The series was made by the production company ATV and set in a fictional hospital called Oxbridge General. Growing out of what was originally intended to be no more than a six-week serial (entitled Calling Nurse Roberts), the series went on to become ITV's first twice-a-week evening soap opera. Although somewhat cosily genteel by modern standards, Emergency - Ward 10 was the first hospital-based television drama to establish a successful format combining medical matters with storylines centering around the personal lives of the doctors and nurses. To this end, the series was also British TV's first soap set in the workplace.