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169-405: Holby City (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CI + Y ) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One . It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty , 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 ,
338-472: A 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 at £700–800,000 per episode. As Holby City
507-671: A backlash from critics, fans and past and present cast members. Calli Kitson of Metro 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 . Quarshie, Joe McFadden ( Raf di Lucca ), Davood Ghadami (Eli Ebrahimi) and Luisa Bradshaw-White ( Lisa Fox ) were among
676-642: A converted wing of the Alexandra Palace in London. On 1 September 1939, two days before Britain declared war on Germany, the station was taken off air with little warning, with the last programme to be shown being a Mickey Mouse cartoon (the 1933 short Mickey's Gala Premier ); the government was concerned that the VHF transmissions would act as a beacon to enemy aircraft that could bomb London. BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at three o'clock in
845-436: 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 , Jane Asher , Robert Powell , Ade Edmondson and John Michie . McHale was the show's lead writer for several years, and was the first British writer ever to become
1014-399: 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 , Jane Asher , Robert Powell , Adrian Edmondson , Alex Walkinshaw and Jemma Redgrave . McHale was
1183-559: A dance rendition of " Jai Ho " for Let's Dance for Sport Relief . 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 ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference . It was confirmed that events from Holby City would be discussed on Hollyoaks . Holby City has attracted comparisons to other medical dramas, often unfavourable. In November 2002, John Whiston, then head of drama at Granada Television , accused
1352-686: A heart attack. The storyline was, however, broadcast as regular Casualty and Holby City episodes, rather than under the Casualty@Holby City title. Casualty 's 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 's nurse Donna Jackson ( Jaye Jacobs ) appeared in Casualty , and Kent hopes that characters from
1521-399: A heart bypass and lung biopsy procedure. Young explained that viewers believe in Casualty and trust the show to be realistic, and that he wanted Holby City to be the same in that regard. "In this pale British imitation [of ER ] you can almost smell the stench of hospital food and disinfectant. Like an NHS training film, the camera spins round, ER – style – and lo, frames
1690-625: A lot of help from my friends", with the channel still under criticism, following the start of new programming which Alan introduced a year earlier, and the number of summer repeats. £175 million was spent on 80 hours of original drama produced, enchantment to the arts with an extended 26-week run for Omnibus , and documentaries with The Downing Street Years , new wildlife series and an eight-month look at Sheffield's Children's hospital, while Goodnight Sweetheart , Grace & Favour and The Danny Baker Show were new comedy series. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman included in
1859-448: A musical performance from Holby City cast members. Sharon D Clarke , backed by Nadine Lewington , Rakie Ayola and Phoebe Thomas 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 . Holby City and Casualty cast members united on 20 February 2010, performing
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#17327870571952028-450: 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
2197-461: 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 in preparation for his role as Anton Meyer , while Edward MacLiam observed laparoscopic surgery being performed before joining
2366-449: A patient with Parkinson's disease , Sheridan Smith appeared for six episodes in 2001 as teenage stalker Miranda Locke, and David Soul 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 guest starred as patient Vincent Mancini,
2535-552: A position vacated by BBC Three , which had been switched to internet-only six weeks earlier. Changes in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were also scheduled but delayed for 'technical reasons'. On 22 November 2022, the BBC announced that BBC One will finally be regionalised on their HD channels. This move started on Sky Glass, followed by Virgin Cable, and then in the 2023 new year, HD programmes are launched on satellite. With
2704-424: A positive example of "diverse British programm[ing]". 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
2873-579: A post she took up on 1 November 2000. She had previously been sounded out about the job in 1997 after Michael Jackson 's departure, but had turned down the opportunity as she felt she was then not yet experienced enough. During Heggessey's five years in charge, BBC One's audience share fell by 19.9%, to 23%, although this was in the context of declining audience figures across all British television channels due to increased competition from multichannel digital television . However, in 2001 BBC One overtook its main rival ITV in terms of annual audience share for
