Angels

1975 - United Kingdom

Created by writer Paula Milne, Angels chronicled the personal and professional lives of six student nurses based at the fictitious St Angela's Hospital in London's Battersea district, from 1975-1983 on BBC1. 

Dubbed the Z-Cars of nursing by some critics due to its authentic semi-documentary approach, the series, over the course of its successful run, acted as a valuable training ground for a number of young gifted actresses such as Fiona Fullerton, Kathryn Apanowicz and Shirley Cheriton (EastEnders), Lesley Dunlop (May to December) and Pauline Quirke (Birds of a Feather), all of whom would later go on to consolidate the promise exhibited during their time with the series. Other notable behind the scenes production personnel who lent their talents to the series were writers Anne Valery and Deborah Mortimer and experienced directors such as Tristran de Vere Cole, Derek Martinus and future EastEnders supremo, Julia Smith. 

The series began as a 50-minute drama series but changed to two half-hour episodes a week in 1979 and exterior scenes were shot in the grounds of St. James's Hospital, Balham. With its winning combination of the soap opera-like personal lives of the young nurses and the often starkly detailed and harrowing medical aspects of its drama, Angels was a slickly produced series that can now be seriously regarded as the all-important bridge between the gentler medical series of the 1960s such as Emergency-Ward 10 and the intense, harder edged offering that followed such as in Casualty and A&E.

Published on November 27th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

The Charmer

Minor public schoolboy, social climber, seducer of women and eternal seeker after the main chance...

Also starring Fiona Fullerton

Smuggler

A former naval officer turned smuggler, who operates with a Robin Hood-like sense of justice, is at odds with both local criminals and the authorities, earning him the ire of rival gangs and the watchful eye of the law

Also starring Lesley Dunlop

St Elsewhere

Hospital fights for its reputation in a rundown inner city.

Also tagged Medical Drama

Poldark

Winston Graham's series of historical novels published from 1945 to 1953 and again from 1973 to 2002, was one of the most successful British television adaptations of all time having been sold to over forty countries.

Also released in 1975

Broadchurch

A seemingly calm and friendly seaside town becomes a town wrapped in secrets when the death of an eleven-year-old boy sparks an unwanted media frenzy

Also starring Pauline Quirke

Down the 'Gate tv series

Sitcom starring Reg Varney as a porter in Billingsgate fish market

Also released in 1975

Season's Greetings

Alan Ayckbourn's dark, often farcical comedy about nine people who spend four days together over the Christmas period in the hope of having a pleasant family celebration together, only to find they fail dismally...

Also starring Lesley Dunlop

Birds of a Feather

Sitcom in which sisters Sharon and Tracey are left alone to fend for themselves following each of their husband's imprisonment for armed robbery. As if that wasn't bad enough, they also have to contend with nosey next door neighbour, Dorien.

Also starring Pauline Quirke

Shine on Harvey Moon

Second World War drama concentrating on what happened to servicemen their families after they returned home.

Also starring Pauline Quirke