Reminiscent of the Carry On film series, this black comedy with tragic overtones focuses on the appalling conditions in an under-funded National Health Service hospital, which are contrasted comically with a Dr. Kildare-style soap opera airing on the ward television.
Originally titled The End Beds, the play – based on Nichols' time in hospitals where he received treatment for a collapsed lung – originally was written for television, but the playwright received no enthusiastic response from anyone to whom he submitted it.
It premiered at The Old Vic in 1969 and proved to be a critical and commercial success, named Best New Play by the Evening Standard.
It starred Jim Dale, Bob Hoskins, Lynn Redgrave, Donald Sinden, Clive Swift, Mervyn Johns, Eleanor Bron, Gillian Barge and Colin Blakely.
After 23 previews, the Broadway production, produced by Theodore Mann and directed by Arvin Brown, opened on 10 October 1974 at the Circle in the Square Theatre, where it ran for only 53 performances; its subject matter perplexed sophisticated theater-goers.