Broadcast on the 11th of April 1966 as part of the Thirty Minute Theatre strand, Emergency-Ward 9 was Dennis Potter’s only 30 minute television play. Thirty Minute Theatre, which ran between 1965 and 1973, clocked up nearly 300 episodes and a quick perusal of the credits will throw up many familiar directors and writers (the likes of John Mortimer, Fay Weldon, Tom Stoppard, Willis Hall, P.J. Hammond and Andrew Davies were just a few of the notables who provided scripts for the series).

The title Emergency-Ward 9 is an obvious tip of the hat to ITV’s long-running medical soap opera. Potter, in his previous life as the television critic of the Daily Herald, had encountered the series on a number of occasions. The examples below show that he had a certain condescending affection for it, but his view of hospital life (presumably informed by his own lengthy hospital stays) was a far darker one.

The play opens with a recalcitrant elderly man, Flanders (Terence de Marney), receiving some nursing attention with ill grace. His neighbour in the next bed, Padstow (Tenniel Evans), is a totally different type of patient – happy to assist the nurses, he also sympathises that they have to deal with people as difficult as Flanders. As the play continues, Padstow’s personality is delineated a little more (we discover he’s a schoolteacher during the day and a lay preacher on Sundays, which maybe helps to explain his priggish attitude).

At first, Flanders’ irascible bad temper acts as an entertaining counterpoint to Padstow’s more restrained personality. But soon, the mood changes as Flanders begins to hurl a barrage of racist insults at the only black patient in the ward – Mr Adzola (Dan Jackson).

This was the era of Till Death Us Do Part of course, so the attitude of Flanders wouldn’t have been an isolated one. Flanders is an old, bitter man who becomes increasingly pitiable as the play progresses. Indeed, despite his attitudes, by the end it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for him.

Padstow wastes no time in expressing his revulsion to Flanders for his comments, but when Padstow later goes across to Adzola (to apologise for Flanders’ behaviour) he’s rather taken aback to learn that Adzola holds Flanders (not to mention the rest of his class) in extreme contempt. Potter’s refusal to paint Flanders and Adzola as simply villain and victim means that we close with a feeling of unrelieved tension – the individual viewer, with their own opinions and prejudices, will need to decide for themselves where their sympathies lie.

Broadcast live, Emergency-Ward 9 is fluidly directed by Gareth Davies. I didn’t spot many fluffs or production mishaps (although maybe they were later edited out of the telerecording). Given its hospital setting, it’s hard not to see echoes of The Singing Detective in it – so it’s a shame that it didn’t resurface during BBC4’s recent reruns of Potter’s 1986 serial (possibly the language might have been a stumbling block).

Out of the 285 plays produced for Thirty Minute Theatre, only 45 are known to exist. Given the talents involved, both in front of and behind the screen, that’s a depressingly low total. But there’s always hope that examples might still be out there somewhere – after all, Emergency-Ward 9 was only recovered in 2011 after a film collector saw it listed for sale and decided to take a punt.