''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
. It was created by
Tony McHale
Tony McHale (born Anthony John Wright, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire) is a British actor, writer, director and producer, who is known for starring in ''Coronation Street'' and also known as a "stooge" to Jeremy Beadle on '' Game For A Laugh ...
and
Mal Young
Mal Young (born 26 January 1957) is a British television producer, screenwriter and executive producer.
Career
Mersey TV
Young began his career in graphic design. At age 27 he began working in television, on the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brook ...
as a
spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''
Casualty
Casualty may refer to:
*Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster
**Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare
* The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...
'', and premiered on 12 January 1999; the show ran until 29 March 2022. It follows the lives of medical and ancillary staff at the fictional
Holby City Hospital
Holby is a fictional city in the United Kingdom, the setting for the BBC medical dramas '' Casualty'' and ''Holby City'', and the police drama '' HolbyBlue''. It is based on the real city of Bristol, where ''Casualty'' was formerly filmed, and i ...
, the same hospital as ''Casualty'', in the fictional city of
Holby
Holby is a fictional city in the United Kingdom, the setting for the BBC medical dramas '' Casualty'' and ''Holby City'', and the police drama ''HolbyBlue''. It is based on the real city of Bristol, where ''Casualty'' was formerly filmed, and is ...
, and features occasional crossovers of characters and plots with both ''Casualty'' (which include dedicated episodes broadcast as ''
Casualty@Holby City
Casualty@Holby City (styled as ''CASUAL+Y @ HOLBY CI+Y'') is a series of special crossover episodes of BBC medical dramas ''Casualty'' and '' Holby City''. While ''Casualty'' was launched on 6 September 1986, and its spin-off ''Holby City'' wa ...
'') and the show's 2007
police procedural spin-off ''
HolbyBlue
''HolbyBlue'' (also known as ''Holby Blue'') was a British police procedural drama series. The show revolves around the daily lives of a number of police officers working at Holby South police station. The cast for series one included Jimmy Ak ...
''. It began with eleven main characters in its
first series, all of whom subsequently left the show. New main characters were then periodically written in and out, with a core of around fifteen main actors employed at any given time. In casting the first series, Young sought actors who were already well known in the television industry, something which has continued throughout its history, with cast members including
Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s.
Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bir ...
,
Jane Asher
Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...
,
Robert Powell
Robert Powell (; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in '' Mahler'' (1974) and ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) and its s ...
,
Ade Edmondson
Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...
and
John Michie
John Michie (born 25 October 1956) is a Scottish television and film actor, known for his roles as DI Robbie Ross in the STV detective drama series '' Taggart'', as Karl Munro in ''Coronation Street'' from 2011–2013 and his role as CEO Guy ...
.
McHale was the show's lead writer for several years, and was the first British writer ever to become the
showrunner of a major prime-time drama. Under his tenure as executive producer, attempts were made at modernising the programme and appealing to a younger audience by taking on the
filmizing
Film look (also known as filmizing or film-look) is a process in which video is altered in overall appearance to appear to have been shot on film stock. The process is usually electronic, although filmizing can sometimes occur as an unintentional ...
technique and introducing musical montage segments into each episode. Twenty-three series of ''Holby City'' aired, with the
final series concluding on 29 March 2022. The show ran for over 1000 hour-long episodes. It was filmed at the
BBC Elstree Centre
The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Bore ...
in
Hertfordshire, and has featured special episodes filmed on location abroad. From October 2010, ''Holby City'' moved to
high definition broadcasting. Its first executive producers were Young and
Johnathan Young
Johnathan Young is a British television producer. His credits include '' EastEnders'', ''Casualty'', '' Holby City'', ''The Bill'', ''The Sinking of the Laconia'', The Mill, Mamon, Pakt and Wataha.
In June 2005 he was appointed Head of Drama at ...
, who were succeeded by
Kathleen Hutchison
Kathleen Hutchison is a British television producer, whose credits include ''Playing the Field'', ''Holby City'' (of which she was the Series Producer, then Executive Producer for many years) and ''Casualty @ Holby City''.
''EastEnders''
On 21 Se ...
from 2002 to 2004,
Richard Stokes Richard or Dick Stokes may refer to:
* Richard Stokes (politician), British soldier and politician
* Richard Stokes (producer), British television producer
* Richard Stokes (priest), English Anglican priest
* Dick Stokes (hurler), Irish hurler
* Dic ...
from 2004 to 2006, McHale from 2006 to 2010, Belinda Campbell from 2010 to 2011, Johnathan Young from 2011 to 2013, Oliver Kent from 2013 to 2017 and Simon Harper from 2017 to 2021. ''Holby City'' aired once a week, all year round, and each series contained 52 episodes.
''Holby City'' has attracted comparisons to other medical dramas, often unfavourable, and figures within the television and entertainment industry, including
Broadcasting Standards Commission
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
director Paul Bolt, have accused the BBC of squandering the television
licence fee
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...
on the programme. The series employs a team of researchers to ensure medical accuracy, and utilises surgeons from different disciplines to check scripts. Cast members are taught to perform basic medical procedures, and given the opportunity to spend time on real hospital wards for research. ''Holby City'' has, however, been criticised for its lack of realism, with the
British Medical Association denouncing its portrayal of organ donation and unrealistic impression of resuscitation, and an
accident and emergency
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pa ...
nurse at the 2008
Royal College of Nursing
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. ...
conference accusing the show of fostering unrealistic expectations of the NHS and fuelling
compensation culture
"Compensation culture" (often shortened to "compo culture") is a pejorative term used to imply that, within a society, a significant number of claims for compensation for torts are unjustified, Frivolous litigation, frivolous, or fraudulent, and th ...
.
''Holby City''
has been nominated for over 100 television awards, of which it has won ten: the 2008
British Academy Television Award for Best Continuing Drama, one BEFFTA Award, two
Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards
EMMA (Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy) is a British organization that raises awareness of discrimination through media campaigns and social networking.
The EMMA Awards was founded in 1997 by Bobby Syed and "seeks to promote diversity within th ...
, two Music Video and Screen Awards, and four
Screen Nation
The Screen Nation Film & TV Awards, formerly the bfm (black filmmaker) Film and TV Awards, was founded in September 2003 by independent film producer Charles Thompson MBE, as a platform to raise the profile of black British and international fil ...
Awards. The show's
first series averaged 9.27 million viewers, but apart from a rise in its
fifth series, ratings declined year-on-year until 2009, with the
eleventh series averaging 5.44 million viewers. The
twelfth series saw a small rise to 5.62 million. Later series consistently drew over 4 million viewers per week.
Production
The show began with only eleven main characters in its
first series, all of whom have since left the show. New main characters have been both written in and out of the series since, with a core of fifteen to twenty main actors employed on the serial at any given time. In casting the first series, Young sought out actors who were already well known in the television industry, something which has continued throughout the show's history, with cast members including
Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s.
Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bir ...
,
Jane Asher
Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...
,
Robert Powell
Robert Powell (; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in '' Mahler'' (1974) and ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) and its s ...
,
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...
,
Alex Walkinshaw and
Jemma Redgrave
Jemima Rebecca Redgrave (born 14 January 1965), known as Jemma Redgrave, is a fourth-generation British actress of the Redgrave family. She played the title character in four series of '' Bramwell'', and has a recurring role in '' Doctor Who'' a ...
.
McHale was the show's lead writer for several years, and was the first British writer ever to become the "showrunner" of a major prime time drama. Under his tenure as executive producer, attempts were made at modernising the programme and appealing to a younger audience by taking on the
filmising
Film look (also known as filmizing or film-look) is a process in which video is altered in overall appearance to appear to have been shot on film stock. The process is usually electronic, although filmizing can sometimes occur as an unintentional ...
technique and introducing musical montage segments into each episode. Twenty complete series of ''Holby City'' have aired, and an twenty-first began airing in January 2019. The show has run for over 600 hour-long episodes. It is filmed in studios at the BBC Elstree Centre in Hertfordshire, with the 1960s office building Neptune House being used for multiple exteriors and interiors in the series. It has occasionally featured special episodes filmed on location abroad. From October 2010, ''Holby City'' moved to
high definition broadcasting.
In September 2016, as part of the broadcaster's Compete Or Compare Strategy, the BBC confirmed the show would be one of the first put up for tender. In the tender released in October, it was confirmed the contract, open to independent producers and
BBC Studios
BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...
, would be for 3 series of a minimum 50 episodes per series, delivered from December 2017 with no break in transmission and produced from the existing production base at
BBC Elstree Centre
The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Bore ...
. BBC Studios was announced as the winning bidder and was to continue to produce the show through to 2020.
It was announced on 18 March 2020 that production had been suspended on ''Holby City'' and other BBC Studios continuing dramas in light of new government guidelines following the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. A BBC Studios statement said there would be no impact on the immediate broadcast of episodes, but that the "long-term ramifications are still unclear". Despite this, it was announced on 9 April 2020 that the drama would be going on an extended hiatus on 14 April. It was later confirmed that the show would return in July 2020.
Development
''Holby City'' was created by
Tony McHale
Tony McHale (born Anthony John Wright, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire) is a British actor, writer, director and producer, who is known for starring in ''Coronation Street'' and also known as a "stooge" to Jeremy Beadle on '' Game For A Laugh ...
and
Mal Young
Mal Young (born 26 January 1957) is a British television producer, screenwriter and executive producer.
Career
Mersey TV
Young began his career in graphic design. At age 27 he began working in television, on the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brook ...
as a spin-off from the BBC medical drama ''
Casualty
Casualty may refer to:
*Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster
**Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare
* The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...