3042-603: A result. His future was deemed uncertain following critical comments from Sir Michael Lyons , Chairman of the BBC Trust , and he resigned on 5 October 2007. In 2009, a report published by the BBC Trust found scheduling changes had led to a decrease in viewers. This was especially noticeable for Blue Peter and Newsround , two of CBBC's flagship programmes; Blue Peter which recorded its lowest viewing numbers since it started in 1958, and Newsround with fewer than 100,000 viewers compared to 225,000 in 2007. As part of
3211-428: 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. The show began with only eleven main characters in its first series . New main characters were been both written in and out of the series prior to its end, with
3380-462: 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 's seventh series , and Dhillon appeared as anaesthetist Sunil Gupta in 2001. Roberts believes that his single scene in series seven
3549-455: A shot which cuts off one of the lead actor's noses. The medicine is way too graphic, showing full–screen open–heart surgery; the characters are too unsympathetic, with not a heartthrob alive or dead in sight; and the story lines are so drawn out and laborious that on the medical drama scale, Holby City is a flatliner." —The Sunday Herald , contrasting Holby City with ER . The series received mixed reviews from critics. Graham Keal of
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#17327870571953718-606: A soap opera, rather than a drama, and deemed the episodes he worked on "the most dispiriting experiences in [his] 25 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 , with some suggesting that it ought to be cancelled. In August 2002, Paul Bolt, director of the Broadcasting Standards Commission criticised BBC programming as being "humdrum" and "formulaic", saying of Holby City and
3887-532: 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 questioned the amount of funding spent on lengthened episodes of Holby City , and in January 2010, Janet Street-Porter of The Independent 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
4056-514: A station clock, and perceived lack of a 'serious ident', also put the BBC in an embarrassing situation just one day into the new look with the death of the Queen Mother . One of Heggessey's most notable decisions and last major success at the channel was the recommissioning of the science-fiction drama series Doctor Who , which had been a popular hit in previous decades but ceased production in 1989 . Heggessey and Jane Tranter recommissioned
4225-458: A total of eight complaints about the incident. BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC . It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, primetime drama and entertainment, and live BBC Sport events. The channel
4394-580: A 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
4563-489: A war veteran. Peter Sallis also had a guest appearance in the episode (The Morning After) where he played Lionel Davis. 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
4732-566: 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 director Paul Bolt, have accused the BBC of squandering the television licence fee 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
4901-416: A year was spent on narrowing the gap on ITV's ratings lead, since a few months prior to this the channel had been criticised for its Autumn schedule, having tired formats, uninspiring scheduling of new programmes and poor scripts. Wogan was replaced with Eldorado , in early July 1992, but this was itself cancelled a year later. Alan Yentob launched the 1993 Autumn schedule calling it "My first try with
5070-400: 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
5239-577: Is filmed at BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood , 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 to report that
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5408-457: 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. Although both shows are set in the same hospital, the Casualty set in Bristol was not large enough to encompass the surgical ward and operating theatre required for Holby City , so the series
5577-507: 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 , starting from the first episode. The programme airs in Finland on
5746-460: 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
5915-516: The Birmingham Post wrote of the first episode: "Heretical as it might seem, I liked Holby City more than Casualty , not least because the formula is so much more flexible and unpredictable." The Mirror 's Charlie Catchpole wrote that he was "sick of the sensitive, hand–wringing, non–judgmental do–gooders who mope around the A&;E department in Casualty ", praising in comparison
6084-562: The Daily Record praised the casting of French and Griffin, writing: "It will take a couple of episodes before both actors shake off their soapy history, but with some decent plots and good lines, they should make the grade." Morgan deemed Irving the star of the show, and commented: "With Irving in the driving seat, Holby City looks like it is on the right track." Andrew Billen of the New Statesman also found Irving as Meyer
6253-506: The Nine O'Clock News had been moved to the later time of 22:00 and Panorama moved from Monday night prime time slot to a later slot on Sunday nights. The moving of Panorama attracted criticism that BBC One was sidelining serious programming in favour of more populist output. Heggessey publicly defended the decision, despite it not being hers, claiming that Panorama 's ratings would have "dwindled" in its previous slot. Heggessey and
