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 Good Life

The mere mention of this series name is likely to bring a very large smile to the faces of British sitcom fans, for The Good Life is one of the few series that is considered a true classic.

Also released in 1975

Dr. Gregory House is an antisocial, pain killer addict, witty and arrogant who helps his team of doctors solve puzzling cases

Also tagged Medical Drama

The District Nurse

In a poverty-stricken Welsh mining town in the 1920s, a nurse has to fight for respect and recognition

Also tagged Medical Drama

ER TV series

ER first hit the television screens with all the speed and force of an express train in 1994, and immediately earned the label of 'rock 'em - sock 'em' television, hardly giving the viewer a chance to catch breath as each story-line unfolded.

Also tagged Medical Drama

Dr Finlay's Casebook

Based on a series of stories 'The Adventures of a Black Bag' by Dumbartonshire born novelist A. J. Cronin, Doctor Finlay's Casebook proved to be an instant hit with viewers in spite of stiff competition from US exports Dr Kildare and Ben Casey.

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

Survivors

A pandemic leaves the world population devastated.

Also released in 1975

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

My Son Rueben

A middle-aged man, still living at home with his mother, is completely under her thumb.

Also released in 1975