The Casualty List

BRITAIN'S favourite medical drama Casualty has just celebrated its 250th episode.

The blood, the gore, the heartbreak and the happiness that have stalked the fictional corridors of Holby City Hospital for over 12 years have never lost their appeal.

More than 12 million people still tune in every week - and over the years have seen a galaxy of stars-in-the-making rushing through the corridors of Britain's most famous accident and emergency department.

Kate Winslet, Kathy Burke and Minnie Driver are just some of the names who've gone from Holby City to Hollywood.

Before winning an Oscar for hit film My Left Foot, actress Brenda Fricker played no-nonsense nurse Megan in the series - and made a return to the show last year for the wedding of chief nurse Charlie Fairhead and Doctor "Baz" Hayes.

And Robson Green, star of TV's Touching Evil and Grafters, spent two years playing cheeky Geordie porter Jimmy Powell before rising to fame in Soldier Soldier in 1991 with Jerome Flynn - who also featured in an early episode.

Minnie Driver, Oscar-nominated for her role in Good Will Hunting alongside Hollywood hunk Matt Damon, has also been in the show as has Pete Postle- thwaite, star of cinema blockbusters Amistad, The Lost World and Brassed Off.

Other stars who've made guest appearances include Absolutely Fabulous' Julia Sawalha, Cold Feet actress Helen Baxendale, actor Hywell Bennett, Coronation Street favourite Roy Barraclough and actresses Susan Penhaligon and Dora Bryan.

Rebecca Wheatley, who currently plays Casualty receptionist Amy Howard, said: "The amount of performers who started off on the show is immense - and as we have such strong storylines we also attract fantastic guest artists, which all adds to its continuing success."

To mark the 250th episode, the BBC invited some of the old cast back to recall their memories in a one-off documentary called The Full Medical.

Titanic star Kate Winslet, who appeared in the show seven years ago, says: "I remember reading the script and thinking 'God what a great part'.

"I played the girlfriend of a guy who was sexually abusing his little sister. But he was doing it because his father had sexually abused him."

Ballykissangel star Dervla Kirwan played a woman rushed into hospital after getting caught up in football violence in a 1990 episode. She says: "My character had to have a tracheotomy which was very, very scary.

"I remember seeing a real scalpel going through the plastic flesh they used and thinking there was only a little piece of gauze between me and the scalpel - and praying it would work."

Veteran actor Frank Windsor, who appeared in 1993 as a gay man whose partner had had a heart attack, says: "If they're offered a part in Casualty most actors would do it because it's got a good name, it's got a good audience and it's great that you can do something totally different from what you've been doing before."

The idea for the show was dreamed up by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, and the first episode was broadcast in September, 1986. Paul says: "Jeremy and I had been friends for a while, worked in theatre together and had both had experience of being in hospital.

"At that point, we were both very, very hard up and we used to joke that it would be great to do something that would make money.

"Jeremy had just started working as a BBC script editor and, as we both had strong political feelings, we decided to do something about the health service as at that time it was in real jeopardy under the Thatcher Government." From the start, scandal was never far away. Shortly after the series began, the then Health Minister Edwina Currie claimed it was left- wing propaganda.

At the start of its second run, it was even reported that it was to be killed off. Cathy Shipton, who has played nurse Lisa Duffin for more than 150 episodes, recalls: "It was very anti-Government, anti- cuts and pro-NHS. Some of the characters made very political speeches.

"It all came to a head when I got a letter from the BBC saying they were 'letting us go'.

"Then the BBC had a change of heart about axing it, but they had to decide whether we were going to go all mumsy like a cottage hospital - or make the show look less like people standing at Speakers' Corner. What happened was that it just became more subversive.

"There would be people lying around on trolleys and somebody would just say one line like 'there's no beds for them,' which would have the same effect of highlighting cutbacks and the pressure nurses were forced to work under."

Cathy believes the show's success comes from the fact that it is so true to life. "I see Casualty's major strength as being its honesty and it keeps its feet firmly on the ground. There is also the element of sharing secrets with the audience so they might know something before the characters find out.

"Despite what people might believe, the stories are all based on real situations and a strong cast working with good material provides the foundations for a successful show."

THE Full Medical is on BBC1 at 8pm on Wednesday March 17.

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