Holby City

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Holby City

Genre	Drama
Creator(s)	Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	361 (as of 28 March 2007) (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	Series 1 = 50 minutes, Series 2 onwards = 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One
Original run	12 January 1999 – present
Links
IMDb profile

Holby City is a medical drama television serial broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom. It follows the lives of surgeons, nurses, other medical and ancillary staff, and patients at the fictional Holby City hospital.

1 The programme
2 Spin-off from Holby City
3 Series information
4 Casualty@Holby City
5 Wards
6 Staff casualties
7 Trivia
8 Cast
9 Episode list
10 External links
11 Citations
12 See also

[edit] The programme

Holby City began on 12 January 1999 as a spin-off from the long-running BBC medical drama Casualty and is named after the fictional Holby City Hospital in which both series are set. Holby bears close resemblance to Bristol, and in effect would replace Bristol on the UK map. This fictional city is set in the equally fictional county of Wyvern, in the south-west of England, not far from the Welsh border. Its sister show Casualty is filmed in Bristol, and Holby City is filmed in London. The show follows the lives and careers of staff and patients at the hospital and deals with a range of clinical and ethical issues. The regular characters are all staff, and patients are played by guest actors (which have included some famous names such as Eric Sykes, Phill Jupitus, Michael Jayston, Michele Dotrice and Ronni Ancona). The show was originally commissioned as a series to be shown as part of the BBC's winter line-up, however as of the start of Series 4 (9 October 2001) the program is broadcast all year round on Tuesdays at 8.00pm on BBC1. The show was originally transmitted on Thursday nights at 8.00pm, until Series 3 Episode 11 "Extra Time", when it switched to Tuesdays.

Although the start of Holby City allowed us to see life "upstairs" in the hospital, Darwin Ward and some members of the original Holby City cast actually made their appearance in 1998. The first appearance of Darwin Ward was in Casualty in (13x13) 21 November 1998 where we see Nick Jordan attend to a patient in A&E. Later, Charlie Fairhead takes a patient up to Darwin Ward, which results in an argument with nurse Julie Fitzjohn when she complains that it's typical of A&E to just dump a patient anywhere. Further to this, we also see "upstairs" on Casualty in 13x17 (19 December 1998) - these appearances were before Holby City begain airing. We also see Darwin Ward in 14x17 (26 December 1999) and 15x22 (27 January 2002).

In the early seasons of Holby City (mainly seasons 1 - 3) regular appearances were made from characters from sister-show Casualty and vice versa. Later, due to a huge growth in cast and busy filming schedules due to 52 episodes a year being produced, the two shows tend to stay separate. Characters from both Holby City and Casualty do however meet from time to time, particularly when special Casualty@Holby City episodes are made, although none have aired since 2005.

Holby City is made by the BBC at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. Filming of the show is generally three months in advance of broadcast, although this can vary, sometimes being four months, sometimes just under three months. Each single one-hour episode of the show takes approximately 10 days to film - the cast work 7am to 7pm five days a week. Whilst one episode is being made, there is also filming of another episode taking place, resulting in the completion of two episodes in two weeks. The Holby City building can often be seen in the distance during episodes of EastEnders, although the latter is set in London.^{[citation needed]}

To help raise money for charity in Autumn 2006, some cast members took time to film a comedy version of Madonna's "Hung Up" song for the BBC Children in Need appeal which was broadcast on Friday 17 November. The video featured dancing and singing and depicted the time of an operation in theatre going by slowly - until they decided to have some fun! The characters which featured were Elliot Hope, Diane Lloyd, Matt Parker, Maddy Young, Mark Williams, Reg Lund, Kyla Tyson, Daniel Clifford, Maria Kendall and Dean West. Characters Maddy Young, Daniel Clifford and Maria Kendall had not arrived on the actual show itself yet. Maria and Daniel appeared from 28 November 2006 and Maddy Young appeared from 16 January 2007.

[edit] Spin-off from Holby City

In Spring 2006, the BBC announced that a spin-off drama from the show, to be named HolbyBlue was in early stages of production. The upcoming series focuses on the Police service within the city of Holby. Filming of HolbyBlue began in January 2007, with completion of the eight-part series expected in the Spring. It is rumoured that if the new show brings good ratings to BBC1, the show may be recommissioned as a serial to be broadcast all year round - following in the footsteps of parents Holby City and Casualty.

