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Children's Hospital (British TV series)

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British documentary television series

Children's Hospital
GenreDocu-soap
Theme music composerDebbie Wiseman
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series12
No. of episodes114
Production
Executive producerJeremy Mills
ProducersRichard Bradley
Tracy Cook
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC One
Release19 October 1993 (1993-10-19) –
26 February 2003 (2003-02-26)

Children's Hospital is a British television fly-on-the-wall documentary series based at the Sheffield Children's Hospital, Birmingham Children's Hospital, and Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. It was broadcast on BBC One between 19 October 1993 and 26 February 2003.

Production

According to scholar Annette Hill, the series had "all the hallmarks of a docu-soap", saying its "personal, melodramatic stories appeal to viewers, with more than 8 million tuning into the first series, despite widespread criticism from the press." Peter Lee-Wright observes that the series marked a transition in fly-on-the-wall documentaries by shifting the emphasis from the practical considerations onto the "human dramas being played out ... the pain of the children ... and their parents' rollercoaster rides."

Music

The theme music was composed by Debbie Wiseman. The music was released as a CD single in 1997, containing full orchestral and piano versions of the theme, alongside the shorter versions used for the opening and closing sequences. The orchestral version was also released on the compilation album World of Sound. A new solo piano performance, titled "Ray of Sunshine", of the theme was included on the 2011 album Wiseman: Piano Stories.

Transmissions

Series

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 19 October 1993 21 December 1993 10
2 20 October 1994 22 December 1994 10
3 7 January 1997 3 June 1997 20
4 3 September 1997 10 October 1997 6
5 21 April 1998 17 June 1998 12
6 7 September 1998 9 November 1998 10
7 27 April 1999 8 July 1999 10
8 18 January 2000 29 February 2000 6
9 27 June 2000 1 August 2000 6
10 13 June 2001 15 August 2001 8
11 26 June 2002 7 August 2002 6
12 22 January 2003 26 February 2003 6

Specials

Entitle Air Date
Christmas Special 22 December 1997
Philadelphia 8 December 1999
Russia with Jeremy Spake 10 December 1999
Christmas Special 20 December 1999

Further reading

References

  1. Born, Georgina (2005). Uncertain Vision: Birt, Dyke and the Reinvention of the BBC. Random House. p. 433.
  2. Kent, Simon (2001). Getting a top job in-- the arts & media. Kogan Page Publishers. p. 76.
  3. ^ "CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL". BFI. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  4. "TV hospital that became a beacon of hope". The Telegraph. UK. 30 January 2001. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  5. Hill, Annette (2005). Reality TV: audiences and popular factual television. Routledge. p. 28. ISBN 0-415-26152-X.
  6. Lee-Wright, Peter (2009). The Documentary Handbook. Taylor & Francis. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-415-43402-7.
  7. BBC Worldwide, BMG, 743214758922
  8. Big George. "DEBBIE WISEMAN: TV & Film Composer Extraordinaire". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  9. Debbie Wiseman: Piano Stories, 2011, Warner Classics


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