Second series of UK’s General Hospital to be released on DVD

A second volume of episodes of the UK’s General Hospital is to be released on DVD in the Summer.

The ATV soap originally launched as a daytime series in in 1972 but was retooled in 1975 as a prime-time series before being axed in 1979. General Hospital was the successor to ATV’s former medical soap Emergency Ward 10 which ran between 1957 and 1967. The cancellation of EW10 was later regretted by ATV chief Lew Grade who decided to bring the soap back in all but name in 1972.

The daytime soap opera starred Lynda Bellingham, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Patricia Maynard and Judy Loe amongst others. Much like the various medical dramas that would follow later the series featured the personal lives of the nurses and doctors prominently in the storylines.

Although the medical series shares it name with the long-running ABC daytime soap opera there is no connection between the two serials. The ATV version is not, as some sites claim, a remake of the American version.

The series was set in the Midlands but was actually filmed at ATV’s studios in Elstree rather than its Birmingham studios where Crossroads was filmed. General Hospital’s predecessor Emergency Ward 10 was also filmed at Elstree and BBC One’s medical drama Holby City is currently filmed there. In fact the exterior used for Holby City is the same building as used in General Hospital.

The first DVD release of General Hospital was in August of 2012 featuring the surviving episodes from its first season. An episode of General Hospital was also included on the Soap Box DVD box-set which featured episodes from Crossroads, Emmerdale Farm, The Cedar Tree, Families, Rooms, Albion Market, Revelations and London Bridge.

The second volume of General Hospital is due to be released on 24th June though it was previously scheduled for April.

Find out more about General Hospital here >>