A huge success for ITV throughout the 1970s, General Hospital carried on in the tradition of Emergency Ward 10 and other medical shows of the 1960s. This highly popular series offers a dramatic insight into life at a busy hospital, featuring both compelling medical storylines and those highlighting the often strained personal lives of the doctors, nurses and consultants. General Hospital initially ran for 270 half-hour episodes as a twice-weekly soap-style afternoon serial before being reformatted into a series of hour-long, self-contained dramas in 1975. Out of this first series, only a comparative handful remain in the archive and this set contains all episodes known to exist. Though the majority of these existing episodes consist of two sequential runs, there are some small gaps - alongside some standalone episodes which happen to have survived. Though made in colour originally, most episodes now only exist as black and white telerecordings made for overseas sales purposes. Running Time: 1000 minutes Region: Region 2 Release Date: 20 Aug. 2012