The Royal

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The Royal
The Royal intro.
Genre	Medical drama
Starring	Julian Ovenden Zoie Kennedy Robert Daws Amy Robbins Wendy Craig Ian Carmichael
Opening theme	"Somebody Help Me" by The Spencer Davis Group, sung by Michael Starke
Ending theme	"Somebody Help Me" (instrumental) by The Spencer Davis Group
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	8
No. of episodes	87 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	ITV Studios
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	19 January 2003 (2003-01-19) – 31 July 2011 (2011-07-31)
Related
Heartbeat The Royal Today
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Royal is a British period medical drama, produced by Yorkshire Television (later part of ITV Studios), and broadcast on ITV from 2003 until its cancellation in 2011. The series is set in the 1960s and focuses on the lives of the staff at the fictional "St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital", a National Health Service hospital serving the fictional rural seaside town of Elsinby and its surrounding area. The programme began originally as a spin-off of ITV's period drama series Heartbeat and the first three series featured crossovers with Heartbeat and appearances by its cast members. From the start of the fourth series, the crossover elements were removed, and The Royal focussed on stories involving its own cast.

The series initially began with its cast including Ian Carmichael, Wendy Craig, Robert Daws and Amy Robbins, but gradually expanded with new actors taking the place of others as they left the programme; some taking over to only appear in one series. Much of the outdoor scenes were primarily shot within North Yorkshire, including within Whitby and Scarborough, with interior shots filmed at both The Leeds Studios and St Luke's Hospital, Bradford. The programme remained popular on television until its cancellation, generating its own spin-off, The Royal Today, with episodes later repeated on ITV3.