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.

I'm sorry but I am beginning to see a pattern of British dramas which I dare say is quite bland. The acting, the writing, and even the sets are just similar. Holby City and Casualty are two separate shows but I can't tell the difference. The actors and actresses look the same and I'm sure that the cast of characters of one show end up in the other at one point. Does it matter? Is Casualty popular enough to have spin off series like Holby City? I can't answer it because I don't live in the United Kingdom. It would be nice to see a familiar face among the cast. I watched Coronation Street and see the familiar faces of some cast members. EastEnders is popular simply because Wendy Richard who played Pauline Fowler for 21 years was the heart and soul and not to mention that she was a cast member of the popular comedy, Are you Being Served? and Barbara Windsor who is better known for her roles in Carry On series. That's the problem, I think the shows are stepping stone. In America, we have actors and actresses who have stayed and that's important is the regularity. I'm not saying that British soaps are bad. No way, British soaps like Casualty and Emmerdale are an important factor of British culture. I encourage people especially tourists to watch them. British soaps can be both funny and sad, happy and entertaining as well as enlightening. Don't think that I don't appreciate the British contribution to soaps because I think Britons are quite appreciative of their existence where as in America for example, soaps are only the stepping stone to their careers and sometimes the highlight.

When this show first began I was still a schoolboy and I loved it because my dream was to be a nurse in a casualty unit. Since that time I have realised that dream, and also realised what utter tripe this show has become. True to BBC drama form these days it seems that everything must be miserable or depressing to be considered good drama. Over the years I have seen the show deteriorate into the realms of nothing more than a political hobby horse. Bearing little resemblance to reality in any way all this show does for me is ensure I turn over stat!

Take a few Doctors, a few more haggard Nurses, People doing stupid things and bucket and buckets of blood and you have the recipe of a Hospital drama that will run for years and years. They even have time to show briefly what the Doctors and Nurses get up to when they are not up to their armpits in body parts. You can usually guess who is not going to have their heart restarted. It is an E.R. on a shoestring and more dirt.