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The Royal
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The Royal is a British medical drama. The serial television show features one hour episodes aired by ITV. The title refers to the fictional "St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital", which is located in the rural seaside town of Elsinby close to Whitby, Scarborough and Aidensfield. The town serves both the local farmers and townsfolk and visiting holidaymakers. The show is set in the 1960s and is filmed in the North Yorkshire holiday resort of Scarborough.
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Encyclopedia
The Royal is a British medical drama. The serial television show features one hour episodes aired by ITV. The title refers to the fictional "St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital", which is located in the rural seaside town of Elsinby close to Whitby, Scarborough and Aidensfield. The town serves both the local farmers and townsfolk and visiting holidaymakers. The show is set in the 1960s and is filmed in the North Yorkshire holiday resort of Scarborough. It is a spin-off show from the popular ITV show Heartbeat. Current stars include Wendy Craig, and Amy Robbins.
Overview
The Royal was introduced in the 14th episode of the 12th series of Heartbeat entitled 'Out Of The Blue', and The Royal benefited from this connection to the extremely popular parent series; several Heartbeat characters appeared in the first couple of series of The Royal, most notably Bill Maynard as a bed-ridden Claude Greengrass, but as the series progressed it generally dropped its character crossovers with Heartbeat to become its own entity.
The majority of the plots centre around medical emergencies and the moral dilemmas created or exposed by the emergencies. Typically there are several on-going crises, each being confronted by one or more staff members. The show tends to avoid political topics on the whole although the Vietnam War was touched upon in one episode, the conflict between progressive and conservative social ideals is central to the show and these issues were addressed in greater detail in season 5 following the arrival of the black woman Doctor Joan Makori, who joined The Royal in episode 49. She later departed for Cameroon in episode 55 with Nkeshi the Biafran refugee. The ethical challenges and social changes faced by the hospital staff and their patients mirror those faced by the world in the 1960s.
The Royal appears to be set primarily in 1969 and includes references to events such as the coming of colour television and the Vietnam War. Like Heartbeat, all road tax discs bear the expiry date "DEC 69". However anachronisms sometimes appear, such as characters in the series 7 episode "To Love & To Lose" referring to "the new Beatles film" (there was no new Beatles film that year). Some such anachronisms are likely to be accidental, such as a reference in the same episode to a career "glass ceiling", a phrase not coined until some years later.
There is one on-going and as yet unsolved mystery in The Royal: Matron's real name. She has never used a name throughout the series, nor has she ever been referred to by one (even her niece only refers to her as "auntie"). All that is known is that her nickname during the Second World War, when she served as a nurse, was "Toffee".
Filming often takes place on Scarborough South Cliff by Holbeck Clock Tower during the summer months. Many of the old cars used in the filming can be seen residing at the Motor Museum at Thornton-le-Dale just outside Scarborough.
12 new episodes have been announced on the ITV The Royal website, this is to be for the 8th season of The Royal due to be shown on ITV screens in 2009. Location filming in Scarborough is due to commence mid-July 2008.
Trivia
- The telephone number for The Royal back in the late 60's was Elsinby 3323, and there was no Tuesday Evening Surgery.
- The code to the safe in Mr. Middleditch's office (which is now under the command of Adam Carnegie) is 1886, which is the same year The Royal was founded.
- Episode 05.09 in the Series 5 Presspack is clearly titled "Winners & Losers". However, in the opening credits, the episode title that appears on screen is "Winners & Loser".
- An illustrated booklet by Dr Edward Black giving a full history of "The Royal", Red Court, its owner Alfred Shuttleworth, and a history of Scarborough is available from the Clock Cafe, Scarborough Information Centres, Scarborough Library, Stephen Joseph Theatre - and the ice cream man outside Redcourt @ £4.
- The interior scenes are filmed at St Luke's Hospital Bradford, in the now disused Maternity Wing. It was chosen because it had not been updated in many years, and was very similar to how a 1960s hospital would have appeared.
- St Luke's Hospital Bradford was the Bradford Workhouse, and was a military hospital during and after WW1.
- The second half of Series 6 and 7 aired on DR1 in Denmark and a PBS station in the U.S before being broadcast in the UK, even though the UK produces the series.
Cast
Current cast
Extras
| Actor | Character | Duration |
|---|
| Tara Berwin | Katie Ormerod #2 | Series 6 | | Thomas Fox | Tom Ormerod #2 | Series 6 | | Joseph Lamb | Jonathan Ormerod | Series 6 | | Amy Walker | Walking Wounded | Series 7 | | Rachel Horner | Walking Wounded | Series 7 | | Elizabeth Graydon | Injured Swim Team Member | Series 7 |
Previous cast members
Episode list
Production suspended
The Royal returned with the remaining episodes from the 7th season from 14 December 2008. The last episode screened 4 January 2009, however, 3 episodes are left remaining of the 7th series. A new series is expected to be on screens later on in 2009, this however may be the last series as production of both Heartbeat and The Royal have now been suspended. Now announced on 4th March 2009 because of job losses for ITV Yorkshire Studios, that the future of The Royal and Heartbeat are in doubt
Fans have started a petition to save The Royal from being axed.
The Royal Today
A daytime spin-off, The Royal Today, comprising fifty thirty-minute episodes featuring the staff of The Royal set in the present day aired in January 2008, at the present moment there is no news of a second series.
External links
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