pauper's clothes yet with silk underwear underneath. Meanwhile, the brilliant pioneer Dr Henry Head commits to performing a dangerous experiment on himself.^[5]

Episode five

Dr Culpin is powerless to help when Ethel Bennett rushes to her dying brother in a naval hospital. Star surgeon Mr Dean faces destruction through his cocaine addiction. Sister Russell breaks the strict rules of Matron Luckes when she sneaks out of the London to help a young mother.^[6]

Episode six

All the secrets burst open, as Matron Luckes clashes with Sister Russell for leaving the London to help a family in the slums, while Dr Culpin clashes with Bennett for giving up studying to be a doctor. Mr Dean, supposedly clean, returns to work in the Operating Theatre. In the dead of night a sweatshop catches fire, bringing in scores of injured children, and the staff struggle to avert tragedy.^[7]

Medicine as portrayed in Casualty 1900s

Casualty 1900s portrays the use of early anesthesia, predominately chloroform and ether, the first standardised use of spinal anesthesia, and the growing need for trained anesthetists. No electronical equipment means doctors have to physically check a patient's pulse during surgery. CPR is largely based on the Silvester Method in which a patient's arms are raised above their head and then back down in an effort to stimulate muscles.

With penicillin still undiscovered, infections such as Erysipelas are largely incurable. Emphasis is placed on keeping wards and operating theatres clean.

The hospital is shown to have an X-ray room complete with X-ray machine. At the time protection against radiation emitted from such a machine was inadequate, little more than a thick pair of gloves was standard. Earnest Wilson, portrayed by Jason Watkins, was one of Britain's first radiologists and is shown with burns to both hands due to the unsafe levels with which he must work.

Broadcast

Casualty 1907 was broadcast on BBC One. After the initial broadcast of each episode, they were repeated four days afterwards but only in certain areas.

Episode	Channel	Broadcast date	Viewer avg.	Share	Refs
One	BBC One	30 March 2008	6.7 million	27%	[2][8]
Two	BBC One	6 April 2008	5.3 million	22%	[3][9]
Three	BBC One	13 April 2008	3.5 million	14%	[4][10]

Casualty 1909 was broadcast on Sunday nights through June and July 2009 at 9pm on BBC One and – a first for the Casualty 1900s series – BBC HD. February 2011 saw the series broadcast on BBC Entertainment in Europe, South Africa, U.A.E & Israel as London Hospital.

Episode	Broadcast date	Channels	Viewer avg.	Share	Refs
One	14 June 2009	BBC One & BBC HD	3.5 million	16%	[2][11]
Two	21 June 2009	BBC One & BBC HD	3.1 million	13%	[3][12]
Three	28 June 2009	BBC One & BBC HD	3.1 million	13%	[4][13]
Four	5 July 2009	BBC One & BBC HD	3.3 million	14%	[5][14]
Five	12 July 2009	BBC One & BBC HD	2.9 million	12%	[6][15]
Six	19 July 2009	BBC One & BBC HD	3.3 million	15%	[7][16]

DVD release

The complete Casualty 1900s series has been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK. The DVD comprises Casualty 1906, Casualty 1907 and Casualty 1909.

Cast

References

External links

• Casualty 1909 at BBC Programmes
• Stone City Films
• Casualty 1909 at the Internet Movie Database