'', which is set in the
emergency department of the fictional Holby City Hospital.
Young wanted to explore what happened to patients treated in ''Casualty'' once they were taken away to the hospital's surgical wards.
While ''Casualty'' scope is limited to "accident of the week" storylines about patients entering hospital, ''Holby City'' allowed the possibility of storylines about long-term care, rather than immediate life and death decisions. The series was commissioned by BBC One Controller
Peter Salmon, and began airing on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
on 12 January 1999.
Series producer
Richard Stokes Richard or Dick Stokes may refer to:
* Richard Stokes (politician), British soldier and politician
* Richard Stokes (producer), British television producer
* Richard Stokes (priest), English Anglican priest
* Dick Stokes (hurler), Irish hurler
* Dic ...
believes that the series' popularity stems from the fact the hospital setting presents numerous plotline opportunities, explaining: "You have licence to create life-and-death situations every week, something you cannot do in any other set piece. The interaction of the characters can be sexy and social issues also permeate the writing. But, basically, hospital drama is successful because the viewers will forgive all the yukky bits for the wonder of a life saved."
The focus of the series has developed since its conception, expanding to cover extra wards, including a
gynaecology ward, an
acute assessment unit An acute admissions unit is a short-stay department in some British, Australian and New Zealand hospitals that may be linked to the emergency department, but functions as a separate department.
The AMU acts as a gateway between a patient's gene ...
and a
maternity
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...
ward.
When the maternity ward and a
Neonatal intensive-care unit, special care baby unit were introduced during
series four, Young explained that new wards were necessary to allow the crew to rotate sets, maximising filming potential.
Episodes of ''Holby City'' cost around £370,000 to produce—more than the BBC soap opera ''
EastEnders'', at £130,000 per episode, but less than ''Casualty'' at £450,000 per episode, or ''
Dalziel and Pascoe
Detective Superintendent Andrew "Andy" Dalziel and Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector, Peter Pascoe are two fictional Yorkshire detectives featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill.
Characterisation and style
Dalziel is ...
'' at £700–800,000 per episode. As ''Holby City'' is a high-volume, year-round production, it has relatively low production costs. Set-up costs can be spread over many years and standing sets can be repeatedly re-used, which is not the case for shorter series or one-off dramas.
Young remained an executive producer of ''Holby City'' until 2004, when he left the BBC to work for production company
19 TV. Former ''Casualty'' producer
Johnathan Young
Johnathan Young is a British television producer. His credits include '' EastEnders'', ''Casualty'', '' Holby City'', ''The Bill'', ''The Sinking of the Laconia'', The Mill, Mamon, Pakt and Wataha.
In June 2005 he was appointed Head of Drama at ...
was an executive producer for the duration of ''Holby'' first series, before joining
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
in 1999.
Kathleen Hutchison
Kathleen Hutchison is a British television producer, whose credits include ''Playing the Field'', ''Holby City'' (of which she was the Series Producer, then Executive Producer for many years) and ''Casualty @ Holby City''.
''EastEnders''
On 21 Se ...
served alongside Mal Young as co-executive producer from 2003 to 2004, when she left the series to become executive producer of ''EastEnders''.
Hutchison was succeeded by former series producer Stokes, who remained working on ''Holby City'' until 2006, when McHale returned to the series.
He resigned from the position in 2009,
and was succeeded by Belinda Campbell in 2010.
In February 2011, it was announced that Johnathan Young would return to the BBC from March, succeeding Campbell as executive producer of both ''Casualty'' and ''Holby City''. Two years later, the BBC advertised for a new executive producer for both shows. Oliver Kent was then announced as Young's successor, being promoted from senior producer at ''Holby City'' and series producer at ''Casualty''. Kent was promoted to Head of Continuing Drama Series for BBC Studios in December 2016, and series producer Simon Harper was appointed the serial's acting executive producer. In June 2017, it was announced that Harper would take the job on a permanent basis.
Kate Oates
Kate Oates (born 1979 or 1980) is a British television producer, who was born in Nottingham and graduated from Warwick University. She began her career working as a researcher and editorial assistant for Germaine Greer, before becoming a script ...
was hired as the show's senior executive producer in October 2018, working alongside Harper. She was promoted, succeeding Kent in his position, in April 2019. Harper remained in the role of executive producer until 2021.
Writing
''Holby City'' storylines are planned eight months in advance.
The series utilises a number of scriptwriters, who are found and scheduled by script development editor Simon Harper.
Harper receives around 20 speculative scripts a week, and also finds writers through the BBC Writers Academy, a course established in 2005 which guarantees its graduates the opportunity to work on prime time television. McHale teaches at the academy, and graduate Abi Bown went on to become a regular writer for ''Holby City''. Harper also recruits writers through the BBC's Continuing Drama Shadow Scheme, open to writers from all levels of experience.
He believes that scripts which demonstrate synthesis between guest and serial storylines are "the spine of the show", and has stated that, "Good, cracking, intelligent, ballsy dialogue is a must," explaining: "It's about getting the characters' voices because the characters drive these shows. It is a love for and investment in these characters and the consistency of those characters." Harper does not require that writers are necessarily familiar with the show, and would like to attract more female scriptwriters.
McHale wrote the series' first episode, and served as the show's lead writer. His 2006 promotion to executive producer was part of a bid by Controller of BBC Drama Production
John Yorke to "put writers back at the heart of the process". Yorke called McHale's promotion "fantastic", explaining: "It means that for the first time you've got a writer running one of our big powerhouse BBC1 shows." Following McHale's resignation, his replacement as lead writer was Justin Young, who intends to introduce a more writer-led commissioning process from
series 13 Series 13 or Season 13 may refer to:
* Lego Minifigures (theme)#Series 13, the toy line by Lego
* Warehouse 13, the TV series
* 13" series laptops
** Dell Inspiron 13
** Dell Latitude 13
*** Dell Latitude 13 Education Series
The Dell Latit ...
onwards, with writers creating more of the theme and story of their episodes than was previously the case.
Medical accuracy
To ensure accuracy in scriptwriting, the serial employs a team of researchers to advise writers on nursing issues and health service politics.
One medical advisor was given a cameo role in the series as an orthopaedic surgeon, and another, recovery nurse Rachel Carter, appears in ''Holby City'' as a scrub nurse. Another adviser, a
heart surgeon
Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the thoracic cavity — generally treatment of conditions of the heart (heart disease), lungs (lung disease), and other pleural or mediastinal struc ...
, has occasionally left
open-heart surgery to advise ''Holby City'' writers over the telephone.
The programme utilises surgeons from different disciplines, who check scripts for accuracy. Carter believes this is particularly important in case viewers copy procedures they have seen in the show, such as
CPR
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...
. Series star
Amanda Mealing commented: "We pride ourselves on being realistic. You need to know what you are doing and why. It is a complex and foreign thing to act out an operation. For training, I watched a number of real ones."
Cast members are taught how to give realistic injections, monitor blood pressure and check a pulse, and some are given the opportunity to observe procedures in real hospitals. Original cast member
George Irving observed
coronary artery bypass surgery performed at
Papworth and
Middlesex Hospital
Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...
in preparation for his role as
Anton Meyer
Anton Meyer is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor George Irving. He appeared in the series from its first episode, broadcast on 12 January 1999, until series four, episode 46, broadcast on 20 Augu ...
, while
Edward MacLiam
Edward MacLiam (born Edward Wilson in 1976) is an Irish actor, known for his roles as Greg Douglas in the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I ...
observed
laparoscopic surgery
Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.Medli ...
being performed before joining the cast as Greg Douglas in
series twelve.
The series uses operational
ventilator
A ventilator is a piece of medical technology that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of the lungs, to deliver breaths to a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. Ventilators ...
s on set and these were donated to the
NHS Nightingale Hospital
The NHS Nightingale Hospital London was the first of the NHS Nightingale Hospitals, temporary hospitals set up by NHS England for the COVID-19 pandemic. It was housed in the ExCeL London convention centre in East London. The hospital was rapid ...
during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
Filming and on-screen output
''Holby City'' and ''Casualty'' are both set in Holby City Hospital, in the fictional county of Wyvern, in the southwest of England close to the Welsh border.
The city exterior is represented by
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, though ''Holby City'' is filmed at
BBC Elstree Centre
The BBC Elstree Centre, sometimes referred to as the BBC Elstree Studios, is a television production facility, currently owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The complex is located between Eldon Avenue and Clarendon Road in Bore ...
in
Borehamwood
Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...
, Hertfordshire.
The ''Casualty'' set in Bristol was not large enough to encompass the surgical ward and operating theatre required for ''Holby City'', and as a result, some crossover scenes in the first episode had to be shot twice, first on the ''Casualty'' set and then again at Elstree, with cast members travelling between the two locations.
In October 2007, BBC cutbacks led ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' to report that the Elstree site would be sold, and ''Holby City'' relocated to share a set with ''Casualty'', possibly in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
.
In March 2009, the BBC confirmed that ''Casualty'' would move to a new set in Cardiff, however in the following month, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' announced that the BBC would retain Elstree Studios for at least another four years.
Several episodes of the series have been shot on location abroad. In 2004, the romance between nurse
Jess Griffin
'' Holby City'' is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty''. It is set in the ...
(
Verona Joseph
Verona Joseph (born 23 April 1974) is a British actress. She played the role of Jess Griffin in the BBC drama series '' Holby City'' between 2002 and 2007 and continued to appear as a recurring character from time to time. In 2004, she appeare ...
