Post by RitaLittlewood on Feb 19, 2007 13:07:27 GMT
From Media Guardian:
Casualty 1906 to become series
Ben Dowell
Monday February 19, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk
The BBC is developing a historical drama series based on last year's one-off show Casualty 1906, which recreated life in the Royal London Hospital at the beginning of the last century.
The hour-long episode, using the Casualty brand to make a historical drama, was one of the surprise hits of last year. It drew more than 5 million viewers to BBC1 when it was shown last December.
The series is being developed by in-house BBC specialist factual executive producer Martin Davidson, who commissioned the pilot.
The independent Stone City Films, who made the pilot, will also make the new series. It is expected to run to around six episodes.
Like the pilot, it will use contemporary case notes, ward reports, autopsy records and diaries.
The pilot was strictly based on events that happened at the east London hospital, using them to fashion a drama set in the days leading up to Christmas 1906.
It included themes familiar to the modern-day drama Casualty - such as violence, suicide, drink, drugs and illicit romantic liaisons - in a historical setting, where people's understanding of X-rays and effective operations was in its infancy.
It is not yet clear if the series will feature the same cast as the pilot, which included Cherie Lunghi as the stern matron Eva Luckes. Luckes was, in real life, a friend and disciple of Florence Nightingale.
Lunghi was supported by At Home with the Braithwaites actor Sarah Smart, playing nurse Ada Russell, and relative newcomer Tom Riley, who took the role of the dashing Dr James Walton.
A BBC spokeswoman confirmed that the project was in development, but said that it had not yet been commissioned. A senior source in the BBC's history department confirmed that a commission for BBC1 was "a virtual certainty", and would "probably comprise six episodes".
Casualty 1906 to become series
Ben Dowell
Monday February 19, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk
The BBC is developing a historical drama series based on last year's one-off show Casualty 1906, which recreated life in the Royal London Hospital at the beginning of the last century.
The hour-long episode, using the Casualty brand to make a historical drama, was one of the surprise hits of last year. It drew more than 5 million viewers to BBC1 when it was shown last December.
The series is being developed by in-house BBC specialist factual executive producer Martin Davidson, who commissioned the pilot.
The independent Stone City Films, who made the pilot, will also make the new series. It is expected to run to around six episodes.
Like the pilot, it will use contemporary case notes, ward reports, autopsy records and diaries.
The pilot was strictly based on events that happened at the east London hospital, using them to fashion a drama set in the days leading up to Christmas 1906.
It included themes familiar to the modern-day drama Casualty - such as violence, suicide, drink, drugs and illicit romantic liaisons - in a historical setting, where people's understanding of X-rays and effective operations was in its infancy.
It is not yet clear if the series will feature the same cast as the pilot, which included Cherie Lunghi as the stern matron Eva Luckes. Luckes was, in real life, a friend and disciple of Florence Nightingale.
Lunghi was supported by At Home with the Braithwaites actor Sarah Smart, playing nurse Ada Russell, and relative newcomer Tom Riley, who took the role of the dashing Dr James Walton.
A BBC spokeswoman confirmed that the project was in development, but said that it had not yet been commissioned. A senior source in the BBC's history department confirmed that a commission for BBC1 was "a virtual certainty", and would "probably comprise six episodes".
