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Children's Ward

Name: Children's Ward
Genre: Drama, Kids

TV·1989–2000·12 seasons, 142 episodes·ITV1·Drama, Kids·30m·Created by Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor

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Children's Ward 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. The programme was set – as the title suggests – in Ward B1, the children's ward of the fictitious South Park Hospital, 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 1989 and running from then until 2000. 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 1996 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.

Castfull cast & details

Episodes by season

Season0113Episodes1989Aired—Season avg

S01E01Episode 1March 15, 1989—Fiona is knocked down by a car whilst running away to a concert. But her mum nearly causes another accident when she slaps a hot cup of tea
S01E02Episode 2March 22, 1989—An over-keen new boy nurse causes a series of mishaps, Keely has her eye on a gorgeous stud who's been visiting Billy, and a nasty nasty man
S01E03Episode 3March 29, 1989—Fiona's still in a coma, but the other kids disown her. Gary is more interested in awkwardly chatting up Diane than making amends for his mi
S01E04Episode 4April 5, 1989—Mrs. Brett starts to behave like an acceptable human being after her stern talking to by Dave, but his school-masterly manner does not work
S01E05Episode 5April 12, 1989—Billy continues with his coke habit - the liquid kind. The kids take their revenge on the terrible trolley tyrant. Something is afoot with D
S01E06Episode 6April 19, 1989—Billy is a bully. Dave jealously guards his jealousy over Charlotte's engagement.
S01E07Episode 7April 26, 1989—After downing vodka in a way that even a seasoned alcoholic would struggle with, Billy loses his bottle. Mags keeps riding her bike, but she
S01E08Episode 8May 3, 1989—Priorities are all over the place when Tiffany puts meeting a radio disc jockey over a holiday in Spain, and Billy's parents would rather sq
S01E09Episode 9May 10, 1989—Ben's inability to lose weight is a cause for concern. Meanwhile, Keely's weight loss causes concern.
S01E10Episode 10May 17, 1989—The staff get to the nitty gritty of the head lice problem. Suzanna is happy with her nose, and knows what makes her happy. The problem chil
S01E11Episode 11May 24, 1989—A game of musical romances begins, both on the staff and the patient side. The wanderer returns, in the form of George's father. Fiona's dre
S01E12Episode 12May 31, 1989—McKeown takes the high road by retiring early. Billy gets less silly by mentioning the meal he saw flushed by Keely.
S01E13Episode 13June 7, 1989—The old forgotten birthday cover for surprise party is wheeled out for Alex's 12th. But there is a far less predictable twist in the tail of