) and anaesthetist
Zubin Khan
Zubin Khan is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor Art Malik. He first appeared in the series five episode "Private Lives", broadcast on 17 June 2003. Zubin arrives at Holby City hospital as a consul ...
(
Art Malik) culminated in an episode set in Paris. The following year, registrar
Diane Lloyd
Diane Lloyd is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actress Patricia Potter. She first appeared in the series four episode "High Risk", broadcast on 2 July 2002. Diane arrives at the hospital to work as a s ...
(
Patricia Potter
Patricia Caroline Potter (born 3 March 1975) is an English actress, known for her role as Diane Lloyd in the BBC medical drama series '' Holby City''. From 2016 to 2017, she appeared in the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'' as Jane Fairweather.
Per ...
) followed consultant
Ric Griffin
Kobina Eric "Ric" Griffin is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', portrayed by actor Hugh Quarshie. The character is introduced as a consultant in general surgery during the series four episode " Rogue Males", ori ...
(
Hugh Quarshie
Hugh Anthony Quarshie (born 22 December 1954) is a Ghanaian-born British actor. Some of his best-known roles include his appearances in the films ''Highlander'' (1986), '' The Church'' (1989), ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1 ...
) to
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
as part of the BBC's "Africa lives" series, a week of programmes bringing an exploration of African culture to UK audiences. In 2006, an episode shot in
Switzerland featured consultant
Elliot Hope
Elliot Hope is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama television series ''Holby City'', played by Paul Bradley. The character first appeared on 8 November 2005 in the episode "More Equal Than Others" - series eight, episode four of t ...
's (
Paul Bradley) wife Gina (
Gillian Bevan
Gillian Bevan (born 13 February 1956) is an English actress, best known for her roles in British television shows and West End theatre.
In 1988 she played Dorothy in the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival of their version of '' The Wizard of O ...
) committing
assisted suicide after her
motor neurone disease
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most commo ...
worsened. A 2007 episode filmed in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
focused on ''Holby'' registrar
Joseph Byrne (
Luke Roberts
Luke Justin Roberts (born 25 January 1977) is a sports director and former Australian racing cyclist specialising in both track cycling and road bicycle racing.
Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he resides both in Adelaide and in Cologne, ...
) meeting new nurse
Faye Morton (
Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s.
Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bir ...
), and in 2008, Joseph and consultant
Linden Cullen
Linden Cullen is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', portrayed by actor Duncan Pow. He made his first appearance in the series ten episode "Stolen", broadcast on 15 January 2008. The character was the head of Holb ...
(
Duncan Pow
Duncan Pow (born October 8 1977) is a Scottish actor. He is known in the United Kingdom for television roles in the Sky 1 series ''Dream Team'', and the BBC One series '' Holby City''. He is known internationally for his role in the '' Star Wa ...
) travelled to
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
when Faye experienced difficulties there. Series producer Diana Kyle stated in November 2008 that due to major BBC budget cuts, the series would not be filming abroad again for the "foreseeable future".
However, on 10 December 2012, it was announced that the show had filmed one episode in
Stockholm, which focusses on Jac tracking down hospital CEO
Henrik Hanssen
Henrik Hanssen is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor Guy Henry. He made his first appearance in the thirteenth series episode "Shifts", broadcast on 19 October 2010. Hanssen is initially a consult ...
(
Guy Henry) and exploring his backstory.
''Holby City'' was shot using the
single-camera setup
The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, also known as portable single camera, is a method of filmmaking and video production.
The single-camera setup originally developed during the birth of the classical Hollywood cinema i ...
. Filming occurred from 8am until 7pm daily, 50 weeks a year.
From July 2007 onwards, the show took on the
filmising
Film look (also known as filmizing or film-look) is a process in which video is altered in overall appearance to appear to have been shot on film stock. The process is usually electronic, although filmizing can sometimes occur as an unintentional ...
technique, giving episodes the impression of having been shot on film. Kyle stated that this was intended to attract a younger audience and modernise the programme, and that there had been a "very positive" response to the change.
On 28 May 2010, the BBC announced that it would be launching a
high definition (HD) simulcast of BBC One from the autumn, and that ''Holby City'' would move to HD by the end of the year. The series moved to HD broadcasting, with a
BBC HD
BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...
simulcast, from the start of series 13 in October 2010.
Music
The show's
eleventh series saw musical montage or "songtage" segments become standard in each episode, introduced by McHale as a means of modernising the show. Although McHale initially considered commissioning original pieces, budgetary constraints limited choices to pre-existing tracks. The use of songtages was first popularised by the US medical drama ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...
'', however McHale stated he was unaware of this until ''Holby City'' had already adopted the technique. Music was generally selected by each episode's scriptwriter. If the writer was not specific about which songs should be used, the producers and director would select the music in post-production. Actors also have some input:
Hugh Quarshie
Hugh Anthony Quarshie (born 22 December 1954) is a Ghanaian-born British actor. Some of his best-known roles include his appearances in the films ''Highlander'' (1986), '' The Church'' (1989), ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1 ...
personally selected the music he believed his character
Ric Griffin
Kobina Eric "Ric" Griffin is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', portrayed by actor Hugh Quarshie. The character is introduced as a consultant in general surgery during the series four episode " Rogue Males", ori ...
would listen to in theatre.
Asked in June 2010 whether she felt songtages were appropriate for a serious drama show, Kyle responded: "Yes – sometimes. On a multi-strand series such as ''Holby'', they are an excellent way of telling stories visually – a moment from each – to open or close an episode or create the passing of time in a concise way for the audience." Kris Green of entertainment and media website ''
Digital Spy'' suggested that the number of songs used per episode could be "very jarring", to which Kyle replied: "We plan to use music carefully in the future – maybe 'songtages', as above – and sourced music within a scene, that is music actually playing in the scene itself, for example on a radio – but less incidental."
Broadcast
''Holby City'' premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. Twenty-one series of the show have since aired, and a twenty-second began airing on 7 January 2020. The show's first series ran for nine episodes.
In June 2000, then
Director-General of the BBC
The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC.
The position was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period of 1927 to 2007) and then t ...
Greg Dyke
Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...
pledged extra funding for BBC One, some of which was used for extra episodes of ''Holby City''. The second and third series ran for 16 and 30 episodes respectively, with new episodes then airing on a weekly basis from the fourth series onwards.
Series four to nine and eleven all ran for 52 episodes, while series ten ran for 53 episodes, including the stand-alone finale episode "Mad World", set outside the hospital. All series from then on continued to consist of 52 episodes, with exception to the twelfth series, which consisted of 55 episodes in total. Young explained of the increase in series length: "Longer runs allow you to develop really strong storylines for the regular characters. As long as you do volume with passion, it'll work."
The series reached its 500th episode on 13 April 2010, and its 1000th episode on 5 November 2019.
Throughout ''Holby City'' first series, episodes were 50 minutes long. From the second series onwards, episodes have been one hour in length.
The show was originally broadcast on Tuesday nights at 8.10 pm, until a switch to Thursdays occurred for the second series, which began broadcasting in November 1999. Halfway through the third series in 2001, Holby reverted to its original Tuesday night slot, but now at 8.05 pm. Finally, the show moved into the 8pm timeslot, where it has since remained. The show is occasionally broadcast on a different day dependent on BBC scheduling. In 2007, the show temporarily moved to Thursday nights, allowing ''HolbyBlue'' to air in the 8pm Tuesday timeslot.
BBC One in Scotland typically broadcasts episodes at the later time of 10.45 pm.
In February 2019, it was announced that repeats of ''Holby City'' would begin airing on the channel
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
, starting from the first episode.
The programme airs in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
on the channel
Yle TV2
Yle TV2 ( fi, Yle TV Kaksi; sv, Yle TV Två) is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Yle. TV2 was launched in 1965 as the successor to the former television channels TES-TV (Tesvisio) and Tamvisio, and broadcasts public service ...
under the name of ''Holby Cityn sairaala''.
Cancellation
On 2 June 2021, it was announced that ''Holby City'' had been cancelled and would conclude with the twenty-third series. The final episode was broadcast in March 2022.
The decision was made as part of plans from the BBC to make more programmes across the country with the intention to better reflect it. An official press release statement thanked the entire cast and crew for their work on the serial and promised that it would "
oout on a high".
Gleeson explained that his team wanted to make the series' concluding broadcasts "the most entertaining ''Holby'' yet".
Hugh Quarshie
Hugh Anthony Quarshie (born 22 December 1954) is a Ghanaian-born British actor. Some of his best-known roles include his appearances in the films ''Highlander'' (1986), '' The Church'' (1989), ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1 ...
, the show's longest-serving cast member, told Sarah Marsh of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' that the cast and production team were informed about the cancellation one hour before its announcement.
The show's cancellation received a backlash from critics, fans and past and present cast members. Calli Kitson of ''
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...
'' branded the decision "a huge mistake" and summarised, "Put simply, storylines in Holby City have saved people's lives."
Borehamwood and Elstree Times writer and Elstree Studios historian Paul Welsh was disappointed by the news and felt sorry for the cast "whose fame rests on being in ''Holby City''" and may struggle with
typecasting
In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...
.
Quarshie,
Joe McFadden
Joseph McFadden (born 9 October 1975) is a Scottish actor best known for his roles in ''The Crow Road,'' '' Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll, Heartbeat'' and '' Holby City.'' McFadden won the 2017 series of the BBC One series '' Strictly Come Dancing ...
(
Raf di Lucca),
Davood Ghadami
Davood Ghadami ( fa, داوود قدمی; born 7 August 1982) is an English actor. Following his appearances in ''Taggart'' in 2010, he appeared in the BBC medical programmes '' Doctors'' and ''Casualty'' in recurring roles. In 2014, he began p ...
