''Crash'' is an English-language Welsh television drama series created by Tony Jordan and produced by Red Planet Pictures for

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

. The series follows the lives of four newly qualified doctors. The series is filmed in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

. The series first aired at 20:30 BST on

BBC One Wales BBC One Wales is a Welsh television channel owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Re ...

and

BBC HD BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel 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 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...

on Wednesday 9 September 2009."Crash test for the young doctors"
BBC News.

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.""New Welsh drama to Crash onto our screens"
Wales Online – Lifestyle.

Cast

* Elin Phillips 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 Kezia Burrows is a Welsh actress, known for portraying the role of Dr Cath Llewelyn in the BBC Wales medical drama ''Crash'' from 2009 to 2010. Life and career Born in Neath, she lived in Porthcawl and then Carmarthen But sites being from the s ...

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 (born Amardip Singh Nahal in 1978) is an English actor, known for portraying the role of Kevin Tyler in the BBC soap opera '' Doctors''. Life and career Born in Birmingham, West Midlands to Sikh parents who had immigrated from t ...

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. *

Alexander Vlahos Alexander Vlahos (born 30 July 1988) is a Welsh actor, writer, and director best known for playing Philippe, Duke of Orléans, in the Canal+ television series ''Versailles''. In 2012, Vlahos took over from Asa Butterfield in the role of Mordr ...

as Dylan* * 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. * Gareth Jewell 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 Wenger Piers Wenger is a British television executive who serves as controller of BBC drama commissioning. Early life Wenger was born Piers John Wenger in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England on 29 June 1972. Career Wenger was appointed as controll ...

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 (, ; cy, Caerffili, ) is a town and community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley. It is north of Cardiff and northwest of Newport. It is the largest town in Caerphilly County Borough, and lies wi ...

, 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 , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

'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.Crash, BBC1 In-depth.
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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.

Episodes

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 one and a half out of five stars and summed up the show as being like "...'' Scrubs'' 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.""BBC Wales hospital drama Crash is a ratings success"
WalesOnline.

References

External links

*
''Crash''
at Red Planet Pictures * {{Media in Cardiff BBC television dramas BBC Cymru Wales television shows 2009 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings 2000s British medical television series 2010s British medical television series 2000s British drama television series 2010s British drama television series Television shows set in Wales Television shows set in Cardiff 2000s Welsh television series 2010s Welsh television series