Angels was a long running BBC drama concerning the lives and loves of a group of student nurses in the seventies and eighties. It was originally a 50 minute drama, but adapted to a twice a week style soap format in 1979, although it only ran for part of the year. Quite successful, Angels attracted 12 million viewers at times and made stars of Fiona Fullerton and Kathy Apanowicz( Mrs Richard Whiteley). Also the drama was an inspiration for Casualty,
Angels was quite a hard hitting and controversial show as it portrayed storylines such as a nurse becoming an alcoholic and receiving little help for her problem, interracial relationships, nurses having affairs with doctors, and the problems the NHS faced at the time. Kathy Apanowicz was brlliant as the tough as nails Northern nurse, Rose Butchins, who often riled her superiors and wasn't very popular with the other nurses.
However, for all Angels could be a gripping show at times, it was cheaply made( being mostly done in a studio with some cheap looking sets), the last series developed a political slant with some poorer characters, and the BBC pulled the plug in 1983 as Angels was losing viewers.
I would encourage viewers to check out the DVDs of the early series, as the characterisations are good( Fiona Fullerton is on top form as a posh nurse), but the soap type years are patchy in quality .later on.
Angels was quite a hard hitting and controversial show as it portrayed storylines such as a nurse becoming an alcoholic and receiving little help for her problem, interracial relationships, nurses having affairs with doctors, and the problems the NHS faced at the time. Kathy Apanowicz was brlliant as the tough as nails Northern nurse, Rose Butchins, who often riled her superiors and wasn't very popular with the other nurses.
However, for all Angels could be a gripping show at times, it was cheaply made( being mostly done in a studio with some cheap looking sets), the last series developed a political slant with some poorer characters, and the BBC pulled the plug in 1983 as Angels was losing viewers.
I would encourage viewers to check out the DVDs of the early series, as the characterisations are good( Fiona Fullerton is on top form as a posh nurse), but the soap type years are patchy in quality .later on.