Crash (2009 TV series)
Encyclopedia
Crash is an English-language Welsh television drama series created by Tony Jordan
and produced by Red Planet Pictures for BBC Wales
. The series follows the lives of four newly qualified doctors.
The series is filmed in Cardiff
. The series first aired at 20:30 BST on BBC One Wales and BBC HD
on Wednesday 9 September 2009.
as Rhian Matthews: Wanting to be a Doctor since she was a little girl, Rhian is compassionate to her patients but a bit too overconfident, which leads her to not notice that a patient she is diagnosing has already died.
Gareth Milton
as Simon Strettle: Another Junior Doctor at the Hospital, Simon wants to be a Pathologist. He also has romantic feelings for Rhian, which doesn't go by unnoticed by Ameer.
Kezia Burrows
as Cath Llewelyn: A Junior Doctor who likes to party, Cath wakes up for her first day at work in bed with Rob.
Simon Rivers
as Ameer Mowad: The most intelligent of the Junior Doctors. Ameer always got top marks while at University and wants to be a Surgeon. Initially confident he crumbles under the pressure of his first day on call on the Crash team.
Mark Lewis Jones
as Mike Hill: A&E Consultant at the Hospital.
Nia Roberts as Mary Finch: The Hospital Registrar and wife of Mike Hill.
Ian Virgo
as Alun Gethin: The Senior House Officer to the Junior Doctors.
Kezrena James as Penny: A Nurse at the Hospital who takes a shine to Rob.
as Rob Williams: (Series 1, Episode 1) Confident in his work Rob seeks to help his patients and his friends to the best of his ability. However when dealing with a mentally ill patient (david lee smith) he is fatally stabbed.
of BBC Wales
for a 12 episode run to be produced by Tony Jordan's independent production company Red Planet Pictures. The show was filmed at the former site for St. Ilan's High School in Caerphilly
, which closed down and became abandoned in 2008, which was re-dressed to become the wards and corridors of the fictional Cardiff Metropolitan Hospital. Cardiff University
's bioscience and psychology buildings were used for many of the hospital's exterior shots. The Cardiff University optometry building is also used for some of the interior shots. The series was filmed in HD and shot on Panasonic P2 cameras. 85% of the cast and crew were made up of local people.
with the jokes taken out, only not as hard-hitting."
Viewing figures for the show however have been quite positive. The first episode peaked with 170,000 viewers and an 18% audience share with a further 85,000 watching the Tuesday night repeat. BBC Wales head of programmes Clare Hudson said she was “...delighted with how well Crash has been received by the audience."
Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan is a British television writer. He was listed as the number 1 television screen writer in the UK by Broadcast magazine and among British Broadcastings Top 20 in The Stage ., He currently resides in Hertfordshire, UK.For many years, he was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One...
and produced by Red Planet Pictures for BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
. The series follows the lives of four newly qualified doctors.
The series is filmed in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
. The series first aired at 20:30 BST on BBC One Wales and BBC HD
BBC HD
BBC HD is a high-definition television network provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007...
on Wednesday 9 September 2009.
Plot
The plot of the show follows the lives of junior doctors Cath, Rob, Rhian and Ameer as they start work at the fictional Cardiff City Hospital. The show will focus on the main characters personal relationships rather than on medical issues, as creator Tony Jordan states "...it’s not a medical show, it’s just set in a hospital.”Current cast members
Elin PhillipsElin Phillips
Elin Phillips is a Welsh actress.Born in Bridgend, she trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.Immediately on graduation in Summer 2009, she gained the lead role in the BBC Wales-commissioned Tony Jordan-produced hospital drama Crash as Doctor Rhian Matthews.Phillips is also a skilled...
as Rhian Matthews: Wanting to be a Doctor since she was a little girl, Rhian is compassionate to her patients but a bit too overconfident, which leads her to not notice that a patient she is diagnosing has already died.
Gareth Milton
Gareth Milton
Gareth Milton is a Welsh actor and television personality. He graduated from Rose Bruford College in 2006 with a first-class BA in Acting. His credits include numerous, regular roles on the Welsh television channel S4C, such as Ian Blake in the award winning Welsh gangster drama, Y Pris; Jamie...
as Simon Strettle: Another Junior Doctor at the Hospital, Simon wants to be a Pathologist. He also has romantic feelings for Rhian, which doesn't go by unnoticed by Ameer.
