# Children's Ward

Children's Ward (retitled The Ward from 1995 to 1998) is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its Children's ITV strand on weekday afternoons. It aired from 15 March 1989 until 4 May 2000. The programme was set – as the title suggests – in Ward B1, the children's ward of the fictitious South Park Hospital (known as Sparky's), and told the stories of the young patients and the staff present there.
Aimed at older children and teenagers, Children's Ward was a long-lived series for a children's drama, starting life in 1988 as a contribution to the Dramarama anthology strand "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night", then first broadcast as a series in 1989 and running from then until 2000.

## Production history

The series was conceived by Granada staff writers Paul Abbott and Kay Mellor, both of whom went on to enjoy successful careers as award-winning writers of adult television drama. At the time, they were both working on the soap opera Coronation Street, and had recently collaborated on a script for Dramarama.
Abbott, who had been through a troubled childhood himself, had initially wanted to set the series in a children's care home rather than a hospital, but this was vetoed by Granada executives. During the course of its run, however, Children's Ward won many plaudits for covering difficult issues such as cancer, alcoholism, drug addiction and child abuse in a sensitive manner. The programme won many awards, including in 1997 a BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama, won by an episode in which a serial killer lures children to him via the internet and is – highly unusually for children's television – not eventually caught.
Welsh television producer Russell T Davies was the show's producer, and writer of several episodes, from 1992 to 1995.
The decision to end Children's Ward came in mid-2000, after transmission of the final series, and ironically came as the sole original cast member Rita May – who played Auxiliary Nurse Mags – said she had no plans to leave the show.
On 5 and 6 January 2013, the show was repeated as part of CITV's Old Skool Weekend, which celebrated thirty years of the children's strand. This was also the first time the programme was seen on the CITV Channel.

## Series overview

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 13 | 13 | 15 March 1989 (1989-03-15) | 7 June 1989 (1989-06-07) |
| 2 | 13 | 13 | 8 January 1990 (1990-01-08) | 9 April 1990 (1990-04-09) |
| 3 | 13 | 13 | 23 October 1990 (1990-10-23) | 29 January 1991 (1991-01-29) |
| 4 | 11 | 11 | 15 October 1991 (1991-10-15) | 24 December 1991 (1991-12-24) |
| 5 | 10 | 10 | 13 October 1992 (1992-10-13) | 15 December 1992 (1992-12-15) |
| 6 | 10 | 10 | 12 October 1993 (1993-10-12) | 21 December 1993 (1993-12-21) |
| 7 | 10 | 10 | 11 October 1994 (1994-10-11) | 20 December 1994 (1994-12-20) |
| 8 | 12 | 12 | 5 September 1995 (1995-09-05) | 28 November 1995 (1995-11-28) |
| 9 | 12 | 12 | 10 September 1996 (1996-09-10) | 26 November 1996 (1996-11-26) |
| 10 | 12 | 12 | 11 November 1997 (1997-11-11) | 10 February 1998 (1998-02-10) |
| 11 | 13 | 13 | 4 February 1999 (1999-02-04) | 29 April 1999 (1999-04-29) |
| 12 | 13 | 13 | 10 February 2000 (2000-02-10) | 4 May 2000 (2000-05-04) |

## Filming location

Filmed at Bolton General Hospital (now the Royal Bolton Hospital), in Bolton, Greater Manchester. Some exterior shots (such as the exterior entrance to the children's hospital) were filmed outside the now demolished Maternity Hospital entrance at the former Withington Hospital, South Manchester.
"30 Years of CITV", which aired on ITV (CITV) on 29 December 2012, revealed that interior sets for the hospital were filmed next door to some of the Coronation Street interiors.

## Characters

These are the original main characters from the first three series. Some lasted several years and appeared in subsequent series.

