What is the Royal?

So what is The Royal?

The Royal is a Hospital drama set in 1960’s North Yorkshire, the name of the TV show echos the name of the cottage hospital, to give it it’s full title “St Aiden’s Royal Free” in the fictional town of Elsinby.
The show was first broadcast in January 2003, a spin off show from the ever popular police drama Heartbeat, we meet the first character from The Royal in Heartbeat series 12 episode 11 “Sins of the Fathers”, with the arrival of Dr James Alway (Francis Matthews), at the doctor’s surgery following the tragic death of Dr Tricia Summerby (Clare Calbraith), Aidensfield’s young GP.
We are first introduced to The Royal properly four weeks later in episode 14 of Heartbeat series 12 “Out of the Blue.” Vernon Scrips (Geoffrey Hughes) has become involved in a money making scam involving a tanker, which he is driving back from Hull early one morning, when a speeding car causes him to swerve on a narrow moors road and the tanker overturns. By the time PC Mike Bradley (Jason Durr) arrives on the scene, the unknown contents are spilling onto the road. An unconscious Vernon is taken by ambulance to The Royal and within hours the population of Aidensfield are suffering symptoms from contamination of the water supply by the contents of the tanker. Unable to cope with the never ending stream of patients, Dr Alway sends some of them for treatment at The Royal. And so we are introduced to Dr Jill Weatherill (Amy Robbins), Dr Gordon Ormerod (Robert Daws), Sister Bridget (Linda Armstrong) and Matron (Wendy Craig).
The appeal of Heartbeat has always been the subtle balance of serious police and medical based stories with the gentle humour of the other characters. The Royal adopts the same approach, introducing receptionist Lizzie Kennoway (Michelle Hardwick) through a comical misunderstanding with Heartbeat’s undertaker Bernie Scripps (Peter Benson) brother of the unfortunate and now unconscious Vernon. The comedy is carried through as Vernon regains consciousness and quickly enlists the help of porters Ken Hopkirk (Mickey Starke) and Alun Morris (Andy Wear).
"Out of the Blue" combines the two shows beautifully, the premise of Heartbeat has always been the mixture of police and medical stories and to a certain extent The Royal carries on this tradition, though with more emphasis on the medical aspects. Through out the first two series characters from Heartbeat occasionally appear in The Royal, a genius move by the producers, as the sister show was to share the same slot on a Sunday evening, and the continuity of familiar characters encouraged audience transference. The storylines of Dr Always continue seamlessly across the two shows and The Royal’s new recruit Dr David Cheriton (Julian Ovenden) is introduced at the beginning of the first episode of The Royal, “First Impressions” outside Heartbeat’s pub the Aidensfield Arms, as he gets directions from Gina Ward (Tricia Penrose).

ITV bosses were so confident that The Royal was going to be a sure fire hit that the second series was commissioned and filmed before the first series had even aired. Viewing figures soon bore out their confidence.Six years later, despite The Royal still being consistently ranked in the top ten terrestrial dramas the picture is far different and fans across the world are uniting to save the show. If you haven’t already done so please support the campaign by signing the petition to Save The Royal. http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/itv-the-royal.html