(Eli Ebrahimi) and
Luisa Bradshaw-White
Luisa Bradshaw-White (born 9 December 1974) is a former English actress, known for playing Tina Carter in '' EastEnders'' and for her previous roles on '' Bad Girls'', '' Holby City'' and ''This Life''. She has also made appearances in televisi ...
(
Lisa Fox) were among the cast who expressed their sadness with the show's cancellation.
Fans of the show launched a
Change.org
Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...
petition to save ''Holby City''; it reached over 30,000 signatures in a matter of days.
Characters and cast
Characters
''Holby City'' follows the professional and personal lives of medical and ancillary staff at Holby City Hospital. It features an ensemble cast of main and recurring characters. New main characters have been both written in and out of the series regularly since it started, the show contains a core of 10 to 20 main characters on the show at any given time.
The original cast of 11 characters featured in the show's first episode consisted of
consultants
A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization.
Consulting servic ...
Anton Meyer
Anton Meyer is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor George Irving. He appeared in the series from its first episode, broadcast on 12 January 1999, until series four, episode 46, broadcast on 20 Augu ...
(
George Irving) and Muriel McKendrick (
Phyllis Logan
Phyllis Logan (born 11 January 1956) is a Scottish actress, known for playing Lady Jane Felsham in ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes (later Carson) in ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer f ...
),
registrars Nick Jordan (
Michael French
Michael French (born Michael Clark, 17 September 1962) is an English actor, known for his roles as David Wicks in ''EastEnders''; Nick Jordan, a consultant and Clinical Lead, Senior Consultant in emergency medicine in '' Casualty'' and former ...
) and Kirstie Collins (
Dawn McDaniel
Dawn Kathreen Skye MacDonald is a British actress who has played Kirstie Collins in '' Holby City'', and she has appeared in ''Soldier Soldier'', '' Murphy's Law'' and '' Doctors''
Acting credits
*'' Life Begins'' (Lizzie) Granada
*'' Murphy's ...
),
senior house officer A senior house officer (SHO) is a non-consultant hospital doctor in the Republic of Ireland. SHOs are supervised in their work by consultants and registrars. In training posts these registrars and consultants oversee training and are usually their d ...
Victoria Merrick (
Lisa Faulkner
Lisa Tamsin Faulkner (born 19 February 1972) is an actress, presenter and celebrity chef.
Early life
Faulkner was born in Merton, London, to David Faulkner and Julie (née Day). She lived in Esher and was educated at Tiffin Girls' School in ...
),
ward sister
Nursing in the United Kingdom has a long history. The current form of nursing is often considered as beginning with Florence Nightingale who pioneered modern nursing. Nightingale initiated formal schools of nursing in the United Kingdom in the l ...
Karen Newburn (
Sarah Preston), theatre sister Ellie Sharpe (Julie Saunders), senior staff nurse Ray Sykes (
Ian Curtis
Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums ''Unknown P ...
), staff nurses Julie Bradford (
Nicola Stephenson
Nicola Stephenson (born 5 July 1971) is an English actress. She played the roles of Margaret Clemence in '' Brookside'', Julie Fitzjohn in ''Holby City'', Sarah Williams in '' The Chase'', Allie Westbrook in '' Waterloo Road'', and Tess Harris ...
) and Jasmine Hopkins (
Angela Griffin
Angela Mellissa Griffin (born 19 July 1976) is a British actress and television presenter who has been active on British television since the early 1990s. She is best known for portraying the roles of Fiona Middleton in the ITV soap opera '' ...
), and ward clerk Paul Ripley (
Luke Mably
Thomas Luke Mably is an English actor.
Early life
Mably was born in London, England. He attended the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama.
Career
Mably portrayed White in the thriller ''Exam'' under the direction of Stuart Hazeldine. He had ...
).
Towards the end of its run the show featured an ensemble of sixteen regular characters. Having originally appeared between 2004 and 2011,
Jaye Jacobs
Emma Jaye Jacobs (born 27 May 1982), known professionally as Jaye Jacobs, is an English actress. She is best known for playing the roles of Donna Jackson in the BBC medical drama series '' Holby City'' from 2004 to 2011 and 2017 to 2022 and deput ...
reprised her role as
Donna Jackson
Donna Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actress Jaye Jacobs. She appeared in the programme from its sixth series in 2004, to its thirteenth in 2011, and from its nineteenth in 2017. Donna e ...
in 2017.
Rosie Marcel
Rosie Ellen Celine Marcel (born 6 May 1977) is an English actress. Marcel is known for her role as Jac Naylor, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon lead in the BBC drama series ''Holby City'', a role she has also played in sister series '' Casual ...
has starred as
Jac Naylor
Jac Naylor is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', portrayed by Rosie Marcel. She made her first screen appearance during the series eight episode "Bird on a Wire", which was originally broadcast on 22 November 200 ...
since 2005, while
Sacha Levy actor
Bob Barrett joined ''Holby City'' in 2010.
Henrik Hanssen
Henrik Hanssen is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor Guy Henry. He made his first appearance in the thirteenth series episode "Shifts", broadcast on 19 October 2010. Hanssen is initially a consult ...
(
Guy Henry) rejoined the show in 2015, two years after leaving a three-year stint on the show. Initially cast in a guest stint, actor
David Ames (
Dominic Copeland) joined the regular cast in 2014. Following his decision to leave ''Casualty'',
Alex Walkinshaw accepted an invitation to reprise his role as
Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher in 2014. In 2019,
Ange Godard (
Dawn Steele
Dawn Steele (born 11 December 1975) is a Scottish actress best known for her portrayals of the characters Alexandra “Lexie” MacDonald from the BBC drama '' Monarch of the Glen'', Alice Trevanion in the ITV drama series '' Wild at Heart'' a ...
) and
Max McGerry
'' Holby City'' is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty''. It is set in the ...
(
Jo Martin
Jo Martin (born 29 April) is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom '' The Crouches'', which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'' in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed a ...
) were introduced to the series.
Max's son,
Louis McGerry (Tyler Luke Cunningham), was introduced in 2020, marking the introduction of the show's first regular
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
character. Following the show's production break, three new characters were introduced:
Josh Hudson (Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge),
Jeong-Soo Han (Chan Woo Lim), and
Lucky Simpson (
Vineeta Rishi
Vineeta Rishi, is an English actress, known for playing Jas Khella in the BBC One soap opera '' Doctors''.
Born in Bracknell, Berkshire to Indian parents, Rishi grew up in Walkergate, Newcastle upon Tyne where she attended Walkergate Primary a ...
). Amy Murphy joined the show's cast as
Kylie Maddon in February 2021. Three regular characters were introduced in the show's final series: Eli Ebrahimi (
Davood Ghadami
Davood Ghadami ( fa, داوود قدمی; born 7 August 1982) is an English actor. Following his appearances in ''Taggart'' in 2010, he appeared in the BBC medical programmes '' Doctors'' and ''Casualty'' in recurring roles. In 2014, he began p ...
), Madge Britton (
Clare Burt
Clare Burt is an English actress and singer, best known for her stage work and for her appearance on the television series ''The Bill''.
Biography
As a child she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School.
Burt is a member of the National Theat ...
), and Russell "Russ" Faber (
Simon Slater
Simon Slater (born 1959) is a British music director, composer, narrator, and actor. He has composed more than 300 original music scores for film, theatre, TV and radio, and is a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.
I ...
).
Casting
In casting the
first series of ''Holby City'', Young—who had previously worked on the soap operas ''
Brookside Brookside may refer to:
Geography Canada
* Brookside, Edmonton
* Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador
* Brookside, Nova Scotia
United Kingdom
* Brookside, Berkshire, England
* Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England
United States
* Br ...
'' and ''
Family Affairs
''Family Affairs'' is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per w ...
''—selected actors who were already established names in the acting industry, particularly from a soap opera background.
French had starred in the BBC's ''EastEnders'', while Stephenson and Faulkner had starred in ''Brookside''.
Griffin had also appeared in
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's ''
Coronation Street''.
Young explained: "Some of the best performances on screen have come out of soaps in the past few years. There is a fantastic amount of talent on those shows."
This propensity for hiring established actors continued as the soap progressed, with former ''
Brookside Brookside may refer to:
Geography Canada
* Brookside, Edmonton
* Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador
* Brookside, Nova Scotia
United Kingdom
* Brookside, Berkshire, England
* Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England
United States
* Br ...
'' actress
Patricia Potter
Patricia Caroline Potter (born 3 March 1975) is an English actress, known for her role as Diane Lloyd in the BBC medical drama series '' Holby City''. From 2016 to 2017, she appeared in the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'' as Jane Fairweather.
Per ...
cast as registrar
Diane Lloyd
Diane Lloyd is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actress Patricia Potter. She first appeared in the series four episode "High Risk", broadcast on 2 July 2002. Diane arrives at the hospital to work as a s ...
, ''
Star Wars'' actor
Denis Lawson cast as consultant
Tom Campbell-Gore
'' Holby City'' is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty''. It is set in the ...
, and ''
Family Affairs
''Family Affairs'' is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per w ...
'' star
Rocky Marshall
Rocky Marshall (born c.1967) is an English television and film actor, living near Battersea Park.
Biography
Rocky Marshall trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and was taught by Sam Kogan for the first 2 years there.
He has starred in mo ...
cast as SHO
Ed Keating
Ed Keating is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor Rocky Marshall. He first appeared in the series four episode "New Hearts, Old Scores", broadcast on 13 August 2002. Ed arrives at Holby City hospital ...
