I gave this five stars - I would have marked it even lower if it had not once been such a fantastic programme and were not not for a great groups of actors doing their best with poor material. It would have been a ten star rating from me in the old days.
Casualty originally had a unique format whereby it introduced several groups of new characters each week some of whom would end up in A&E that day via various ingenious and alarming means. Their story and the medical interventions that saved their lives - or not- and how all this changed those involved, was at the fore.
Basically the opposite of a soap in that these characters would never appear again (or almost never). And while there was a consistent team of medical professionals treating these one-off characters when they inevitably landed up in hospital, the lives of the hospital staff was very much a back story. It could sometimes be an interesting back story but it was underplayed and tended to keep the focus on their professional lives and how the weekly stories impacted on them.
Nowadays the most utterly banal and repetitive storylines are endlessly strung out around what are a not very interesting group of characters. These characters could work in a bank or a supermarket or a warehouse - yes, they happen to be working in a hospital but this plays second fiddle to the tedious re-telling of dull details from their personal lives.
Consequently the writers and producers don't seem to put much effort into what used to be the main aspect of the show. OK, there have been a few good episodes over the past few years and OK, there were a few episodes in the past where the lives of the staff came to the fore, but ... all I can say is that I and everyone I know who loved the show have stopped watching. Please bring back what made this programme unique.
Casualty originally had a unique format whereby it introduced several groups of new characters each week some of whom would end up in A&E that day via various ingenious and alarming means. Their story and the medical interventions that saved their lives - or not- and how all this changed those involved, was at the fore.
Basically the opposite of a soap in that these characters would never appear again (or almost never). And while there was a consistent team of medical professionals treating these one-off characters when they inevitably landed up in hospital, the lives of the hospital staff was very much a back story. It could sometimes be an interesting back story but it was underplayed and tended to keep the focus on their professional lives and how the weekly stories impacted on them.
Nowadays the most utterly banal and repetitive storylines are endlessly strung out around what are a not very interesting group of characters. These characters could work in a bank or a supermarket or a warehouse - yes, they happen to be working in a hospital but this plays second fiddle to the tedious re-telling of dull details from their personal lives.
Consequently the writers and producers don't seem to put much effort into what used to be the main aspect of the show. OK, there have been a few good episodes over the past few years and OK, there were a few episodes in the past where the lives of the staff came to the fore, but ... all I can say is that I and everyone I know who loved the show have stopped watching. Please bring back what made this programme unique.