The Royal is een Britse dramaserie van de zender ITV1. De serie ging in première op 19 januari 2003.
The Royal is een medische dramaserie van ITV gefilmd in en rond het ziekenhuis St. Aidans Royal Free Hospital in de kustplaats Elsinby in Noord Engeland. The Royal is een spin-off van de serie Heartbeat (1992).
The hospital’s future is in doubt following DHA's decision not to sanction a financial package to repair the Casualty department. The hospital is only offered an authorised high interest loan, that doesn’t cover all the costs of the everything that needs to be done. The hospital's budget for the year ahead has also been cut so that the Royal will need to dip into the Middleditch trust fund to keep the hospital open. Jean ends up announcing that the only way forward is to consider a a complete closure of Casualty. Ralph ends up taking some secret action to rectify the situation but also ends up bringing up some difficult issues in his past. Carol and Ralph finally end up getting together.