6422-530: The EastEnders cast for the first Sport Relief 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
6591-482: The NICAM digital stereo sound format began on BBC1 in late 1987, to coincide with the sale of the first consumer NICAM-enabled equipment, a year after BBC2, and were gradually phased in across BBC TV output, although it took until 31 August 1991 for the service to begin officially on both channels. During this time, both commercial analogue broadcasters, ITV and Channel 4 had officially begun stereo transmissions using
6760-541: The Populus polling organisation found BBC One to be rated the highest-quality TV channel in the world, with BBC Two coming in third place. BBC One is available via most major television providers in the United Kingdom. The BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House , London, on 22 August 1932. The channel officially began regular broadcasts on 2 November 1936 from
6929-488: The Portman Group 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
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7098-490: 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
7267-414: 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 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
7436-524: The working title Holby Central , before the name was amended by the time that promotions for the programme began being broadcast over the Christmas season of 1998. Series producer Richard Stokes 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
7605-442: The "Balloon" idents (and the traditional "Globe" idents the channel had used in a variety of forms since 1963). They were replaced by a new style of on-air identity for the channel, the "Rhythm & Movement" idents . The new idents attracted criticism for going against the traditions of the channel and pandering to " political correctness ", as they featured activities performed by people of various ethnicities. The abandonment of
7774-435: The "pushy, ambitious, cynical and generally thoroughly unpleasant surgeons" in Holby City . Sam Wollaston of The Guardian received the series positively, writing: " Holby City has everything you want from a hospital drama: good–looking staff, a bit of love interest, a dishy doc, the odd current issue (no beds, badly–paid nurses) and bits where you have to look away", deeming it: "Pretty good, really." Kathleen Morgan of
7943-438: The 18:20 slot, but this was dismissed. The Miss Great Britain contest was dropped, being described as verging on the too offensive after the January 1985 contest, with World's Strongest Man and International Superstar also being cancelled. BBC1 was relaunched on 18 February 1985 with a new look , new programming including Wogan and EastEnders , and a revised schedule to help streamline and maintain viewers throughout
8112-899: The 8.10 pm, then 8 pm timeslot on Tuesdays. The first series of Holby City featured an ensemble cast of characters in the medical profession, who worked on the hospital's Darwin Ward. Phyllis Logan and George Irving played consultants Muriel McKendrick and Anton Meyer . Michael French and Dawn McDaniel appeared as registrars Nick Jordan and Kirstie Collins , while Lisa Faulkner played senior house officer Victoria Merrick . Sarah Preston and Angela Griffin played ward sisters Karen Newburn and Jasmine Hopkins . Nicola Stephenson appeared as nurse Julie Fitzjohn , and Ian Curtis played senior staff nurse Ray Sykes . Julie Saunders played theatre sister Ellie Sharpe , and Luke Mably appeared as ward clerk Paul Ripley . Logan, Saunders and Mably all departed from Holby City during
8281-492: 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. In June 2002, cast members from Holby City and Casualty competed against
8450-500: The American medical drama ER . Television producer Paul Abbott 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 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
8619-514: The BBC announced plans to launch a one-hour time shift of the channel, named BBC One +1. The channel would have replaced BBC Three in 2016. However, on 30 June 2015, the BBC Trust rejected the plans for a BBC One +1 channel as they stated that it would be at the expense of commercial rivals. BBC One HD , a simulcast of BBC One in 1080i high definition (HD), launched on 3 November 2010 at 19:00 with The One Show . The channel simulcasts
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#17327870571958788-457: The BBC announced the commissioning of Holby Blue , a police procedural spin-off from Holby City created by Tony Jordan . 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
8957-651: 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 has written that the differences between the two shows are "mild", calling Holby City : " Casualty 's cute little sister". Kevin Lygo , 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
9126-864: The BBC's EastEnders , while Stephenson and Faulkner had starred in Brookside . Griffin had also appeared in ITV '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 actress Patricia Potter cast as registrar Diane Lloyd , Star Wars actor Denis Lawson cast as consultant Tom Campbell-Gore , and Family Affairs star Rocky Marshall cast as SHO Ed Keating . Later roles were awarded to comedian Adrian Edmondson , former film actress Patsy Kensit , and Jesus of Nazareth star Powell. When Jane Asher