Kezia Burrows
Kezia Burrows
Kezia Burrows is a Welsh actress.Born in Neath, she lived in Porthcawl and then Carmarthen. Kezia trained at RADA, graduating in Summer 2004.She first took roles in various theatre productions...
as Cath Llewelyn: A Junior Doctor who likes to party, Cath wakes up for her first day at work in bed with Rob.
Simon Rivers
Simon Rivers
Simon Rivers is the stage name of British-Asian actor, Simon Nahal.Born in Birmingham, West Midlands to Sikh parents who had immigrated from the Punjab, he speaks fluent Hindi and Punjabi...
as Ameer Mowad: The most intelligent of the Junior Doctors. Ameer always got top marks while at University and wants to be a Surgeon. Initially confident he crumbles under the pressure of his first day on call on the Crash team.
Mark Lewis Jones
Mark Lewis Jones
Mark Lewis Jones is a Welsh actor, whose roles include that of a police inspector in BBC drama series, 55 Degrees North, a whaler in the movie, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Tecton, a soldier in Troy....
as Mike Hill: A&E Consultant at the Hospital.
Nia Roberts as Mary Finch: The Hospital Registrar and wife of Mike Hill.
Ian Virgo
Ian Virgo
Ian Frederick Virgo is an American-British actor.Virgo was born in Glendale, California and moved to Caldicot, Wales in 1987, so has dual American and British nationality. He has appeared in Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, Casualty, Rise of the Footsoldier and EastEnders, playing Wayne...
as Alun Gethin: The Senior House Officer to the Junior Doctors.
Kezrena James as Penny: A Nurse at the Hospital who takes a shine to Rob.
Former cast members
Gareth JewellGareth Jewell
Gareth Jewell is a Welsh television actor from Ammanford, Carmarthenshire.-Career:Before concentrating on his acting career, Jewell held a number of different jobs after getting rejected from RADA as a teenager. In 2009 Jewell portrayed the character of Rob Williams in the BBC Wales drama Crash...
as Rob Williams: (Series 1, Episode 1) Confident in his work Rob seeks to help his patients and his friends to the best of his ability. However when dealing with a mentally ill patient (david lee smith) he is fatally stabbed.
Production
Crash was commissioned by Clare Hudson and Piers WengerPiers Wenger
Piers Wenger is a British television producer who has been Head of Drama at BBC Wales since January 2009. His work includes the BAFTA-winning Victoria Wood drama Housewife, 49 and the 2007 adaptation of Noel Streatfeild's novel Ballet Shoes....
of BBC Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
for a 12 episode run to be produced by Tony Jordan's independent production company Red Planet Pictures. The show was filmed at the former site for St. Ilan's High School in Caerphilly
Caerphilly
Caerphilly is a town in the county borough of Caerphilly, south Wales, located at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley, with a population of approximately 31,000. It is a commuter town of Cardiff and Newport, which are located some 7.5 miles and 12 miles away, respectively...
, which closed down and became abandoned in 2008, which was re-dressed to become the wards and corridors of the fictional Cardiff Metropolitan Hospital. Cardiff University
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
's bioscience and psychology buildings were used for many of the hospital's exterior shots. The Cardiff University optometry building is also used for some of the interior shots. The series was filmed in HD and shot on Panasonic P2 cameras. 85% of the cast and crew were made up of local people.
Writing
The episodes of Crash are each written by one writer, with the whole production overseen by Tony Jordan. Jordan himself wrote the first episode of the show, while subsequent episodes have been written by a range of new and established writers including playwright Kit Lambert, actor Richard Harrington and winner of the first Red Planet Prize, Joanna Leigh. Unlike other shows that use this writing model, Jordan doesn't rewrite or add to any of the other writers scripts. Instead each writer has to go through several drafts of rewriting their own scripts before they are filmed.Reception
Reviews for the show's first episode have been mixed. Gavin Allen at Media Wales said that the show was of "...much better quality than you might expect for regional programming." . Caroline Hitt at the Western Mail felt the show looked good but bemoaned the death of Rob after just one episode. DeeDee Ramona at Mental Health Nursing site Mental Nurse however thought that the storyline of Rob and his patient was sensationlised, while TV reviewer and blogger Dan Owen awarded the show 1 and a half out of five stars and summed up the show as being like "...ScrubsScrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
with the jokes taken out, only not as hard-hitting."
Viewing figures for the show however have been quite positive. The first episode peaked with 170,000 viewers and an 18% audience share with a further 85,000 watching the Tuesday night repeat. BBC Wales head of programmes Clare Hudson said she was “...delighted with how well Crash has been received by the audience."
External links
- Crash at Red Planet Pictures