The idea that in-depth storylines between regular characters and situations can be kept running for weeks, months, even years, means there is a need to create a world for the characters to live in, and to give the drama depth and realism. A hospital must be set in a known location, and the people in it must be shown to have connections to things outside of the hospital. For instance, if a group of characters were only ever seen in the staff lounge and the operating theatre, and never talked about anything but patients and other staff, it would seem that that the hospital was all that existed, and so greatly detract from the believability of the show. ‘Casualty’ is much more adept at linking the outside world and people with its hospital and characters. One of ‘Casualty’s’ common storylines is criminal patients, and the hospital staff’s interaction with the police. The Fire Brigade also act alongside the Paramedics frequently, and the three emergency services have a close-knit working relationship. A high percentage of scenes are set outside the hospital itself, whether it be ambulances, home situations of patients or staff, accidents or build up’s to them, these are all commonly catered for and incorporated into ‘Casualty’s’ script. Another trait shown by the writers is when a glimpse of a patient’s situation is shown before they have any involvement with the hospital itself.
‘ER’ tends to depict the relationships of the doctors in the hospital and their relationships with each other, be it a close personal, enmity or boss/worker situation, rather than the whole range of staff at the hospital. Secretaries, cleaners, and even nurses and Paramedics are largely omitted from the storylines, especially on an ongoing basis. The style of the show as a whole is extremely fast-paced and intense, and so trying to incorporate characters who aren’t so actively involved in the life of death situations, such as a caretaker, would greatly detract from the speed of the show which is an important part of its image. The doctors in the hospital are after all the ones with the real expertise and who ultimately save most lives, and so are portrayed in positions of power and high authority in the series, giving a lot of orders to underlings to assert this position. One episode of ‘ER’ involves a live electricity pylon accident, requiring a whole electricity grid to be shut down, when the doctor asks a worker to do it says it isn’t possible, the doctor replies “I don’t care, just shut it down”. This attitude is needed to show the doctor’s power, but it is not displayed in a dictatorship fashion, more that the doctor gets the situation under control in order to saves lives, and gives the impression of hero-like qualities such as determination and assertiveness.
‘Casualty’ however is not as intense as ‘ER’, and focuses more on staff and patient relationships than medical emergencies and procedures. Much less time is spent in theatre and more in more social scenes such as the coffee lounge, the wards, accident scenes and the pub. This gives the writers opportunity to include other character types such as nurses secretaries and paramedics, and therefore access to a much broader view of the hospital hierarchy, work relationships, and home lifestyles as regards pay, work hours etc, all of which are open as storyline ideas. Virtually all the characters across the range of positions are on a first-name basis with one another, frequent the pub after work and have many more casual, platonic relationships than the intense passionate affairs of ‘ER’, this again is reflective of the overall slower pace of ‘Casualty’.
Audience voyeurism is a very important aspect of the hospital drama, the idea that the audience is inside the hospital, living alongside the doctors and patients in the corridors, wards and the operating table, this is a large factor in disconnecting the hospital from the outside world. It is commonplace in ‘ER’ to begin the episode at an information desk, track a few characters around a corridor or two, focussing on a conversation and follow them into a ward to discuss a patient. This can continue from scene to scene and barely separates the audience from the hospital throughout, implying that the hospital is at the centre of the universe rather than it just being a service to the society.
Hospital dramas enjoy massive viewer patronage, which is partially due to the angst factor they involve. Everyday people with everyday problems enjoy watching other people’s problems, as they can relate to some of them and be entertained by others, knowing at the back of their mind that it is all make believe. Television broadcasters find hospital dramas very important to their schedules as they not so much bring in audiences, as retain them for a further hour after the main audience puller has ended, they act as an anchor for viewing numbers. The timetables are very well worked out as a result, as ‘Casualty’ so closely resembles a soap, it is scheduled at the regular weekday soap time of 8:05 , so that soap watchers who tune in regularly at that time will be attracted, also, it begins after the National Lottery, which is obviously watched by millions nationwide, and so can hope to retain some viewer ship from that. ‘ER’ tends to be more popular with young adults and teenagers, partially due to its American sitcom fashion and rapid-pace storyline. It is currently therefore being shown on E4 on their ‘Big Thursday’ line-up, this includes other extremely popular sitcoms such as ‘Friends’ and ‘Ally McBeal’ . E4 itself is aimed at the young adult age group, and so this line up will be especially appealing to these viewers. ‘ER’ is such a famously popular name, that adding it to an evening’s line-up is rather like adding a brand name, and grouping it together with the other ‘big two’ American sitcoms will ensure high viewing numbers. It is no big deal to someone to miss one week’s episode of ‘ER’ but people are far more likely to make time in their schedule to make sure they don’t miss ALL of their favourite shows, and so high ratings are almost guaranteed for all three programmes in one night.
‘Casualty’ and ‘ER’ are both vastly different programmes, considering they are ultimately about the same thing. However they do share the trademark conventions and serve their broadcasters in much the same way, to retain audiences, and to add to the appeal of a line-up.
