Enjoying the best of health
CASUALTY is the longest running emergency medical drama series in the world, and Charlie Fairhead and his fellow co-workers have seen some of the strangest admissions over the years.
There was a squash player who accidentally stabbed herself in the neck with her racquet, a man with shingles who thought he was giving birth to an alien, a fading rock star given an electric shock by his guitar and a holey monk who punctured himself lying on a bed of nails.
Original cast member Derek Thompson plays Charlie, the beating heart of the department, and says: “From day one of Casualty in 1986, I’ve been so proud of its true-to-life storytelling, representing everything the NHS stands for.”
Of course, Charlie himself has suffered a few medical emergencies over the last 35 years. He’s been shot in the chest, suffered a pulmonary embolism and been run over by an ambulance for starters.
The long-running BBC medical drama was launched at a time when the NHS was under increasing pressure and Casualty focused on the lives of the staff in the accident and emergency department of fictional inner-city Holby City Hospital.
It was created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, who were inspired by the “comedy and heroics” of everyday life in the National Health Service. The first series consisted of just 14 episodes and a pilot with the opening episode called Gas seeing the department having to contend with a chemical spill at the docks, awkward patients and a stolen bunch of flowers.
The first series also introduced viewers to characters like Catherine Shipton as Lisa “Duffy” Duffin, Christopher Rozycki as Kuba, Julia Watson as Baz Wilder and Brenda Fricker as soothing nurse Megan Roach. Irish actress Brenda, who went on to win an Oscar in 1990 for her role in the movie My Left Foot with Daniel Day Lewis, once said: “Megan was the mother we all want. Full of love and understanding.”
EPISODE
ONE: (Cathy Shipton) nursing career
Thompson as Charlie Fairhead
OSCAR WINNERS: Brenda Fricker, left, and, in her first role, Kate Winslet
Minnie Driver
ORIGINAL
STAFF:
The A&E
workers introduced us to