Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15439 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-04-10
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4

Synopsis
The first series of the popular and long-running medical drama that follows the lives and events surrounding the Accident and Emergency Department at Holby City Hospital.

Customer Reviews

Casualty 1st Series
I ordered the Casualty first series DVD and received it this morning. Obviously not managed to watch it all yet, but I've had a quick look at a couple of the DVDs......looks really good. Looking forward to start watching it!

Matt O'Malley asked on a previous review if the programmes are edited or complete episodes.....well on the back of the box it says in very small writing "Due to clearance and contractual reasons, certain edits have been made!". However, don't let this put anyone off.....I don't think much has been edited, perhaps only a couple of minutes over the entire series.....the four DVD's total 12 hours and 11 minutes. So thats just over 48 minutes per episode!!!

When I read Matts question I was a bit dubious about buying the DVD....but I'm pleased I did order it......can't wait to watch it all! (I hope this is of some help to you Matt!)

Quality undiminished
I can highly recommend Casualty Series 1. These are the full episodes. I have to add however there isn't much in the way of extras. Episode 1 has an audio commentary with Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson) giving a commentary on episodes 11 & 15 along with the medical advisor to the shows.

I was struck at how clear the DVD reproduction was. Usually BBC series from the mid 80s transfer quite badly onto DVD or have that 'Miss Marple' grainy quality but Casualty is sharp, crisp and extremely well shot.

The stories themselves were excellent and filled with 80s memorablia (Ford Cortina's a plenty) but the key ingredient was the strong ensemble cast headed up by the excellent Bernard Gallagher playing Ewert Plimmer. Add to that team some very well written melodrama and you have successful ingredients.

Today, Casualty of course has spawned so many spin offs that some of the original freshness has disappeared or become subsumed by a desire to look slick or Hollywood-esque.

Of course there might be one or two episodes that would never conclude in the same nonchalent way today but that seems a small criticism compared to the enjoyment I gleaned from this 4 disc DVD set. At 15 episodes (about 12 and a quarter hours in all) its sound value for money and there really isn't a bad episode among them.

A good solid British drama-well worth a look.

Edited episode
Just thought I'd let readers know that the 'edits' mentioned on the packaging and talked about here refer to the episode 'Teeny Poppers'. When originally broadcast, it featured a storyline about a man trying to impress his girlfriend by dressing as Spiderman. The BBC couldn't get the appropriate rights to use the Spiderman 'image' on DVD so had to edit the entire storyline out of the episode. It nows runs 43 minutes 52 seconds rather than approximately 49 minutes 30 seconds.