Staying Alive (TV series)

Staying Alive is a British television medical drama series written and created by Neil McKay, first broadcast on ITV on 1 November 1996. The series, which follows a group of student nurses working in a London hospital, starred Jessica Hynes, Amanda Royle and Susannah Wise in the title roles, alongside Paul Higgins, Sophie Okonedo, Jenny Bolt, Sean Blowers and Ayub Khan-Din. Co-produced and partially filmed in London, Staying Alive was one of the first ITV dramas to be co-produced between LWT 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, Susan McArdle and Rupert Procter. In 1996, a docudrama series with the same name aired on Channel 4, following the lives of six people from different countries around the world infected by the HIV virus. 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

 * Jessica Hynes as Alice Timpson
 * Amanda Royle as Dr. Sue McPherson
 * Susannah Wise as Dr. Michaela Lennox
 * Paul Higgins as Alan McPherson
 * Sophie Okonedo as Kelly Booth
 * Jenny Bolt as Cassandra Naylor
 * Sean Blowers as Sgt. Gordon Naylor (Series 1)
 * Ayub Khan-Din 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)
 * Ian Fitzgibbon 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)