The BBC are looking towards an April start for HolbyBlue.

[edit] Series information

Series	Start	End	Episodes	Major Storylines
1	Jan 1999	Mar 1999	07x50 minutes, 02x60 minutes	Jasmine is stabbed, Julie accidentally spreads MRSA on the ward, Victoria takes speed
2	Nov 1999	Mar 2000	16x60 minutes	Mike damages his leg, Tash finds a lump, Ray starts seeing Damian, Nick is on negligence charges
3	Oct 2000	Jun 2001	30x60 minutes	Victoria is murdered, Julie leaves, Jasmine leaves, Meyer worries he has MND
4	Oct 2001	Oct 2002	52x60 minutes	Meyer is shot, Liam falls from balcony, Meyer leaves
5	Oct 2002	Oct 2003	52x60 minutes	Chrissie loses her baby, Ben and Steve involved in a car accident; Ben dies at the scene, Steve dies in Holby
6	Oct 2003	Oct 2004	52X60 minutes	Kath is stabbed, Kelly murders patients on Darwin and Keller
7	Oct 2004	Oct 2005	52x60 minutes	Will dies, Chrissie has affair with Michael, Jess and Zubin lose their baby
8	Oct 2005	Oct 2006	52x60 minutes	Matt is stabbed, Nick returns, Joseph has OCD, Nick leaves, Gina has MND and commits suicide, Connie pregnant by Sam
9 (Current)	Oct 2006	Oct 2007	52x60 minutes	Diane returns, Tricia dies after car crash, Abra leaves

[edit] Casualty@Holby City

Reflecting Holby City's 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 and featuring a number of characters from each of the two casts. There have been four stories involving both casts:

December 2004 - A Christmas special featuring a fuel tanker lorry crashing into the Accident & Emergency department of Holby City Hospital. Casualty character Jim Brodie died rescuing his colleagues from the burning hospital building.
August 2005 - As part of the BBC's DoNation season, raising the profile of organ donation issues, an interactive mini-series was screened and viewers voted for one of two patients to receive an organ donation in the show. The plot was designed to raise awareness of the scarcity of organs and encourage viewers to consider joining the NHS Donor Register.
October 2005 - A week-long Hallowe'en crossover focusing on issues around youth violence, featuring an ambulance hijack and an assault on character Comfort Newton by pupils at a failing secondary school.
December 2005 - A further crossover was screened during the BBC's 2005 Christmas programming, which saw the return of popular former character Mr Nick Jordan (played by Michael French), and a group of staff involved in a road collision.

The BBC have not announced any further plans for crossover episodes.

[edit] Wards

[edit] Current wards

Ward Name	Ward Type / Patient Care	Featured from	Featured to	Hospital Floor Level	Current Senior Staff
Darwin	CardioThoracic Surgery	1x01	Present	Level 6 (Prev. 5)	Connie Beauchamp, Elliot Hope, Chrissie Williams
Keller	General Surgery	2x05	Present	Level 3 (Prev. 5)	Ric Griffin, Dan Clifford, Kyla Tyson
AAU	Emergency Medicine	4x50	Present	Ground Level	Lola Griffin, Mark Williams

[edit] Former wards

Ward Name	Ward Type / Patient Care	Featured from	Featured to	Hospital Floor Level	Then Senior Staff
Otter	Children's	3x02	4x44	Level 3	Janice Taylor, Steve Waring
Maternity	Baby Care Unit	4x03	8x10	Ground Level	Owen Davies, Mubbs Hussein

[edit] Recurring wards and other areas

Ward/Area Name	Featured from	Last Seen	Hospital Floor Level	Current Senior Staff
Emergency Department	1x01	8x03	Ground Level	Charlie Fairhead, Theo 'Stitch' Lambert, Tess Bateman
Psychiatry	9x03	9x16	Level 7	Sanghita 'Dr. Sang' Parma
Pharmacy	1x05	9x13	Ground Level (Prev. 5)	N/A
Hospital Canteen	1x01	Usually every episode	Ground Level (Prev. 5)	N/A

