The rehearsal schedule is prepared and sent to the actors together with their scripts. This notifies them of their calls for rehearsal during the week in which the production is to take place. Many of the actors will have appeared regularly in Ward 10 over a long period. Among these are Charles Tingwell (Mr. Dawson), Jill Browne (Nurse Carole Young) and Desmond Carrington (Mr. Chris Anderson). Others will be among the hundreds of actors who have appeared in the programme for shorter periods.

There are no costumes during these days in the rehearsal rooms. There is no make-up. There are no cameras, no microphone booms, no arc lights. A few working props such as beds and chairs are used, but in the main the positions of the sets and props are marked by adhesive coloured tapes laid on the floor of the rehearsal room by the floor manager or his assistant. From these stark beginnings the skills of the director, actors and technicians will within a week have created another chapter in the history of the Oxbridge Hospital.