### Staff

| Character | Actor/Actress | Occupation | Duration | Character description |
| Dr. McKeown | Ian McCulloch | Consultant Paediatrician | 1989 | The lead doctor until his retirement at end of series 1. He is responsible for Fiona Brett's accident. |
| Dr. Charlotte Woods | Carol Harvey | Originally Houseman to Dr McKeown, later Consultant Paediatrician | 1989–1991 | Ward B1's new senior doctor, with a tough but fair personality. She marries Steve the social worker at end of season 3. |
| Dave Spencer | Andrew Hall | Charge Nurse | 1989 | The senior nurse who runs the ward with a firm grip. He is Charlotte's love interest in series 1 but leaves after a brief romance. |
| Diane Meadows (later Gallagher) | Janette Beverley | Staff Nurse (1989) Ward Sister (1990–1992, 1996) Senior Staff Nurse (1993–1994) | 1989–1994, 1996 | Diane is a stalwart nurse in B1; she takes on more senior roles in later seasons, including dealing with matters relating to patients' welfare. Later she marries Dr Gallagher and has a child with him. Diane is known for her warm smile and good bedside manner. She also teaches student nurses while on the ward. |
| Margaret 'Mags' Davis | Rita May | Auxiliary Nurse | 1989–2000 | Mags is the longstanding auxiliary nurse on the ward. She is known to be a mother-like figure to many of the patients and to build lasting friendships with the staff. Mags is a very practical person and is always willing to help people out. While not a senior nurse, Mags is an essential part of the team. |
| Gary Miller | Tim Stanley | Student Nurse | 1989–1991 | Gary is a new student nurse progressing on the children's ward. He is clumsy and awkward at first but gains confidence and skills in later episodes; however, in series 3, he loses his job owing to an incident with a difficult patient. |
| Jack Crossley | Ken Parry | Porter and Sweet Trolley Man | 1989–1991 | Jack was the ward's trolley man, who was known to be a grouch to many people; however, he does have a softer side when patients are ill, and tries to cheer them up. |
| Jan Stevens | Nina Baden-Semper | Staff Nurse | 1989 | Jan is a long-standing staff nurse at the hospital, often coming up with the right solutions to problems. |
| Unnamed Character | Ross King | Hospital Radio DJ | 1989 | The hospital's first radio DJ who helps kids settle at night and gives light entertainment. His role is phased out after the series 1. |
| Steve Bailey | Michael Bray | Social Worker | 1989–1991 | Steve is the local social worker who deals with cases in which there is child abuse and neglect involved. He is a love interest for Charlotte Woods and marries her in series 3. Steve also is crucial to cases in which vulnerable families are involved. |
| Sister Sandra Mitchell | Judy Holt | Staff Nurse (1991) Senior Staff Nurse (1991–1992) Acting Deputy Clinical Matron (1992–1993) Ward Sister (1993–1994) | 1990–1996 | Sandra is a senior nurse who has experience in adult nursing. She manages the ward alongside Diane in later series. Sandra is seen as a strict nurse, but we see a softer side as the series progress. She was initially married to a police officer; she later got involved with Swifty's father, but she left him after he jilted her at the altar. |
| Dr. Kieran Gallagher | Tom Higgins | Senior House Officer, Emergency Medicine | 1990–1991 | |
| Katie Grahams | Margery Bone | Student Nurse | 1990–1991 | |
| Keely Johnson | Jenny Luckraft | Patient (1989) Play Assistant Student Nurse Staff Nurse | 1989–1996 | |

### Patients

| Character | Actor/Actress | Duration |
| Billy Ryan | Tim Vincent | 1989–1991 |
| Fiona Brett | Rebecca Sowden | 1989 |
| Darren Walsh | William Ash | 1989–1991 |
| Dawn Khatir | Leyla Nejad | 1989–1990 |
| Mathew McCann | Dean Gatiss | 1990 |
| Lisa Dixon | Rachel Egan | 1990 |
| J.J. | Chris Bisson | 1990 |
| Thea | Chloe Newsome | 1990 |
| James Boyce | Carl Rice | 1990 |
| Lee Jones | Kieran O'Brien | 1990 |
| Cal Spicer | Mark Dixon | 1990 |
| Bryony Shaeffer | Sarah Cooper | 1990 |
| Ben Rowlingson | William Mellor | 1990 |
| Mickey Bell | Stephen Graham | 1990 |
| Claire Dobson | Tina O'Brien | 1997 |
| Geri Stevens | Kelly Greenwood | 1997 |
| Tash | Vicky Binns | 1997, 1999 |
| Ruthie | Emma McGrane | 1997 |
| Shona | Hayley Fairclough | 1997 |
| Ian Cassin | Paul Swaine | 1998 |
| Becky | Holly Scourfield | 1999 |
Actors to go on to other theatre and television work include Chris Bisson, Tina O'Brien, Samia Ghadie, Adele Silva, Alan Halsall, Stephen Graham, Steven Arnold, Danny Dyer, Jeff Hordley, Nikki Sanderson, Andrew Lee Potts, Vicky Binns, Ralf Little, Anthony Lewis, Tim Vincent, Kieran O'Brien, Ben Sowden, William Ash, Maxine Peake and Jane Danson.

## Tie-in publications
### Novelisations

* White, Helen (1990). Children's Ward. Network Books. ISBN 0-563-36170-0.
* White, Helen (1991). Children's Ward – Deadly Enemies. Network Books. ISBN 0-563-36263-4.
* White, Helen (1991). Children's Ward – Make or Break. Network Books. ISBN 0-563-36264-2.
* White, Helen (1992). Children's Ward – Lost and Found. Network Books. ISBN 0-563-36391-6.
* White, Helen (1993). Children's Ward – On the Run. Network Books. ISBN 0-563-36726-1.
* White, Helen (1994). Children's Ward – The Crash. Puffin Books. ISBN 0-14-037350-0.

### Script book

'Children's Ward. Edited by Lawrence Till (contains selected scripts from the series by Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor and John Chambers), published by Heinemann Plays/Oxford in 1992.

## DVD releases

Unlike many UK shows, Children's Ward has not been available in other English-speaking countries such as Australia or the U.S.A. prior to the U.K.. In May 2011, a U.K. DVD release was announced for release in July 2011 for the first series from Network DVD. Series 2 followed in October 2011, and Series 3 in January 2012. Series 4 was originally scheduled June 2013, but as yet has not been released.

## Streaming services

The first series of Children's Ward is available to stream on ITVX Premium.