"Casualty": The Early Years Trivia Quiz

Answer: My little Irish rose

Fellow nurses, Charlie Fairhead and Megan Roach, played by Derek Thompson and Brenda Fricker, were two of the original members of "Casualty", and apart from the occasional squabble, they proved to be good friends. Though Megan was the department's mother figure, who frequently worried more about others than about herself, she could often be found receiving a comforting hug from Charlie, who would affectionately refer to her as "my little Irish rose".

Answer: HIV

It was during the 1980s that the spread of HIV was officially declared an epidemic, and its prevalence in "Casualty's" early storylines reflected this. During series 2, Duffy was shattered to learn that her boyfriend, Peter, was HIV positive, having contracted the virus from an ex-girlfriend.

As a result, Duffy spent days in limbo before being given the all-clear, but was tormented by the effect the virus had on Peter, who soon after splitting up with her, died in a car crash. In addition to this, which was a major storyline, several minor storylines involved people coming in to request a HIV test, terrified that they had been infected with the virus, which they considered a death sentence.

Answer: IRA

The first ever episode of "Casualty" aired on the 6th of September, 1986, and the first series concluded on the 27th of December that same year. However though it eventually proved to be extremely popular, the first and second series of "Casualty" received a great deal of negative publicity, with the Royal College of Nursing voicing their objections regarding the way in which their profession was portrayed.

The show also came under fire due to the amount of smoking that took place on screen, and many were also quick to poke holes in what they deemed to be ludicrous and far-fetched storylines.

The series weathered each one of these storms, reducing the amount of smoking that was shown on screen and defending its portrayal of nurses. However it was a real life incident that put paid to complaints regarding "Casualty's" storylines, as only a day after the episode "Seeking Heat" (which depicted an explosion caused by an IRA bomb) aired, then reality began to mimic the fictional events of the show. For the following day, an IRA bomb exploded in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing eleven and injuring sixty-three.

Answer: Holby City Hospital

"Casualty" was originally titled "Front Line", and was the brainchild of Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, who were paired with seasoned producer, Geraint Morris, in order to get the project off the ground. Considered quite a risky endeavour at the time, the criticism the show received in its early years very nearly ended it, and Morris himself even announced publicly that "We felt that it should end on a high after thirty episodes".

However things did not work out that way, and "Casualty" ended up being one of the BBC's most successful shows, so much so that in 1999 it spawned a spin-off series named "Holby City".

Answer: Ewart Plimmer

For all his enthusiasm and passion, poor old Ewart Plimmer, played by Bernard Gallagher, lost more than he gained during his time as the Casualty department's Consultant in Emergency Medicine. Throughout his short stint on "Casualty", [his last hurrah came in the fifth episode of series 3], he frequently referred to himself as being "married to the job", a fact that resulted in he and his wife, Roz, getting a divorcing. Plimmer also suffered two heart attacks during his time as a Consultant in Emergency Medicine, both of which occurred in the hospital itself.

However while he recovered from the first, there was no coming back from the second, despite the valiant efforts of Nurse Megan Roach, who found him.

Answer: Taxi driver

Megan Roach's husband, Ted, was a familiar face during series 1 and 2 of "Casualty", and was regularly included in the show's storylines. As a taxi driver he regularly had cause to visit the Casualty department, and often brought in sick or injured patients himself, using his taxi.

In series 1's "Crazies", several taxi drivers were attacked by an emotionally disturbed woman, who threw a dangerous substance in their eyes. Ted himself narrowly avoided this fate, by managing to knock the bottle out of the woman's hands.

Answer: Baz Wilder

Poor hospital porter Kuba Trzcinski always had the best intentions, but nevertheless, frequently found himself in trouble. With English as his second language, he sometimes missed the nuances of his adopted language, and this was certainly the case when he failed to grasp the fact that Baz Wilder had actually had an abortion.

In an attempt to show his feelings, rather than try to articulate them, Kuba gave Baz some flowers only to be mortified by her reaction, and the resulting realisation that he had, yet again, misunderstood.

Answer: Lassa fever

The final episode of series 1 revolved around a middle aged missionary, who had contracted a mysterious tropical disease, thought to be Lassa fever. In order to ensure that no epidemic resulted from this, the characters were locked in Casualty until it was declared safe for them to come out. Never ones to shy away from a knees up, they made the most of their time together, even putting on their own pantomime and ending the episode with a bout of carol singing, with everyone crowding around the piano.

Answer: No

When one of her elderly patients fell off a trolley and died, Megan Roach was convinced that she had made sure that the bed's bars were up before she left her patient. Unfortunately for Megan however, the dead woman's daughter was convinced that her mother's death was caused by negligence, forcing the hospital to conduct an investigation of their own into the incident, in addition to the compulsory inquest held by the coroner. Though Megan felt dreadful about the woman's death, she never once claimed responsibility for it, and had to fight to ensure that she convinced others of this too. Luckily for her, she was cleared of wrongdoing, and was allowed to continue with her work.

Answer: Receptionist

Susie Mercer, played by Debbie Roza, was "Casualty's" receptionist from its first episode, until the end of series 2. Bright and bubbly, she proved to be very capable of charming even the dourest of patients, and was not afraid to give the unruly ones a piece of her mind. Good friends with both Duffy and Kuba, Susie also had a weakness for gossip, and was usually the first to find out whenever something particularly noteworthy was happening.