The Royal Wiki



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A dedicated staff of doctors and nurses care for patients at the St. Aidan's Royal Free Hospital in the seaside town of Elsinby, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire in this spin off of the popular British show "Heartbeat." Set in the 1960s, the series focuses on the medical issues faced by patients and the moral dilemmas and emergencies faced by the staff.


 * Doctor Gordon Ormerod
 * Doctor Jill Weatherall
 * Doctor Mike Banner
 * Doctor Nick Burnette
 * Nurse Susie Dixon

Yorkshire Television's The Royal - full name: St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital - was already known to Heartbeat fans as the cottage hospital in nearby Elsinby, one of the locations in Nicholas Rhea's Constable books. The series retains the Heartbeat connection, with The Royal sharing Heartbeat's much loved setting in beautiful Yorkshire and the 1960's period flavour.

But as the focus shifts to the hospital, the date of the story takes on a new significance. One of the features that shapes the Heartbeat stories is Nicholas Rhea's recollection of his early days in the police service, as detailed in his Constable books; the seed for The Royal was likewise, as Executive Producer, Keith Richardson, explains, the realisation that a familiar facet of today's NHS had actually started in the 1960s:

"We came up with an idea called Immediate Care which was about the early paramedics. In the 1960's there was no such thing, ambulances picked up injured people and treatment would not be given until they arrived at the hospital. We decided quite early on to expand on this idea so that the programme revolved around the whole of the hospital. There is quite a lot of impending change in the series. What we have tried to do is show the point at which the NHS started to change our health service."

Setting the series in a cottage hospital allowed this story to be developed among a group of characters, some younger, some older, some keen to innovate and some valuing the traditional strengths of the health service, but all of them individuals with their own lives and stories. As Keith puts it:

"One of the things that has made Heartbeat successful is that it has never really had a star as such, you have lots of interesting characters and there is something for everybody. I think we have the same element in The Royal. We have a wide range of characters, played by some wonderful actors and I'm sure that will appeal to the viewing public."

From Julian Ovenden in the rôle of new broom Dr David Cheriton and Zoie Kennedy to ambitious young staff nurse Meryl Taylor to the well-known (and loved) Wendy Craig as Matron and Ian Carmichael as Hospital Secretary T.J. Middleditch, the cast formed an ensemble which did much to ensure the continuation of The Royal beyond its first series. And of course, there were also some familiar characters putting in an appearance. Heartbeat characters featured in the first series included Bernie Scripps, PC Phil Bellamy, Gina Ward and PC Alf Ventress, David Stockwell; not to mention the irrepressible Claude Jeremiah Greengrass, back from the Tropics with Malaria! The Royal gave Bill Maynard (who plays Greengrass in Heartbeat) the chance to lie in bed and order everyone around as well as causing lots of bother.

Nicholas Rhea comments:

Although The Royal functions as a spin-off from Heartbeat, Keith Richardson and the team were keen to preserve a balance between this connection and the independence of the new show:











