General Hospital was a British daytime soap opera which ran on ITV from 1972 to 1979. It was modeled after the American drama of the same name.

In 1972 ITV started to broadcast programmes on weekday afternoons triggering a new wave of productions to fill out the extended schedules. Among the first of these shows, which were aimed at giving advertisers access to 'stay at home mums' and housewives in general, were the long-running rural soap Emmerdale Farm (YTV) and the twice-weekly medical drama General Hospital.

Set in a fictional Midlands town, the series followed the romantic and professional lives of its doctors and nurses. While the location and the characters names had been changed, in most other respects General Hospital was almost identical to its predecessor, Emergency Ward 10, a deliberate attempt to recreate its success.

In 1975, after 110 twice-weekly episodes, General Hospital was given a primetime slot on Friday evening. The move saw the episode lengths double from 30 to 60 minutes, while on-screen medical procedures, including detailed scenes of surgery, became more prominent.

The main star of the series was actor Tony Adams who played Doctor Neville Bywaters; he later went on to appear as Adam Chance in Crossroads (1964-1988, 2001). Among the other familiar faces to appear was Lynda Bellingham, who gained national fame as the mother in a series of commercials for Oxo stock cubes, and later as Helen Herriot in the series All Creatures Great and Small, based on the books by James Herriot.

By 1979 the "homely" feel of General Hospital was considered to be old fashioned, in the wake of newer grittier dramas, and it was cancelled.

General Hospital (commonly abbreviated GH) is the longest-running ABC Daytime American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company television network. It is also the longest-running serial produced in Hollywood (having been taped at the Prospect Avenue ABC Television Center West and Sunset-Gower Studios).

Set in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York, General Hospital debuted on April 1 1963, the same day that rival network NBC launched its own medical daytime drama, The Doctors. The show originally aired for a half-hour until the network expanded it to the unusual length of 45 minutes in 1976, and then to a full hour in 1978. The serial was created by soap writers Frank and Doris Hursley, a husband-and-wife team.

General Hospital is credited for starting several trends in the soap opera genre in the 1980s, most notably that of the fast-paced action-adventure plotlines that were remarkably different from the more traditional domestic and social issues that had been the sole focus of most soap operas during the previous decades. In 2003, when GH was celebrating its 40th anniversary, TV Guide named it "The Greatest Soap Opera Of All Time." In addition, GH was also named as one of TIME Magazine's "Top 100 Television Shows of All Time."

Events in this daytime drama are centred in Port Charles, a community on the coast in upper New York. Ongoing plots are centred around the people who work in General Hospital, people who work in the business community (most notably for the Quartermaines' company ELQ), and some sort of international intrigue involving former agents of the WSB (World Security Bureau). Big plots of the past include Luke and Laura's wedding and Mikkos Cassadine's evil weather machine. Written by Ed Sutton

Skye Quartermaine headlines a show about the residents of Port Charles, NY. Once a show about the drama inside a city hospital, General Hospital has evolved into a show where the hospital has been nearly phased out. Stories focus on the upper-crust Quartermaines, led by Skye Quartermaine, her brothers AJ and Jason, father Alan, stepmother Monica, and grandparents Edward and Lila. Other stories involve mob boss Sonny Corinthos, his wife Carly, and one-time girlfriend Brenda. Written by Matthew Callahan

The General Hospital of today centers on Kelly's diner, Sonny Corinthos' penthouse the Quartermaine house and sometimes the Hospital. Once a show based around the hospital and it's employees it is now centered on the mob. Maurice Bernard headlines the show about some of the residents of the fictitious town of Port Charles, NY. Stories focus on Sonny and how his life affects the people around him, mainly his wife Carly, his main hit man/best friend Jason Morgan (formally Quartermaine) and Sonny's recently acquired 21-year-old sister Courtney. Other story lines that may be featured will focus on the quirky Quartermaines, which include Skye, AJ, Ned, Edward, and Emily. Promising story lines on the show at the moment are the stories of Elizabeth Webber and Ric Lancing and the current Teen storyline. Also featured are Luke Spencer, Lucky Spencer, Nikolas Cassadine, Stefan Cassadine, Zander, Alan, and Monica. Written by Mickey