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16 reviews in total

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13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Drama at Holby, 24 August 2002
Author: David_Niemann from Melbourne, Australia

I first started watching this show in 2001 when I seen a promo for it and it looked good. The story-line hooked me in for a few episodes and I was hooked from then on.

'Casualty' is set in a British hospital called Holby City and the show follows the doctors and nurse's lives at work and off duty. I usually dislike romantic sub-plots in shows like this (I stopped watching 'The Bill' because of it) but in 'Casualty' I really like it. We get to know the characters as people with lives, not just doctors or nurses. The story-lines are interesting and gripping most of the time. And character story lines usually carry over many episodes.

It's not the most intelligent show ever written but it has a nice charm, and if you fall for it like me you'll be hooked!

I also love the shows symbol, 'Casual+y'. Very good!

But a word of warning for new viewers, sometimes I felt the show was a little boring at the beginning. I feel this is a show that really grows on you over time. It is very character based, so you need some time to get to grips with all of the staff. I stayed in there and love it now.

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15 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Good For It's First Several Years But Has Perhaps Gone On For Too Long, 13 December 2002
Author: Big Movie Fan from England

Casualty started in 1986 and was a brilliant show about the working lives of Holby City Accident & Emergency Department doctors and nurses. In my opinion, from 1986 to about 1999 it was consistently good drama. It was very realistic at times and showed us the bad side of Britain's National Health Service and the politics that governed it.

Casualty always provided entertainment. The main problem is, how do you continually top things? How do you push that envelope? Casualty has had plane crashes, train crashes, diseases, NHS cutbacks etc. In a way, the current series of Casualty are not as good. They have become victims of their own success. Perhaps they should have saved the bangs for later.

One criticism I do have of Casualty's later years is the focus on the staff's private lives. I do like to get a little glimpse of the doctors and nurses private lives but sometimes they overdo it (The Bill does the same and London's Burning too). If Casualty is to keep me as a viewer, then it will have to tone back on the private lives of the staff and focus more on the job itself. And it needs to stop axing popular characters. All characters run their course eventually but these last few years, Casualty has had a habit of axing characters before they've even been given a chance.

If it can try to focus more on the job and think before axing characters, then Casualty has a great future.

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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
the lead-in scenes always worried me!!, 2 March 2004
Author: James Meehan from Orange, Massachusetts (expat London, UK)

Fantastic series - I was always a great fan but the early part of each show, where they set up each of the story lines, used to worry me somewhat! As you can imagine, the show was centered around Holby City Hospital and the scenes were being set so you KNEW that the 'normal' people going about their 'normal' lives in 'normal' situations were about to experience something fairy dreadful to warrant their inclusion in the show and their appearance in the A&E (UK) or the ER (US) with any manner of tubes and machines beeping and blipping their lives away. Consistently superb storylines and great acting (don't you love 'Charlie!) made this compulsive viewing.

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8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Brilliant show, 11 September 2005
Author: Brunettebbz from United Kingdom

I started watching the show in 2001 and i was hooked from the first episode i saw, I love the show and make sure i never miss an episode (even though i am on the casual+y website every Sunday morning looking at the preview clip). The show never fails to impress me, the story lines are great, very creative and make you want to watch more!!

It is a sort of drama but i think it is a bit different to all the others they all have that sort of seriousness about them and i find this boring so i don't watch them. But Casual+y is different, you don't just see the Staff at work, you get to see them out of their working life and into their home life, this helps you understand their personalities and why they act like they do. Understanding the background of a character makes it more interesting and helps you understand them a bit more making you feel closer to them, i think you need this to make a successful show and the crew on Casual+y have mastered this unique quality!!!!!!!!

Keep up the good work!!!

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
A good Saturday evening's viewing, 7 November 2005
Author: walfordqueen

Casualty is good entertainment and drama for a Saturday evening, the show is always well directed. The script isn't always top notch but the writers do their best and the writing is usually of a very high standard which compliments the good job the directors on Casualty and such shows do. The show is centred around the "Accident and Emergency" department of Holby City general hospital and focuses on both the personal and working lives of the patients and the staff who go there. I would recommend this show to anybody looking for some good drama for their Saturday evenings infront of the tele, if however you prefer full on entertainment on a Saturday without the drama bit then this show may not be for you.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Can't Miss It !!!, 7 April 2008

Author: matt-2125 from United Kingdom

Incredibly enjoyable series, one of the best from British, it is rare that you find a series that manages to enjoy you every week, and the possibility that it will keep you on the edge of your seat. It manages to mix the appropriate drama, with comedy, and mix will lots of medical cases, definitely a must-see for me, and even though it would seem to some to be a 'soap', it is definitely not, as it has higher standards and story lines! The series has managed an impressive 22 years, with a high number of viewers each episode, (usually around 7 million), the large ensemble mix of characters means that the stories are very rarely repetitive and boring, and seem be exciting every week.