.
Later roles were awarded to comedian
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...
, former film actress
Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s.
Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bir ...
, and ''
Jesus of Nazareth'' star Powell.
When
Jane Asher
Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...
was cast in the recurring role of
Lady Byrne
Anne-Marie, Lady Byrne is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', portrayed by actress Jane Asher. The character first appeared on 10 May 2007 in episode "After the Fall" - series 9, episode 30 of the programme. After ...
in 2007, ''
Inside Soap'' magazine asked Kyle whether the production team intentionally sought out "well-known-names". She responded: "It's lovely when we have a new member of the cast come in and bring an audience with them. But we want the best actors, and the star names we cast are always the best – which is why we go for them."
There is a casting department at Elstree Studios which casts actors for ''Holby City'' as well as ''Casualty'', ''EastEnders'' and ''
Doctors
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
''. The programme also has two dedicated casting directors who bring in a shortlist of actors for the producer and director to audition.
Some cast members who play main characters have made previous appearances in ''Holby City'' in minor roles. Mealing appeared as the mother of a paediatric patient in the show's
fourth series, Roberts appeared as the son of a medical professor in ''Holby City''
seventh series, and Dhillon appeared as anaesthetist Sunil Gupta in 2001.
Roberts believes that his single scene in series seven was enough for him to be called in for the part of Joseph,
while in contrast, Dhillon does not believe that his role contributed to his casting as Michael, but instead worried that it would work against him.
Guest stars
''Holby City'' has featured a number of famous guest stars.
Emma Samms
Emma Elizabeth Wylie Samuelson MBE known professionally as Emma Samms, (born 28 August 1960) is an English actress and TV host, known for her role as Holly Sutton on the American daytime soap opera '' General Hospital'' and as the second actre ...
,
Antonio Fargas
Antonio Juan Fargas (born August 14, 1946) is an American actor known for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation and comedy movies, as well as his portrayal as Huggy Bear in the 1970s TV series '' Starsky & Hutch''.
Early life
Fargas was born in New ...
,
Ronald Pickup
Ronald Alfred Pickup (7 June 1940 – 24 February 2021) was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in ''Doctor Who''. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific sta ...
and
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor, director, producer and author. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. ...
made appearances within the show's first few series, and
Anita Dobson
Anita Dobson (born 29 April 1949) is an English stage, film and television actress, and singer. She is best known for her role from 1985 to 1988 as Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 1986, she reached number four in the UK Si ...
,
Peter Bowles
Peter Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English television and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as '' Callan: A Magnum for Schneider'' and ''I, Claudius''. He is however, best remembered for his roles ...
and
Susannah York all appeared in the fiftieth episode.
Other notable guest stars include
Paul Blackthorne
Paul Blackthorne (born 5 March 1969) is an English actor. Although born in Shropshire, he spent his early childhood on UK military bases in Britain and Germany.
Blackthorne broke into acting via television commercials in England. His breakthro ...
,
Suzanne Shaw
Suzanne Christine Crowshaw (born 29 September 1981), known as Suzanne Shaw, is an English actress, singer and television personality, who rose to fame after winning the talent contest ''Popstars'' and subsequently being a member of the band Hear' ...
,
Geoffrey Hutchings
Geoffrey Hutchings (8 June 1939 – 1 July 2010) was an English stage, film and television actor.
Early life and career
Hutchings was born in Dorchester, Dorset, England. After attending Hardye's School, he studied French and Physical Educati ...
,
Richard Todd
Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...
,
Johnny Briggs,
Terence Rigby,
Michael Obiora
Michael Obiora (born 8 October 1986) is a British actor, writer, director, and producer.
Life and career
Michael Obiora (pronounced OH-BEE-ORA) was born on 8 October 1986 in north-west London, England, to Nigerian- Igbo parents. As a six-year- ...
, and
Lionel Jeffries
Lionel Charles Jeffries (10 June 1926 – 19 February 2010) was an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He appeared primarily in films and received a Golden Globe Award nomination during his acting career.
Early life
Jeffries was born in ...
.
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television.
Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but ...
appeared as patient George Woodman in the Christmas episode "Elliot's Wonderful Life",
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...
played Roger Ludlow, a patient with
Alzheimer's disease and
Phill Jupitus starred as morbidly obese patient Andy Thompson.
Kieron Dyer
Kieron Courtney Dyer (born 29 December 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was recently the U23s manager at Ipswich Town.
Born in Ipswich, Dyer played youth football for his home club Ipswich Town ...
was in four episodes as an injury prone footballer,
Denise Welch
Jacqueline Denise Welch (born 22 May 1958) is an English actress, television personality, writer and broadcaster. Her roles include Natalie Barnes in ''Coronation Street'' (1997–2000), Steph Haydock in '' Waterloo Road'' (2006–2010), and ...
had a recurring role as risk manager Pam McGrath, mother of nurse
Keri
Keri () is a Hebrew term which literally means "happenstance", "frivolity" or "contrariness" and has come to mean seminal emission. The term is generally used in Jewish law to refer specifically to the regulations and rituals concerning the emiss ...
,
Clarke Peters
Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American-British actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television series ''The Wire'' (2002–2008) and Albert Lambrea ...
appeared for five episodes in 2009 as the father of nurse Donna Jackson, and
Graeme Garden
David Graeme Garden OBE (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter, best known as a member of The Goodies and a regular panellist on ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''.
Early life and education ...
had a recurring role from 2003 to 2007 as cardiothoracic consultant Edward Loftwood.
Cascade Brown
Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to:
Science and technology Science
*Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls
* Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex)
* Cascade (grape), a type of fruit
* Bio ...
played Sophie Hindmarsh in 2004,
Antonio Fargas
Antonio Juan Fargas (born August 14, 1946) is an American actor known for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation and comedy movies, as well as his portrayal as Huggy Bear in the 1970s TV series '' Starsky & Hutch''.
Early life
Fargas was born in New ...
appeared in 2003 as Victor Garrison, a patient with
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
,
Sheridan Smith
Sheridan Caroline Sian Smith OBE (born 25 June 1981) is an English actress, singer and television personality. Smith came to prominence after playing a variety of characters on sitcoms such as ''The Royle Family'' (1999–2000), '' Two Pints ...
appeared for six episodes in 2001 as teenage stalker Miranda Locke, and
David Soul
David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943) is an American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television series ''Starsky & Hutch'' from 1975 to 1979; Joshua Bolt on ' ...
made two appearances as Professor Alan Fletcher. The BBC's William Gallagher wrote in a November 2001 column that Soul's guest-appearance had begun a trend for American actors appearing in UK shows.
In 2012,
Ron Moody
Ron Moody (born Ronald Moodnick; 8 January 1924 – 11 June 2015) was an English actor, composer, singer and writer. He was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in ''Oliver!'' (1968) and its 1983 Broadway revival. Moody earned a Golden Globe ...
guest starred as patient Vincent Mancini, a war veteran.
In 2003, the BBC reached an agreement with the actors' union
Equity to cease offering walk-on drama series roles to members of the public as prizes. When an untrained person won such a role in ''Holby City'' in a competition, Equity complained to the broadcaster that such prizes were "demeaning" to actors, depriving them of paid employment. The competition winner was allowed to visit the ''Holby City'' set, but did not appear on-screen as a result of the policy change.
Adaptations and other appearances
''Casualty@Holby City''
Reflecting ''Holby City'' origins as a spin-off from ''Casualty'' and the closely related premises of the two programmes, the BBC has screened occasional crossover mini-dramas entitled ''Casualty@Holby City'', featuring a number of characters from each of the two casts. Prior to the commissioning of ''Casualty@Holby City'', the two shows had occasionally crossed-over storylines and cast members before; for instance developing a romance between ''Holby City''
Ben Saunders (
David Paisley) and ''Casualty'' Tony Vincent (
Lee Warburton
Lee Warburton (born 27 June 1971, Cheshire, England) is a British actor, known for several ongoing television roles.
He appeared in ''Coronation Street'' from 1995 to 1998 as Tony Horrocks, Natalie Barnes' drug addict son, played gay male healt ...
). The first full crossover was spearheaded by ''Casualty'' executive producer Mervyn Watson, and ''Holby City'' McHale. Logistical difficulties arose from the fact the two series are usually produced 120 miles apart, and work on both shows had to be halted for two weeks to release a number of cast members to appear in the special.
A second crossover was commissioned in 2005 as part of the BBC's DoNation season, aiming to raise public awareness of
organ donation
Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person, legally, either by consent while the donor is alive or dead with the assent of the next of kin.
Donation may be for re ...
and help viewers make an informed decision about whether to sign up to the Organ Donor Register. An interactive episode of ''Casualty@Holby City'' was one of the headlining shows of the season, allowing viewers to vote by phone to determine the outcome of a fictional organ donation.
The third ''Casualty@Holby City'' crossover aired in October 2005. The four-part storyline tackled the issue of youth violence, following the events of a turbulent A&E demonstration at an inner-city school.
Based on the success of the 2004 ''Casualty@Holby City'' Christmas special, another crossover was ordered for Christmas 2005. Rather than dividing the episodes between the two series' crews as had previously been standard, this crossover operated as an entirely separate production, with Kyle producing and Paul Harrison directing.
In February 2010, another crossover occurred when ''Casualty''
Charlie Fairhead
Charlie Fairhead, played by Derek Thompson, is a fictional character from the BBC British medical drama ''Casualty''. He is the longest-serving character, having played the role of Charlie for over 36 years, and the only remaining original ch ...
