If you’re tired of US police procedurals full of car chases and gunfire, may we recommend a British soap opera instead?
We’ve been watching The Royal (2003 – 2011) and have been thoroughly enjoying it. The story takes place in a small British town in the 1960’s, as a hospital navigates the bureaucracy of the HHS and funding by a founding benefactor.
The medicine seems primitive as the producers hew to what was known and practiced in that decade. But the special effects are state-of-the art, including grisly vehicle and industrial accidents, hiking mishaps, and surgical scenes.
Despite the primitive medicine, you may find yourself wishing your next hospital stay could be at The Royal – if you have experienced modern hospitals.
The characters reveal surprising depth as we get to know them, and are by no means perfect individuals. As Americans we tend to put them in boxes, with labels like ‘attending surgeon who smokes a pipe incessantly,’ ‘brash young doctor who is a bit of a social crusader,’ ‘Matron administrator with spine of vanadium steel,’ ‘Maintenance man / scam artist’ because that is how most of our shows present. And while those labels are accurate as far as they go, we learn more; an exploration facilitated by first-rate writing, acting, directing, and production.
Someone in the production company must be a music scholar, as the soundtrack features an astonishing array of British bands of the period. We are also treated to a wonderful collection of classic cars and ambulances. Which, are sometimes destroyed in crashes.
There is some violence – even inside the hospital, with injurious or fatal results. And the show is not afraid to kill off favorite characters in unexpected ways. (Or drive one of them into a nervous breakdown.) The series grapples with medical and social ethics – all in a 1960’s frame – along with conflict between religion and secular society. The characters do not mysteriously have attitudes and insights common to denizens of the 21st century.
The Royal can be viewed on Tubi, Amazon Prime, YouTube (with a bit of hunting), and other networks.
- As usual, Wikipedia has the details: The Royal
georgewiman 