''Staying Alive'' is a British television

medical drama A medical drama is a Television film, television movie or film in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, doctor's office, a paramedic, or any other medical topic or environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic progra ...

series written and created by Neil McKay, first broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

and that aired between 1 November 1996 and 3 August 1997. The series, which follows a group of student nurses working in a London hospital, starred

Jessica Hynes Jessica Hynes (''née'' Stevenson) is a British actress, director and writer. Best known as a comedy actress, she has played Cheryl in ''The Royle Family'' (1998–2010), Siobhan Sharpe in ''Twenty Twelve'' (2011–2012) and ''W1A'' (2014–2 ...

Amanda Royle Amanda Royle is a former British actress who appeared in British television dramas, including ''Miss Marple'', ''At Bertram's Hotel'', ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', '' Campion'', ''Rosemary & Thyme'' and ''Bulman''. Royle's work on stage include ...

and

Susannah Wise Susannah Walker Wise is an English television and stage actress. Life and career Wise trained as an actress at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, graduating in 1995. Wise is best known for her work in the soap opera ''EastEnders'' ...

in the title roles, alongside Paul Higgins,

Sophie Okonedo Sophie Okonedo (born 11 August 1968) is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA TV Awards, an Emmy Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. She ...

, Jenny Bolt,

Sean Blowers Sean Anthony Blowers (born 26 January 1961) is an English actor. Blowers was born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire. He is best known for playing John Hallam in '' London's Burning'' from 1986 until the character was killed off in 199 ...

and

Ayub Khan-Din Ayub Khan Din (; born 11 July 1961) is a British writer and actor. He wrote the BAFTA, BIFA and London Film Critics Circle award-winning film '' East Is East'' (1999), adapted from his 1996 Olivier-nominated play of the same name. His 2008 co ...

. Co-produced and partially filmed in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, ''Staying Alive'' was one of the first ITV dramas to be co-produced between

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 ...

and an international production company. Across two series, a total of twelve episodes were broadcast. Episodes were broadcast at 9:00pm on Fridays as part of LWT's new-look slate of British drama. For the second series, a number of new regular cast members were introduced, including

Ian Fitzgibbon Ian Fitzgibbon (born 1962) is an Irish film and television director, screenwriter and occasionally actor. He is perhaps best known for directing ''Spin the Bottle'', '' A Film with Me in It'' and the Comedy Central UK show Threesome, and for th ...

, Susan McArdle and Rupert Procter. In 1996, a docudrama series with the same name aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, following the lives of six people from different countries around the world infected by the

HIV virus The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the imm ...

. Subsequently, there was some confusion as several TV listings magazines confused the two programmes in the listings guide. Notably, the series has never been released on VHS or DVD.

Cast

as Alice Timpson *

as Dr. Sue McPherson *

as Dr. Michaela Lennox * Paul Higgins as Alan McPherson *

as Kelly Booth * Jenny Bolt as Cassandra Naylor *

as Sgt. Gordon Naylor (Series 1) *

as Dr. Suni Rai * Tom Beard as Dr. Miles Vincent * Lynne Verrall as Sister Felicity O'Keefe * Lesley Nicol as Sister Kate Worswick * Liz Kettle as Sister Fran Coulson * Caroline Hunnisett as Sister Annette Ayers (Series 1) * Yonic Blackwood as Staff Nurse Brigid Watters (Series 1) * Karl Draper as Christopher Morrison * Scott Ransome as Philip Curtis (Series 1) * Charlotte Emmerson as Helen Curtis (Series 1) *

as Martin Roebuck (Series 2) * Susan McArdle as Nikki Salvani (Series 2) * Rupert Procter as Danny Collins (Series 2) * Claudette Barnard as Margaret Timpson * Heather Tobias as Barbara Dawlish (Series 1)

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (1996)

Series 2 (1997)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Staying Alive (Tv Series) 1996 British television series debuts 1997 British television series endings 1990s British medical drama television series ITV television dramas British English-language television shows Television series by ITV Studios London Weekend Television shows Television shows set in London Television shows set in Nottinghamshire