(
Derek Thompson) was operated on by ''Holby City'' Elliot Hope after suffering a heart attack. The storyline was, however, broadcast as regular ''Casualty'' and ''Holby City'' episodes, rather than under the ''Casualty@Holby City'' title. ''Casualty'' series producer Oliver Kent commented that, while it is "fantastic" to be able to produce crossover episodes, they are logistically difficult, and it is unlikely that another ''Casualty@Holby City'' episode will be produced in the "foreseeable future". In September 2010, ''Holby City'' nurse
Donna Jackson
Donna Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actress Jaye Jacobs. She appeared in the programme from its sixth series in 2004, to its thirteenth in 2011, and from its nineteenth in 2017. Donna e ...
(
Jaye Jacobs
Emma Jaye Jacobs (born 27 May 1982), known professionally as Jaye Jacobs, is an English actress. She is best known for playing the roles of Donna Jackson in the BBC medical drama series '' Holby City'' from 2004 to 2011 and 2017 to 2022 and deput ...
) appeared in ''Casualty'', and Kent hopes that characters from the two shows will begin to crossover two or three times a year.
Despite the show's end, former cast members have continued to crossover to ''Casualty'', starting with
Alex Walkinshaw as Fletch appearing on 2 April 2022 as a continuation of plot of the final episode that aired earlier in the week. In October 2022, it was confirmed
Bob Barrett would appear as Sacha Levy in a 2023 episode.
HolbyBlue
On 27 April 2006, the BBC announced the commissioning of ''Holby Blue'', a police procedural spin-off from ''Holby City'' created by
Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan (born 21 July 1957) is a British television writer. He was listed as the number one television screenwriter in the United Kingdom by ''Broadcast'' magazine in 2008 and among British broadcasting's top twenty in ''The Stage'' in 20 ...
. Jordan contemplated that "soap snobs" may hold the series in disdain for using the ''Holby'' brand, but concluded: "After much thought, I remembered who I was as a writer, the joy I take from surprising an audience, by subverting expectation – and ''HolbyBlue'' was born." ''Holby City'' was moved to Thursdays for the duration of ''HolbyBlue'' first series, with the spin-off broadcast on Tuesday nights at 8 pm. A two-part crossover episode with ''Holby City'' was developed for the beginning of the show's second series, broadcast in 2008. The episodes were written by McHale and Jordan, and saw ''Holby City'' registrar Jac Naylor accused of murder. Yorke compared the crossover to the American
''CSI'' franchise, in that: "You really believe it's a world." While the second series attracted 5.6 million viewers with its opening episode, by the end of May 2008 viewership had fallen to 2.5 million. In August 2008, the BBC announced that due to declining ratings, ''Holby Blue'' would not be recommissioned for a third series.
Other appearances
In June 2002, cast members from ''Holby City'' and ''Casualty'' competed against the ''EastEnders'' cast for the first ''
Sport Relief
''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002.
It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educat ...
'' fundraiser, in a segment dubbed "Sport in the Square". The teams competed in events such as taxi pulling, melon tossing and a beer keg relay. The competition was televised on BBC One, and the event as a whole raised £10 million. In October 2003, BBC One aired a "Kenyon Confronts" documentary by ''
Panorama'' reporter Paul Kenyon, investigating hospitals run by the
Private Finance Initiative. He discovered many problems within the hospitals, which were dramatised by the ''Holby City'' cast in specially commissioned scenes. March 2004 saw the station air the documentary "Making It at Holby", as part of a BBC initiative to develop new acting talent. The documentary followed the casting process of ''Holby City'' and ''Casualty'', from the audition stages to the filming of the selected actors' first scenes. Young explained his casting criteria, stating: "I try to put my head into the head of a viewer and ask: do I want to spend three years in the life of this person?"
The 17 November 2006 ''
Children in Need'' charity
telethon
A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other purportedly worthy cause.
Most telethons f ...
included a segment featuring the ''Holby City'' cast performing a comical version of "
Hung Up
"Hung Up" is a song by American singer Madonna from her tenth studio album ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' (2005). Initially used in a number of television advertisements and serials, the song was released as the album's lead single on October ...
" by
Madonna.
The 16 November 2007 ''
Children in Need'' appeal again contained a musical performance from Holby City cast members.
Sharon D Clarke
Sharon Delores Clarke (born 12 August 1966) is an English actress and singer. She is a three-time Olivier award winner, and is best known to television audiences for her role as Lola Griffin in the medical drama ''Holby City'', and as Grace O'Br ...
, backed by
Nadine Lewington
Nadine Lewington (born 15 October 1980) is an English actress, most notable for her role as Dr. Maddy Young on ''Holby City''.
Early and personal life
Born 15 October 1980, in Chelmsford, Essex, she is the eldest daughter of Tony and Sonia Lewi ...
,
Rakie Ayola
Rakie Olufunmilayo Ayola (born May 1968) is a Welsh actress known for her work in theatre and television. Ayola has appeared in television shows including '' Black Mirror'', '' Noughts + Crosses'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Silent Witness'' and ''EastEn ...
and
Phoebe Thomas
Phoebe Thomas (born 12 April 1983) is a British actress.
Thomas made a name for herself playing Holly Curran on '' Night and Day'' from 2001 to 2003. In 2005 she went on to star in the Five soap, ''Family Affairs'', as homeless Jane Hughes. She ...
performed a soul version of
Aretha Franklin's signature song, "
Respect".
On 28 June 2008, ''Holby City'' stars competed against their ''Casualty'' counterparts in a special charity edition of
BBC Two game-show ''
The Weakest Link
''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...
''. ''Holby City'' and ''Casualty'' cast members united on 20 February 2010, performing a dance rendition of "
Jai Ho" for ''
Let's Dance for Sport Relief
''Let's Sing and Dance'', formerly known as ''Let's Dance'', is a British television programme shown on BBC One, featuring celebrities performing famous dance routines to raise money for the charities Comic Relief and Sport Relief. The programme ...
''.
On 12 October 2021, it was announced that ''Holby City'' would partake in a special crossover event involving multiple British soaps to promote the topic of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
ahead of the
2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. It was confirmed that events from ''Holby City'' would be discussed on ''
Hollyoaks
''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera '' Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a ...
''.
Reception
Critical response
''Holby City'' has attracted comparisons to other medical dramas, often unfavourable. In November 2002, John Whiston, then head of drama at
Granada Television, accused the BBC of producing "ersatz parodies" of ITV drama, commenting that: "With ''Holby City'' cloned out of ''Casualty'', the BBC has even ended up copying itself." Paul Hoggart of ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' has written that the differences between the two shows are "mild", calling ''Holby City'': "''Casualty'' cute little sister".
Kevin Lygo
Kevin Lygo (born 18 September 1957) is a British television executive, presently Director of Television at ITV.
Early life
Lygo is the son of Royal Navy officer Raymond Lygo. Educated at Cranbrook School, Kent, Lygo studied Psychology at Dur ...
, director of television at Channel 4, referred to ''Holby City'' as "sudsy drama", deeming it, ''Casualty'' and ''HolbyBlue'' "all decent programmes, but strikingly similar in many aspects of their tone and construction." ''Holby City'' has also been unfavourably compared with the American medical drama ''
ER''. Television producer
Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott (born 22 February 1960) is an English television screenwriter and producer. Abbott has become one of the most critically and commercially successful television writers working in Britain, following his work on popular series such as ...
has commented that although he watches ''ER'', he does not watch ''Holby City'' as: "it looks like you've crammed one hour's drama into 26 episodes." In October 2009, former ''Holby City'' writer
Peter Jukes
Peter Jukes (born 13 October 1960) is an English author, screenwriter, playwright, literary critic and journalist. He is the co-founder and executive editor of ''Byline Times''.
Early life
Jukes was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, and atte ...
wrote a critical piece for ''
Prospect'' magazine, contrasting the show negatively with the standard of American television dramas. Jukes wrote that ''Holby City'' has become a soap opera, rather than a drama, and deemed the episodes he worked on "the most dispiriting experiences in
is25 years as a dramatist."
On several occasions, people within the television and entertainment industry have suggested that ''Holby City'' is a waste of the television
licence fee
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...
, with some suggesting that it ought to be cancelled. In August 2002, Paul Bolt, director of the
Broadcasting Standards Commission
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
criticised BBC programming as being "humdrum" and "formulaic", saying of ''Holby City'' and the police procedural ''
Mersey Beat
''Mersey Beat'' was a music publication in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool Art College. The paper carried news about all the local Liverpool bands, and s ...
'': "One begins to wonder what really is the point of the BBC bringing this to us. Let's have something a bit different." Then head of BBC drama
Jane Tranter
Jane Tranter (born 17 March 1963) is an English television executive who was the executive vice-president of programming and production at BBC Worldwide's Los Angeles base from 2009 until 2015. From 2006 to 2008, she was the BBC's controller of ...
responded that Bolt's examples were "highly selective" as well as "hugely patronising to the millions of viewers who enjoy popular dramas like ''Holby City'' – week in, week out". Young, who at the time held the position of head of drama serials, told ''The Guardian'': "Popular drama has always been singled out for criticism, but people are increasingly voting with their on-buttons." Also in 2002, David Cox of the ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...
'' criticised BBC One's 2001 Christmas schedule, for airing ''Holby City'' against a contemporary version of ''
Othello''. On this basis, Cox advocated the abolition of the licence fee, explaining: "The BBC was invented in a period when the elite decided what the population should know. If that has gone, then the licence fee should go too." At the 2003
Edinburgh International Television Festival
The Edinburgh International Television Festival is an annual media event held in the United Kingdom each August which brings together delegates from the television and digital world to debate the major issues facing the industry.