9295-535: The BBC's Controller of Drama Commissioning, Jane Tranter , took advantage of the weekday 21:00 slot opening up by moving the news to commission new popular drama output, such as the successful Waking the Dead (2000–2011) and Spooks (2002–2011). Celebrity dancing show Strictly Come Dancing (2004–present) was also a popular success on Saturday nights, although another Saturday night entertainment series, Fame Academy , faced accusations of being too derivative of
9464-429: The BBC's television output be out-sourced to independent production companies. By 2004, many popular BBC One shows were made for the channel by independents, but the in-house production departments continued to contribute heavily to the schedule. In March 1991, as part of the £63 million programme package for spring and summer line up on BBC1, it was announced an extra £20 million was to be spent on rejuvenating
9633-505: The BBC, and set about overhauling BBC1, which had been slated with poor home grown shows, its heavy reliance on US imports, with Dallas and The Thorn Birds being BBC1's highest rated programmes and ratings being over 20% behind ITV. Cotton recruited Michael Grade to become Controller of BBC1 from 1 September 1984 the first time the corporation had recruited someone outside of the BBC, replacing Alan Hart, who had been criticised for his lack of knowledge in general entertainment, as he
9802-621: The BBC-developed NICAM system. Widescreen programming was introduced on digital platforms in 1998. For the first 50 years of its existence, with the exception of films and programmes purchased from the United States and elsewhere, almost all the channel's output were produced by the BBC's in-house production departments. This changed following the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990 , which required that 25% of
9971-470: The British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 12 January 1999, and concluded on 9 March 1999. The show was created by Mal Young and Tony McHale as a spin–off from the BBC medical drama Casualty , intended to follow the treatment of patients from Casualty as they were transferred onto the hospital's surgical wards. McHale served as
10140-678: The Delivering Quality First proposals submitted by the BBC in October 2011 and approved by the BBC Trust in May 2012, all children's programming on BBC One and Two would be moved permanently to the CBBC and CBeebies channels following the digital switchover. It was found that the majority of child viewers watched the programmes on these channels already and that only 7% of these children watched CBBC programmes on BBC One and Two only, it
10309-638: The Elstree site would be sold, and Holby City relocated to share a set with Casualty , possibly in Cardiff . In March 2009, the BBC confirmed that Casualty would move to a new set in Cardiff, however in the following month, The Guardian 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,
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#173278705719510478-461: The NHS and fuelling compensation culture . 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 , two Music Video and Screen Awards, and four Screen Nation Awards. The show's first series averaged 9.27 million viewers, but apart from
10647-521: The Queen which was shown to journalists during a press conference. It apparently showed the Queen storming out of a session with American photographer Annie Leibovitz over a disagreement about what she should wear, but the BBC subsequently admitted that the scenes used in the trailer had been edited out of their correct order, meaning that a false impression was given. Fincham admitted the error, but rejected calls that he should resign from his position as
10816-473: The Saturday night line up to increase variety. Following the public disapproval of filling its schedule with 25% of repeats during the summer months of 1993, BBC1 agreed to broadcast an extra 110 hours worth of original programming over the same period during the summer in 1994, which included giving EastEnders an additional episode per week. Efficiency savings of £25 million were found and redeployed to
10985-401: 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
11154-418: 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 '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." Cast members observed
11323-465: The afternoon. Jasmine Bligh , one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying, "Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?". Twenty minutes later, BBC Television again aired the Mickey Mouse cartoon that they had broadcast in 1939. The BBC held a statutory monopoly on television broadcasting in the United Kingdom until Associated-Rediffusion ,
11492-435: 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 , 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 . BBC Studios
11661-661: The cast as Greg Douglas in series twelve . The series uses operational ventilators on set and these were donated to the NHS Nightingale Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic . 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 , though Holby City
11830-427: The cast who expressed their sadness with the show's cancellation. Fans of the show launched a change.org petition to save Holby City ; it reached over 30,000 signatures in a matter of days. 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
