Children's Hospital (BBC TV series)
| Children's Hospital | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Docu-soap[1] |
| Theme music composer | Debbie Wiseman |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jeremy Mills[2] |
| Producer(s) |
Richard Bradley[3] Tracy Cook |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 19 October 1993[3] – early 2000s |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Children's Hospital (ITV series) |
Children's Hospital is a British television fly-on-the-wall documentary series based at the Sheffield Children's Hospital, Birmingham Children's Hospital, and Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.[4] It was broadcast on BBC One between 1993 and the early-2000s.
According to scholar Annette Hill, the series had "all the hallmarks of a docu-soap", saying its "personal, melodramatic stories appeal to viewers, with more than 8 million tuning into the first series, despite widespread criticism from the press."[5] Peter Lee-Wright observes that the series marked a transition in fly-on-the-wall documentaries by shifting the emphasis from the practical considerations onto the "human dramas being played out ... [capturing] the pain of the children ... and their parents' rollercoaster rides."[6]
The theme music was composed by Debbie Wiseman. The music was released as a CD single in 1997, containing full orchestral and piano versions of the theme, alongside the shorter versions used for the opening and closing sequences.[7] The orchestral version was also released on the compilation album World of Sound.[8] A new solo piano performance, titled "Ray of Sunshine", of the theme was included on the 2011 album Wiseman: Piano Stories.[9]
Further reading
- Bradley, Richard; Cook, Tracy; Phillips, Mark (1993). Children's Hospital: The Book of the BBC-TV Series. BBC Worldwide. ISBN 0-563-36972-8.
- Hill, Annette (May 2000). "Fearful and Safe: Audience Response to British Reality Programming". Television & New Media 1 (2): 193–213.
References
- ↑ Born, Georgina (2005). Uncertain Vision: Birt, Dyke and the Reinvention of the BBC. Random House. p. 433.
- ↑ Kent, Simon (2001). Getting a top job in-- the arts & media. Kogan Page Publishers. p. 76.
- 1 2 "CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL". BFI. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ↑ "TV hospital that became a beacon of hope". The Telegraph. 30 January 2001. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ↑ Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: audiences and popular factual television. Routledge. p. 28. ISBN 0-415-26152-X.
- ↑ Lee-Wright, Peter (2009). The Documentary Handbook. Taylor & Francis. p. 110. ISBN 0-415-43402-5.
- ↑ BBC Worldwide, BMG, 743214758922
- ↑ Big George. "DEBBIE WISEMAN: TV & Film Composer Extraordinaire". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ↑ Debbie Wiseman: Piano Stories, 2011, Warner Classics