The Royal to be released on DVD

The first series of ITV medical drama The Royal is set to be released on DVD.

The 1960s based hospital saga was a spin-off from the long-running Heartbeat and like its parent show aired on Sunday evenings on ITV. The Royal launched in 2003 with crossovers between the two dramas often occurring in its early years with Bill Maynard reprising his role of Claude Greengrass in the Yorkshire Television production. As The Royal established itself though crossovers with its parent series became less frequent.

The Royal, along with Heartbeat, was cancelled by ITV due to declining figures. The two dramas had seen their ratings plummet to around 4 million viewers prompting the broadcaster to cull both shows with the final episode of The Royal airing earlier this year.

Now fans will have the chance to enjoy the series from the very beginning with the first season due to be released on DVD in early October. So far seven series of Heartbeat has been released on DVD with more likely to follow.

Heartbeat launched in 1992 as a vehicle for Nick Berry, who had departed BBC One soap EastEnders.