The Festival ...
, BSkyB chief executive
Tony Ball
Tony Ball is a British television executive, former chairman of Kabel Deutschland and former CEO of BSkyB.
Biography
Born and educated in London, Ball received an MBA from Kingston University and later an honorary doctorate.
Career
Ball joined ...
called for stricter restrictions on how the BBC spent licence payers' money, suggesting that ''Holby City'' be sold to the channel's commercial rivals, with the proceeds used to develop more original programming. The BBC refused Ball's suggestion, responding in a statement: "This speech clearly reflects BSkyB's view that programmes are merely a commodity to be bought and sold." In June 2004,
Charles Allen, chief executive of
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc is listed on the ...
questioned the amount of funding spent on lengthened episodes of ''Holby City'', and in January 2010,
Janet Street-Porter of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' argued that ''Holby City'' was one of several series which had "come to the end of their natural life" and "should be put out of its misery."
''Holby City'' was praised by campaigners for the
Royal National Institute for Deaf People
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), known as Action on Hearing Loss from 2011 to 2020, is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss.
History
The Royal National I ...
(RNID) in October 2003, when an episode which coincided with "Learn To Sign Week" used deaf actors, and featured characters communicating through
British Sign Language
British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...
. RNID chief executive John Low stated: "Too often individuals have to rely on family members or friends to communicate complicated personal information to professionals. This is the reason the RNID is calling on the government to channel funding into the training of British Sign Language interpreters who could then be available to NHS staff treating deaf patients." Stokes commented: "The writer had a great story he wanted to tell – for us, that's what matters first and foremost." A 2008 report into ethnic diversity on television, commissioned by Channel 4, cited ''Holby City'' as a positive example of "diverse British programm
ng. Five years previously in 2003, former BBC host
Sir Ludovic Kennedy complained that ethnic minorities were over-represented on television, prompting a BBC spokeswoman to explain that ''Holby City'' has more ethnic characters as it is set in an area where minorities account for up to 30% of the population. According to the 2001 census, the population of Bristol – which the city of Holby is loosely based upon – is 88% white and 12% ethnic minorities.
Realism
The show has been criticised for its lack of realism. Former nurse Vici Hoban commented in February 2004 that there existed three stereotypes of nurses exist: "sex object, doctor's handmaiden, or angel". She felt that media portrayal had amplified these misconceived views, observing that with "the syringe-toting serial killer
Kelly
Kelly may refer to:
Art and entertainment
* Kelly (Kelly Price album)
* Kelly (Andrea Faustini album)
* ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap
* "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland
* ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...
in ''Holby City'', realism has never been top of TV's agenda." However, Hoban felt that the worst offender at the time was the Channel 4 medical drama ''
No Angels
No Angels are an all-female pop group from Germany, formed in 2000. Originally a quintet, consisting of band members Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls, they originated on the debut season o ...
'', which she described as: "so inaccurate that it makes ''Holby City'' look like a factual documentary." ''No Angels'' creator
Toby Whithouse
Toby Lawrence Whithouse (; born 5 July 1970) is an English actor, screenwriter and playwright. His highest-profile work has been the creation of the BBC Three supernatural television series '' Being Human''. He also created the Channel 4 telev ...
defended his series, stating that ''Holby City'' presents an unfair representation of nursing, deceiving viewers into believing that nursing "is a nice, clean job full of handsome doctors." Whithouse observed that the content of ''Holby City'' is defined by the
watershed, describing real nursing work in contrast as "very post-watershed". In November 2009, Antony Sumara, CEO of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Hospital Trust, wrote a column criticising ''Holby City'' for misrepresenting real hospital life.
Tom Sutcliffe of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' reviewed a December 2009 episode poorly, finding it "astonishing" that any patients leave Holby General alive, as the staff are "so busy looking stricken or lovelorn at each other".
In December 2003,
Libby Purves
Elizabeth Mary Purves, (born 2 February 1950) is a British radio presenter, journalist and author.
Early life and career
Born in London, a diplomat's daughter, Purves was raised in her mother's Catholic faith and educated at convent school ...
wrote a critical opinion piece in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', observing that ''Holby City'' medical staff are often depicted getting drunk in clubs, but afterwards are able to function properly at work, and that as a result, alcohol "is made to look innocent". In October 2004, Canon
Kenyon Wright
Kenyon Edward Wright (31 August 1932 – 11 January 2017) was a priest of the Scottish Episcopal Church and a political campaigner. Wright chaired the Scottish Constitutional Convention (1989–1999), which laid the groundwork for the creation ...
, chair of Alcohol Focus Scotland, criticised an episode of ''Holby City'' which saw doctors downing
tequila
Tequila (; ) is a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands ('' Los Altos de Jalisco'') of the central western Mexican s ...
slammers, stating that it glamorised irresponsible drinking. Similarly, in October 2007, drinks' industry body the
Portman Group
The Portman Group is a trade group composed of alcoholic beverage producers and brewers in the UK.
History
It was set up in 1989 as part of a campaign to raise awareness on alcohol-related issues, and its members account for the majority of a ...
made an official complaint to communications regulator
Ofcom about a scene in ''Holby City'' which depicted two medics drinking five shots of tequila following a stressful day at work. The body's chief executive David Poley claimed that in failing to show the negative consequences of this action, the series was presenting a "highly irresponsible portrayal of excessive and rapid drinking".
Ofcom received a total of eight complaints about the incident.
''Holby City'' has also been accused of medical inaccuracies. The
British Medical Association denounced a January 2004 episode of the serial which portrayed
organ donation
Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person, legally, either by consent while the donor is alive or dead with the assent of the next of kin.
Donation may be for re ...
being carried out despite withdrawal of consent by the patient's relatives. Dr Michael Wilks, chairman of the Medical Ethics Committee stated: "This simply would not happen, but its portrayal, even in a drama, is totally irresponsible and risks causing huge damage to the already struggling transplant programme." The British Medical Association later opined that the show was giving viewers an unrealistic impression of resuscitation by typically presenting only two outcomes, death or total recovery. Andrew Thomson, a
Dundee GP, deemed this "a terrible distortion of the truth." In a follow-up story for ''The Times'', Vivienne Parry highlighted the fact that in reality, less than half of patients who require resuscitation survive the initial catastrophe and only a third of those live to leave hospital. At the
Royal College of Nursing
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron until her death in 2022. ...
(RCN) conference in
Bournemouth in April 2010, ''Holby City'' was accused of fostering unrealistic expectations of the NHS, encouraging patients to believe in miracles and fuelling
compensation culture
"Compensation culture" (often shortened to "compo culture") is a pejorative term used to imply that, within a society, a significant number of claims for compensation for torts are unjustified, Frivolous litigation, frivolous, or fraudulent, and th ...
.
Accident and Emergency
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pa ...
nurse John Hill stated: "In A&E it is sometimes a fact that sadly we cannot get people through the trauma they have received. Unfortunately, unlike in ''Holby City'', I am a mere mortal and cannot perform miracles. But many relatives believe because of that, you can. And the injury lawyers assure them that if you don't they will get recompense for it."
Impact
In October 2000, Dr John Ryan, an
Accident & Emergency
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pat ...
consultant at the
Royal Sussex County Hospital
The Royal Sussex County Hospital is an acute teaching hospital in Brighton, England. Together with the Princess Royal Hospital, it is administered by the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. The services provided at the hospital in ...
in
Brighton criticised the number of patients visiting the department for minor ailments without first contacting their
GP. Ryan attributed this phenomenon to patients viewing ''Holby City'' and American medical drama ''
ER'', and coming to regard hospitals as glamorous. A three-year Belgian research project, presented at a
British Psychological Society meeting in September 2008, claimed that watching ''Holby City'' and similar medical dramas such as ''Casualty'' and ''ER'' had a subliminal influence on fear of illness. 1,300 teenagers were questioned on their viewing habits, and those who watched more medical dramas were found to be up to 10% more fearful about their health, with females more affected than males. Dr Jan Van Mierlo of
Hasselt University
Hasselt University (Dutch: ''Universiteit Hasselt or UHasselt'') is a public research university with campuses in Hasselt and Diepenbeek, Belgium. It has more than 6,700 students and 1,660 academic, administrative and technical staff (2022). The ...
stated that further research was needed into the long-term impact of television.
In 2006, it was revealed that a British double murderer who worked as a nurse,
Benjamin Geen
Benjamin Geen is a double murderer who killed two patients and committed grievous bodily harm against 15 others while working as a nurse at Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire in 2003 and 2004. Geen was believed to be motivated by ...
, may have been inspired by the plot of Holby City to kill and harm his own patients.
Geen, who murdered two patients and committed
grievous bodily harm against 15 others between December 2003 and February 2004, had appeared in an edition of the ''
Banbury Citizen'' in December 2003 which also featured an interview with
Rachel Leskovac
Rachel Leskovac (born 5 June 1976) is an English actress and singer. She is known for portraying the roles of Kelly Yorke in the BBC One medical drama series ''Holby City'' (2003–2004), Natasha Blakeman in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Stre ...
, who played a serial killer nurse in Holby City.
This character had murdered patients by secretly administering
insulin and was eventually exposed as a murderer.
Nurses at the hospital Geen worked at,
Horton General Hospital
The Horton General Hospital is a National Health Service hospital located on the Oxford Road, in the Calthorpe ward of Banbury. It is managed by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
History Pre-1948
The earliest part of the hospita ...
, would later observe that there were notable similarities between this storyline and the crimes Geen was later convicted of, which started in the same month as the article appeared.
