General Hospital

[Dadwasinflame]

Have been looking for these series for ages, and I cant seem to find anything on it anywhere, apart from IMDB that is



Remember watching General Hospital in the afternoons when I was at School think it orginally went out every half hour, remember Tony Adams, later Adam Chance in Crossroads , also there was a very tasty nurse, could be Anita Harris ??, and a grumpy consultant called Parker Brown & a caretaker called Caper, played by Arthur English, it later went out every hour on Friday evening in late 70s but didn't last very long at prime time, and had a very catchy theme tune as well, don't think its ever been on vhs/Dvd, such a shame because am sure it was the forerunner to programmes like Holby/Casualty in its own way

[Windyridge]

I remember watching this occasionally and seeing Lynda Bellingham, James Kerry and Judy Buxton. I think the Judy Buxton nurse was having an affair with the James Kerry doctor and I remember a line he said about his soon to be divorced wife "It's difficult, of course I care for her, if you have a dog for 9 years you care about that.." ! God knows why that's stayed with me. Anyway, there were the obligatory crusty old consultant, handsome doctors and pretty-ish nurses - a sort of dramatic Carry On Doctor. Sans Anita Harris, who actually was in the Carry On film.

[Marky B]

name='Dadwasinflame']Have been looking for these series for ages, and I cant seem to find anything on it anywhere, apart from IMDB that is



Remember watching General Hospital in the afternoons when I was at School think it orginally went out every half hour, remember Tony Adams, later Adam Chance in Crossroads , also there was a very tasty nurse, could be Anita Harris ??, and a grumpy consultant called Parker Brown & a caretaker called Caper, played by Arthur English, it later went out every hour on Friday evening in late 70s but didn't last very long at prime time, and had a very catchy theme tune as well, don't think its ever been on vhs/Dvd, such a shame because am sure it was the forerunner to programmes like Holby/Casualty in its own way

I used to enjoy watching this too. I remember one episode in particular where a young (German?) student was admitted to the hospital and they found he had rabies.

Ta Ta

Marky B

[Euryale]

Remember General Hospital quite well. Barbara Kellerman played a nurse in it and Jenny Twigge appeared as a doctor for a while. Both attractive and talented ladies who never seemed to be off the television in the '70s but neither seem to have made a screen appearance for some years.





Barbara





Jenny



Both images are from Wearysloth's website.



Remember Martin Potter being a guest star, playing a racing driver, I think. The late Morag Hood (another lovely and very talented actress) also made an appearance, possibly in the same storyline as Martin.



Unfortunately, all the episodes of this series from 1972-75 appear to be missing from the archives.



E.

[Dadwasinflame]

Cant find anthing anywhere on this, looked on you tube and no clips on there either, not even theme tune



"General Hospital" (1972)

[Euryale]

A little background here:



BFI Screenonline: General Hospital (1972-79)



It would look as though it is the episodes from when the series was shifted to the evening slot that have survived.



E.

[mallee59]

I remember an episode with Joanna Lumley being examined by Tony Adams.......lucky ba.......

[didi-5]

Ah yes, Mr Parker Brown. Who came back in spirit as the wonderful Mr Mayer in early Holby Citys. It must be something about that particular kind of consultant ...



But do any of the episodes still exist? I'm surprised if they do that there hasn't been re-runs as everything hospital is currently popular and even Emergency Ward 10 of all things has made it to DVD.

[Euryale]

name='didi-5']Ah yes, Mr Parker Brown. Who came back in spirit as the wonderful Mr Mayer in early Holby Citys. It must be something about that particular kind of consultant ...



But do any of the episodes still exist? I'm surprised if they do that there hasn't been re-runs as everything hospital is currently popular and even Emergency Ward 10 of all things has made it to DVD.

I answered that in an earlier post, didi-5.



E.

[cornershop15]

A TVTimes listing from 1974, with another reference to The Romper Room:







If Euryale is correct in her information, this is one of the lost episodes



I don't have any of Jenny's appearances at the moment but am delighted

to say that she will become a familiar face when I get round to buying the

complete series of Hadleigh. At least that's some good news for her fans.



Jenny Twigge at the Internet Movie Data Base:

[Gerald Lovell]

I was another fan of this. David Garth, a familiar face of 60s and 70s TV, was the chief doctor I think, and the grumpy consultant was played by Lewis Jones. I think Carl Rigg was in the series too.

Was the theme a Tony Hatch composition?