11999-458: The caveat that the new show would not launch until at least November 1981, whereupon new licence fee income could finance the necessary extension of broadcasting hours. On 17 January 1983, one year after originally planned, the first edition of Breakfast Time was shown on BBC1, becoming the first UK wide breakfast television service and continued to lead in the ratings until 1984. In 1984, Bill Cotton become managing director of Television at
12168-455: The channel Yle TV2 under the name of Holby Cityn sairaala . On 2 June 2021, it was announced that Holby City had been cancelled and would conclude with the 23rd 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
12337-479: The channel after the BBC's contract to show the programme ended on 8 February 2008, and moved to Channel 5 on 11 February 2008. The Weakest Link was moved from BBC Two to fill the gap, with the afternoon CBBC slot moving 20 minutes earlier. There was further controversy in July 2007 when Fincham was accused of misleading BBC One viewers. The incident involved a clip from forthcoming documentary A Year with
12506-440: The channels drama and comedy output during peak times, to keep the channel in a healthy state once the new Channel 3 licences were awarded. In December 1991 Wogan was to be cancelled, due to falling ratings against a number of ITV shows, in which Wogan only managed six million viewers compared to double that for This Is Your Life , The Krypton Factor and The $ 64,000 Question . Additionally an extra £40 million
12675-404: 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 and a maternity ward. When the maternity ward and
12844-561: The city of Holby is loosely based upon – is 88% white and 12% ethnic minorities. 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 in Holby City , realism has never been top of TV's agenda." However, Hoban felt that
13013-568: The commissioning of several successful BBC One programmes including Robin Hood (2006–2009), Jane Eyre (2006) and How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? , which was followed by similar shows Any Dream Will Do and I'd Do Anything because of its success. His first full year in charge of the channel saw a year-on-year growth in the audience share, with a rise from 22.2% in August 2005 to 23.6% in August 2006. Fincham also directly initiated
13182-559: 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 reviewed a December 2009 episode poorly, finding it "astonishing" that any patients leave Holby General alive, as
13351-523: The corporation strengthened its drama output costing £30 million, with eight new series, including Howards' Way , All Creatures Great and Small , Hold the Back Page , and Bluebill , along with the return of Bergerac and Big Deal . The increase in the drama department was achieved by switching the money away from the administrative service over a three-year period, after BBC1 was criticised for failing to match ITV's output in drama. EastEnders
13520-453: The course of the evening. Grade started to gear most programmes to either on the hour or half past the hour, while Panorama and Omnibus were both moved after the Nine O'Clock News . Grade was also determined to end the dated and inept BBC1 scheduling which was hampering the channel and holding back good programmes. Grade said "When I took over BBC1, I discovered there were wonderful things, it
13689-457: The course of the series. The series also included walk–on performances by Casualty cast members, including Derek Thompson as nurse Charlie Fairhead , and guest appearances by characters first seen in Casualty , whose treatment was continued on Holby City . In casting the first series of Holby City , Young—who had previously worked on the soap operas Brookside and Family Affairs —selected actors who were already established names in
13858-426: The creation of both The One Show (2006–present), an early evening, current-affairs and lifestyle magazine programme, which now runs all but two weeks of the year, and Davina (2006), a prime time chat show , the latter hosted by Davina McCall , who presented Big Brother . However, Davina was a critical and ratings disaster, which Fincham subsequently admitted was personally his fault, although he defended
14027-400: The end of analogue broadcasting. Between 1973 and 1977, BBC1 achieved an average audience share of 45% under Bryan Cowgill . This was the channel's most successful period in terms of audience share. On 30 December 1980, the BBC announced plans to introduce a new breakfast television service to compete with TV-am . They stated that the new show would be broadcast before TV-am but included
14196-416: The end of its run the show featured an ensemble of sixteen regular characters. Having originally appeared between 2004 and 2011, Jaye Jacobs reprised her role as Donna Jackson in 2017. Rosie Marcel has starred as Jac Naylor since 2005, while Sacha Levy actor Bob Barrett joined Holby City in 2010. Henrik Hanssen ( Guy Henry ) rejoined the show in 2015, two years after leaving a three-year stint on
14365-444: The end of the year. The series moved to HD broadcasting, with a BBC HD simulcast, from the start of series 13 in October 2010. 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
14534-454: The entire cast and crew for their work on the serial and promised that it would "[go] out on a high". Gleeson explained that his team wanted to make the series' concluding broadcasts "the most entertaining Holby yet". Hugh Quarshie , the show's longest-serving cast member, told Sarah Marsh of The Guardian that the cast and production team were informed about the cancellation one hour before its announcement. The show's cancellation received