In 2008,
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
strategists identified four archetypes based on TV programmes to help the party target
swing voters. Alongside "''
Top Gear
Top Gear may refer to:
* "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission
Television
* ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme
* ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' man", "''
Apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
'' generation" and "''
Grand Designs'' couple", they identified "''Holby City'' worker", a middle-ranking health service employee. The following year, strategists identified "
''Holby City'' woman" as a key voter demographic who may help the party win the
2010 General Election. The "''Holby City'' woman" is a female voter in her 30s or 40s, employed in a clinical or clerical position or some other public sector job.
She is a swing voter in General Elections,
who has voted for the
Labour Party in previous elections, though her identification with the Labour Party is not strong.
The "''Holby City'' woman" archetype is modelled on the character of
Faye Morton.
In January 2009, Jill Berry, president of the
Girls' Schools Association
The Girls' Schools Association (GSA) is a professional association of the heads of independent girls' schools. It is a constituent member of the Independent Schools Council.
History
The GSA can trace its history back to the Association of Headm ...
and head teacher at the
Dame Alice Harpur School in Bedford, cited medical dramas such as ''Holby City'' as an inspiring force in increasing numbers of female students deciding to pursue careers in medicine. Berry said: "The girls see that as an exciting and dynamic way of life. They see it as making a difference to people's lives. It gives them a sense sometimes of the pressures, responsibility and adrenaline. Such TV programmes can be good, as long as they give a realistic impression." Similarly, consultant surgeon Andrew Raftery uses clips from ''Holby City'' as part of the
University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
Outreach and Access to Medicine Scheme, to inspire pupils from under-represented social and educational backgrounds to pursue careers in medicine.
Awards and nominations
''Holby City'' has been nominated for over 100 awards, of which it has won six. The series has received five nominations for the
British Academy Television Awards, winning one. Minkie Spiro was nominated for the "Best New Director (Fiction)" award in 2003 for her work on the series. The show itself was nominated for the "Best Continuing Drama" award in 2004, 2005 and 2006, winning in 2008. McHale commented on the win: "It's fantastic not being the bridesmaid", hoping that the award would help to make the serial "less of a guilty pleasure". ''Holby City'' received multiple BBC Drama Award nominations between 2002 and 2006. Its best results saw the show voted fifth "Best Drama" in 2004 and 2006.
Amanda Mealing was voted fourth "Best Actress" in 2006 for her role as
Connie Beauchamp
Connie Beauchamp is a fictional character from the BBC medical dramas ''Holby City'' and '' Casualty'', portrayed by actress Amanda Mealing. She first appeared in the series six, episode 35, "In at the Deep End", broadcast on 1 June 2004, and ...
, and the "''
Casualty@Holby City
Casualty@Holby City (styled as ''CASUAL+Y @ HOLBY CI+Y'') is a series of special crossover episodes of BBC medical dramas ''Casualty'' and '' Holby City''. While ''Casualty'' was launched on 6 September 1986, and its spin-off ''Holby City'' wa ...
''" moment where doctor Jim Brodie (
Maxwell Caulfield
Maxwell Caulfield (né Maxwell P.J. Newby; born 23 November 1959) is a British-American film, stage, and television actor and singer. He has appeared in ''Grease 2'' (1982), '' Electric Dreams'' (1984), '' The Boys Next Door'' (1985), '' The S ...
) sacrifices his life for midwife
Rosie Sattar (
Kim Vithana
Kim Vithana (born 4 June 1970) is a British actress.
She had acted in television serials '' Family Pride'', '' Specials'' and '' Firm Friends'' when the filmmaker Gurinder Chadha took her in ''Bhaji on the Beach'' to play the role of Ginder, a ...
) was voted viewers' fourth "Favourite Moment" of 2004. The series has been nominated for the "Best Drama" award at the
''Inside Soap'' Awards on six occasions—in 2004, then concurrently from 2006 to 2010.
''Holby City'' has received multiple long-list nominations at the
National Television Awards
The National Television Awards (often shortened to NTAs) is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are vot ...
(NTAs) and ''
TV Choice
''TV Choice'' is a British weekly TV listings magazine published by H. Bauer Publishing, the UK subsidiary of family-run German company Bauer Media Group.[Royal Television Society Award
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...]
s, Sean De Sparengo and Richard Gort were nominated for the "Best Graphic Design – Titles" award for their contribution to the series. The show itself was nominated in the "Soap and Continuing Drama" category at the 2007 awards. ''Holby City'' was nominated "Best Serial Drama" at the 2008
Digital Spy Soap Awards
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
, and in 2009,
Stella Gonet
Stella Gonet (born 8 May 1960) is a Scottish theatre, film and television actress. She is known for her roles in the BBC dramas '' The House of Eliott'' (1991–94) and ''Holby City'' (2007–09). Her stage credits include playing Ophelia in t ...
was nominated for the "Acting Performance in TV (Female)" award at the
British Academy Scotland Awards
The British Academy Scotland Awards are presented annually at an awards ceremony organised by BAFTA Scotland.
History
The annual British Academy Scotland Awards were launched in 2004 to recognise outstanding achievement by individuals working in t ...
for her role as CEO
Jayne Grayson
Jayne Grayson is a fictional character in the BBC medical drama ''Holby City'', portrayed by actress Stella Gonet. The character first appeared on-screen on 10 July 2007 in episode "Under the Radar" – Holby City (series 9), series 9, episode 3 ...
. In 2010, the series was shortlisted in the "Best Television Continuing Drama" category at the
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG).
History
The un ...
Awards.
At the
Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards
EMMA (Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy) is a British organization that raises awareness of discrimination through media campaigns and social networking.
The EMMA Awards was founded in 1997 by Bobby Syed and "seeks to promote diversity within th ...
,
Angela Griffin
Angela Mellissa Griffin (born 19 July 1976) is a British actress and television presenter who has been active on British television since the early 1990s. She is best known for portraying the roles of Fiona Middleton in the ITV soap opera '' ...
won "Best Actress" in 2000 for her role as nurse
Jasmine Hopkins
'' Holby City'' is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty''. It is set in the ...
, and was nominated "Best TV Actress" in 2002, alongside co-star
Thusitha Jayasundera for her role as registrar
Tash Bandara. In 2004,
Art Malik won the "Best TV Actor" award for his role as anaesthetist
Zubin Khan
Zubin Khan is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actor Art Malik. He first appeared in the series five episode "Private Lives", broadcast on 17 June 2003. Zubin arrives at Holby City hospital as a consul ...
. Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal of ''The Times'' criticised Malik's award, opining that: "A show such as ''Holby City'' doesn't merit any recognition." The show has won three
Screen Nation
The Screen Nation Film & TV Awards, formerly the bfm (black filmmaker) Film and TV Awards, was founded in September 2003 by independent film producer Charles Thompson MBE, as a platform to raise the profile of black British and international fil ...
Awards, and received nominations for a further seven.
Jaye Jacobs
Emma Jaye Jacobs (born 27 May 1982), known professionally as Jaye Jacobs, is an English actress. She is best known for playing the roles of Donna Jackson in the BBC medical drama series '' Holby City'' from 2004 to 2011 and 2017 to 2022 and deput ...
won the "Emerging Talent" award in 2005 for her role as nurse
Donna Jackson
Donna Jackson is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', played by actress Jaye Jacobs. She appeared in the programme from its sixth series in 2004, to its thirteenth in 2011, and from its nineteenth in 2017. Donna e ...
. In 2006,
Rakie Ayola
Rakie Olufunmilayo Ayola (born May 1968) is a Welsh actress known for her work in theatre and television. Ayola has appeared in television shows including '' Black Mirror'', '' Noughts + Crosses'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Silent Witness'' and ''EastEn ...
and
Hugh Quarshie
Hugh Anthony Quarshie (born 22 December 1954) is a Ghanaian-born British actor. Some of his best-known roles include his appearances in the films ''Highlander'' (1986), '' The Church'' (1989), ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1 ...
were nominated for the Female and Male "Performance in TV" awards for their roles as
Kyla Tyson
Kyla Tyson is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama ''Holby City'', portrayed by actress Rakie Ayola. She appeared from 7 February 2006 to 9 December 2008, from the series eight episode "I'll Be Back" to the series eleven episode " S ...
and
Ric Griffin
Kobina Eric "Ric" Griffin is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama '' Holby City'', portrayed by actor Hugh Quarshie. The character is introduced as a consultant in general surgery during the series four episode " Rogue Males", ori ...
respectively.
Sharon D. Clarke won the 2007 "Female Performance in TV" award for her role as
Lola Griffin, while
Ginny Holder
Ginny Holder is an actress best known for playing Thandie Abebe-Griffin on the BBC medical drama series ''Holby City
''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC ...
was nominated in the same category for her role as
Thandie Abebe
''Holby City'' is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' Casualty''. It is set in the ...
, and Ayola received an Honourable Mention.
Also in 2007,
Roger Griffiths
Roger Griffiths (born 6 February 1965) is an English actor who has had several roles in television.
He first rose to prominence opposite Lenny Henry as Gareth Blackstock's foil Everton Stonehead in BBC One 1990s sitcom '' Chef!''. Before starr ...
was nominated for the "Male Performance in TV" award for his role as Harvey Tyson, and Quarshie received an Honourable Mention in the same category.
Quarshie went on to win "Favourite Male TV Star" in 2008.
Also in 2008, Jacobs was nominated for the "Favourite Female TV Star" award, Ayola was nominated in the "Female Performance in TV" category, and the show itself was nominated for the "Diversity in Drama Production" award.
Ratings
Notes
References
External links
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