[edit] Staff casualties

Character	Casualty	Episode	Survived?
Jasmine Hopkins	Stabbed in the heart after chasing drug thieves	1x08	Survived
Jasmine Hopkins	Miscarried	2x01	Survived
Nick Jordan	Gashed wrists after saving a girl in car crash	2x07	Survived
Mike Barrat	Damaged leg after trapping foot in poachers trap and rolling down a hill	2x16	Survived
Anton Meyer	Fears he has MND. It turns out he had a thyroid problem	3x08	Survived
Victoria Merrick	Stabbed in the heart at her home by an angry patient's relative	3x26	Deceased
Anton Meyer	Shot in his way to work in a road-rage incident	4x01	Survived
Liam Evans	Fell over balcony after fight with neighbour	4x28	Survived
Ben Saunders	Involved in car crash	5x29	Deceased
Steve Waring	Involved in car crash	5x31	Deceased
Alex Adams	Suspected Parkinson's Disease. In fact a nervous condition cured with neurosurgery	5x41	Survived
Kath Fox	Stabbed in abdomen when she discovered Kelly was the serial killer on Keller	6x10	Survived
Mickie Hendrie	Beaten and mugged whilst drunk, having taken ecstasy	7x01	Survived
Alistair Taylor	A tanker crashed into the ED. He fell from a balcony	7x11	Deceased
Rosie Sattar	A tanker crashed into the ED. She fell onto a metal pole whilst pregnant	7x11	Survived
Will Curtis	Psychotic woman tried to run him over and crashed into scaffolding which penetrated his chest	7x25	Deceased
Diane Lloyd	Miscarried	7x33	Survived
Mubbarras "Mubbs" Hussein	Heart attack	7x35	Survived
Matt Parker	Stabbed in the abdomen by angry patient's relative	8x21	Survived
Joseph Byrne	Overdosed after becoming depressed over his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder	9x01	Survived
Tricia Williams	Breast cancer, given all clear - was later killed in car crash	9x06	Deceased
Connie Beauchamp	Fell over cleaning equipment whilst pregnant, landing on stomach	9x14	Survived
Connie Beauchamp	Crippled with food poisoning after eating pizza from the ward	9x16	Survived

[edit] Trivia

Characters from Holby City actually appeared in Casualty in 1998 before the show began in 1999
Series 1 was filmed from October 1998 to January 1999
In the first episode of Series 2 (25 November 1999), the defibrilator Kirstie Collins uses actually displays 07 May 1999, the day of filming
Angela Griffin who played Jasmine Hopkins adopted a special "nurses" voice after shadowing a nurse at a hospital
Tina Hobley and Angela Griffin starred in Coronation Street together. They meet again in 3x30 when Chrissie arrives as the new sister
There is a sign at the far side of AAU with "Emergency Department" - this actually leads to the reception we see, not the ED
Amanda Mealing who plays Connie has suffered from Breast Cancer and had her breast removed and reconstructed
Nick Jordan left in 2x14, but reprises his role in 8x21, some say his personality was inconsistent with his character from before
The longest-serving character on the show is not Chrissie Williams, but Paul Rose a theatre assistant who appeared from 3x03
Darwin Ward is located on Level 6, however in the early years the signs said Level 5
Keller Ward and Darwin used to share the same Level until early 2006
The actors who play Connie, Joseph, Jac, and Kyla have all appeared as patients before they joined as regular staff
Otter Ward has not been seen or spoke of since 4x44, now referred to as simply "Paediatrics"
Connie Beauchamp has a Motorola RAZR mobile phone

[edit] Cast

Main article: List of characters in Holby City

[edit] Episode list

Main article: List of Holby City episodes

[edit] External links

[edit] Citations

[edit] See also

Minor characters in Holby City

v • d • e Holby
Shows
Casualty: Series 1 · Series 2 · Series 3 · Series 4 · Series 5 · Series 6 · Series 7 · Series 8 · Series 9 · Series 10 · Series 11 · Series 12 · Series 13 · Series 14 · Series 15 · Series 16 · Series 17 · Series 18 · Series 19 · Series 20 · Series 21 Holby City: Series 1 · Series 2 · Series 3 · Series 4 · Series 5 · Series 6 · Series 7 · Series 8 · Series 9 Forthcoming: HolbyBlue
Casualty characters
Charlie · Tess · Abs · Selena · Sam · Guppy · Maggie · Kelsey · Nathan · Alice · Greg · Dixie · Cyd · Jeff · Nadia · Stitch Original · Former
Holby City characters
Ric · Diane · Donna · Connie · Mark · Lola · Elliot · Jac · Sam · Joseph · Kyla · Daniel · Maria · Maddy · Faye Original · Former · Minor

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