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, and gradually expanded.

The programme remained popular on television until its cancellation, generating its own spin-off, The Royal Today, with episodes later repeated on ITV3.

Like Heartbeat, the show had a number of anachronisms, such as the use of the expression "the glass ceiling" Filming of the interior scenes of "St. Aidan's" used both The Leeds Studios and St Luke's Hospital, Bradford.

[4] No official news was given that the show was axed, but like Heartbeat, the series ended with a cliffhanger surrounding one of its main characters, when the final episode was aired on 31 July 2011.