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A wonderful always-entertaining show., 4 August 2011
Author: BeautifulNightmare11 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Even from the earliest episodes, Casualty has always had the perfect mixture of drama, humour and brilliant character story lines.

Each of the characters has unique background and a personality we can all relate to, and you manage to fall in love with them all at some point. The story lines given to them are always well-handled, whether it is abortion, domestic abuse, drug use, attempted suicide or just family issues it is always handled tastefully and with respect. Since Ruth's storyline a few years ago I have been hooked and have watched every episode, and I have even been keeping an eye on the channel Watch to see old classic episodes.

In my opinion, Casualty is one of the few British dramas left which has retained its old glory.

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Very good Saturday night viewing., 29 July 2009

Author: TheLittleSongbird from United Kingdom

I do like Casualty and Holby City, they are good shows to watch in the evenings. The acting is on the whole good, I have always liked Simon McCorkindale's Harry, and the story lines are intriguing. However, recently, the scripts have become a bit unfocused, and sometimes the whole episode slips into melodrama at the end. But despite the fact it can be a bit gory, Casualty is certainly watchable, and it is one of those things I do like watching on Saturday nights, especially when the episodes end on cliffhangers which compels you to watch the next episode. Overall, I do really like Casualty, even if it does get a bit melodramatic and gory. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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Manages to draw you back in... Spoilers, 26 April 2008

Author: prilja from Edinburgh, Scotland

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I watched Casualty way back, probably ten years ago now? I gradually found myself missing it and when I did I didn't mind.

I recently had caught the odd episode, knew a few of the new characters, got how each one related to each other etc. but again if I missed it, no big deal.

Then Ruth tried to commit suicide. I missed that episode but through the week I'd heard about it and made a mental note to find out what happened to her. The next Saturday I watched one of the best written and acted episodes of anything I had seen in a long time.

As a psychology student it's hard to surprise me but the whole show was delivered beautifully, had the right amount of reveal and depth needed and the little touches that kept me on the edge. Before I thought 'well, Ruth couldn't hack it, she's gone' - by the end I was distraught, hoping that maybe she hadn't succeeded. I wanted her to have another chance, to show all the people who had hurt her and left her that she was more than that. Amazing.

Now I watch every week.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
This excellent drama has been turned into a silly soap., 14 December 2008

Author: imdb-18193 from United Kingdom

This programme started as a superb mould-breaking drama. Each episode was an exciting thrill-ride. Now it is just a silly soap.

What made this prog so special was precisely that it was not a soap. Each week we had a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people who found themselves in the A&E department because of the accidents or illnesses that befell them. Each episode presented a whole series of accidents - from the bizarre to the mundane. As we were introduced to the casualties, we wondered how they had come to be there and how would their lives be affected by its new turn. Would they live, die or be left crippled. Would their infidelities and indiscretions be unveiled. By the end of the episode we had a snapshot of their lives.

In the late '90s Auntie Beeb threatened to turn Casualty into a twice-weekly soap. In the face of an outcry they back-peddled on this and adopted the compromise of starting a new weekday drama set in the same hospital and "Holby City" was born.

Unfortunately the script-writing team seem to have missed the point of the objection: casualty is not a soap. They have turned into a soap anyway.

Now the series simply has an interminable and tedious focus on the increasingly implausible private lives of the permanent staff. Each episode focuses on one character. And now we even have that stalwart of the soap genre - the token gay. Toby does not work in this guise for me! We now seem lucky if a single accident occurs in an episode. Instead it is the hapless staff of the "ED" who have the illness and injuries. It is the department team who have their indiscretions exposed.

It is to be hoped that this programme will return to its roots. Otherwise it needs to be pensioned off.

JDD - 14 December 2008

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