[cornershop15]

Hello Gerald. Yes, Carl Rigg was in this series and I also remember him from Crossroads, albeit dimly. Another

thing these two shows have in common, rather upsettingly, is that hundreds of their episodes were destroyed.



On a more cheerful note, I've found the theme for you:



General Hospital Theme Song



It wasn't by Tony Hatch (maybe you are thinking of The Doctors, which he did do),

but Derek Scott. I can only think of one other theme he composed and that was for

Tony Hancock's ITV series. The comedian spoke - or moaned - over the soundtrack.



Here is David Garth, from when he played The Commander in Special Branch - Short Change (1969):



'Name That Face' fans might recognise this image as the one I chose for the opening post



Gerald, I have just added your avatar to my collection but still can't work out who it is. Mad guess: Michael Bates?

[Hope Gerald doesn't change his photo to Marilyn Monroe or someone as this question will look rather silly later!]

[Gerald Lovell]

Hi cornershop, and thanks for the info on GENERAL HOSPITAL. David Garth has a very imposing face, as well as a remarkable hairline (not a toupee, I'm sure)! Great voice too, I seem to remember.

That's Basil Rathbone in the photo, in Love from a Stranger (1937), one of his relatively few British films, and which is graced with a musical score by no less a composer than Benjamin Britten. In the film, Rathbone plays a mad wife-killer called . . . Gerald Lovell!

[cornershop15]

A belated Thanks to 'Gerald'. So now we know!



The Return of Jenny Twigge



I just looked at her IMDb filmography and was reminded it was her 60th birthday three days ago:





That week's cast also included Clifford Rose, Keith Smith (who I remember mostly from Spike Milligan's

Q series) AND, for Heaven's sake, Petra Markham. Please God I will get the chance to see this - maybe

even IN Heaven. Susan Dury, pictured in Rogue's Rock, was in two episodes each of Thriller (which I

have seen) and The Cedar Tree (which I haven't, or more likely can't remember). There's a gap of 25

years between her last two credits. Jenny has also been off our screens for a couple of decades sadly.

[cornershop15]

More General Hospital nostalgia, assuming you remember these actresses:





With Ace of Wands as an added bonus. Both these shows have a tragic history, as

most of their episodes are lost, but, as fate would have it, Peacock Pie survives, and

not 'Ep' 108 of General Hospital. Hard to accept it was only meant for that day



Sally Knyvette is easily the more familiar of the two for me, but not from Blake's 7

(which I've never seen), or even Emmerdale. She was very good in an episode of

Who Pays the Ferryman?, as Patrick Magee's girlfriend, and in The Sweeney too.



Before she was Nurse Tavers, Carol Hazell played Kate in a Children's Sci-Fi series

called Mandog. I'm pleased to say all six episodes exist, but doesn't seem to have

had enough of a following to prompt a DVD release - likewise the often-mentioned

Marked Personal, which Carol also appeared in. Worryingly, no credits after 1977.

[Arfur Teacake]

With ref to an earlier post.

AFAIK the porter Capper was never played by Arthur English but was played by the ginger John Halstead for most if not all the time.

A very popular cheery, chippie character who many thought that the actor would move onto greater things after GH but it looks like it did not quite turn out like that?

[Mark O]

I recall David Garth and Carmen Munro from this series, but who was the gruff voiced surgeon with an even gruffer looking face?..........possibly had prominent eyebrows.

[Brigger]

name='Mark O']I recall David Garth and Carmen Munro from this series, but who was the gruff voiced surgeon with an even gruffer looking face?..........possibly had prominent eyebrows.

I think that it`s Mr William Parker Browne played by Lewis Jones; you are thinking of Mark. I`m sure the ever reliable Cornershop will be along with a photo/screencap shortly if at all possible.

[Mark O]

name='Brigger']I think that it`s Mr William Parker Browne played by Lewis Jones; you are thinking of Mark. I`m sure the ever reliable Cornershop will be along with a photo/screencap shortly if at all possible.

That names rings a bell, cheers Brigger.



I recall one storyline where Tony Adams pre-Crossroads falls in love with Jill Gascoigne's character who is a patient, when she leaves Hospital she's knocked down and killed in the car park, Jill Gascoigne in another persona comes to stay at the Hospital, Tony then tries to turn her into his former love by getting her to dye her hair, etc; doh!

[cornershop15]

Your wish is granted, Brigger!:



Is this the actor you were referring to, Mark?