14703-461: The fiftieth episode. Other notable guest stars include Paul Blackthorne , Suzanne Shaw , Geoffrey Hutchings , Richard Todd , Johnny Briggs , Terence Rigby , Michael Obiora , and Lionel Jeffries . Richard Briers appeared as patient George Woodman in the Christmas episode "Elliot's Wonderful Life", Eric Sykes played Roger Ludlow, a patient with Alzheimer's disease and Phill Jupitus starred as morbidly obese patient Andy Thompson. Kieron Dyer
14872-478: The first Independent Television (ITV) station, began to broadcast on 22 September 1955. The competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities, following a large reduction in its audience, as noted in the 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting. Simultaneously, the Pilkington Report decided to award an additional television station to the BBC on the basis that ITV
15041-446: The first time and had a live in-vision presenter, similar to rival ITV's Children's ITV block which had been running since January 1983. Previously the BBC had broadcast children's programming using BBC1's team of regular duty announcers. The launch presenter for this block, and thus the first Children's BBC presenter of the current format, was Phillip Schofield . On 23 May 1986, long-running lunchtime magazine show Pebble Mill at One
15210-531: The first time since the rival channel had launched in 1955, although much of this was down to the success of the channel's daytime television line-up, which had its own Controller: Jane Lush . When Heggessey arrived at the channel in November 2000, she inherited two controversial schedule changes which had been implemented the previous month, at the behest of Director-General of the BBC Greg Dyke ;
15379-483: The first variation. A Scottish variation launched on 14 January 2013, followed by a Welsh variation on 29 January 2013. On 16 July 2013, the BBC indicated that it also wants to launch regional variants of BBC One HD across England; however, this would require the approval of the BBC Trust, with a proposal due to be presented within six months. On 18 November 2013, the Northern Irish regional variant of BBC One HD
15548-405: The hospital's surgical wards. While Casualty 's 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 on 12 January 1999. The series initially had
15717-653: The launch of the HD channels, this also means the closure of the SD channels. SD channels are shut on satellite 24 hours after the launch of the HD channel, and are moved up to the Channel 1/Channel 101 slot on the EPG. Viewers with older standard definition set-top boxes will no longer be able to receive BBC One. All BBC satellite channels in standard definition have closed on 8 January 2024. Holby City (series 1) The first series of
15886-552: The lowest common denominator to increase viewership. Reliance on docusoaps and the dropping of the vilified Noel's House Party were chastened by the hoax guests on The Vanessa Show . Alan Yentob said "The spring package is to remind people of what the BBC is here for, range and ambition you won't find anywhere else at peak time". The changes helped the channel distinguish itself from (as one BBC executive said) "its down-market rival and would not compete for viewers on ITV's terms." Lorraine Heggessey became Controller of BBC One,
16055-541: The music he believed his character Ric Griffin 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
16224-525: The national version of BBC One in High Definition, with HD versions of programmes including Doctor Who , Holby City , The One Show , Strictly Come Dancing and The Apprentice . EastEnders was also made available in HD from Christmas Day 2010. All programmes still made in standard definition were upscaled on the channel, with the intention that by 2012 the vast majority of the channel's output would be in high definition. On 30 May 2012,
16393-464: The new productions. The savings were seen as a vindication for Producer Choice, the controversial internal market introduced in April 1993. By March 1999, the channel admitted defeat in its ratings war with ITV, with its spring line up emphasising more on serious factual and educational programmes, and drama. This change in strategy came about after continuing complaints that the channel was appealing to
16562-427: 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." Holby City premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. Twenty-three series of Holby City aired over twenty-three years, prior to
16731-490: The one hand it is inevitable. But it is dismissive of children. There is a certain amount of overlooking of the fact that children's programmes do get a wider audience than people are aware of ... I have frequently had letters from older people who have enjoyed my programmes as much as children do. A lot of the reason older people like to watch children's programming is because it is life-enhancing." Head of BBC Children's, Joe Godwin said: "Our young viewers are our priority and
16900-488: 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 nurse at the 2008 Royal College of Nursing conference accusing the show of fostering unrealistic expectations of
17069-454: The output of commercial rivals, and during Heggessey's era the channel frequently came under attack for being too populist and not providing enough serious programming. Immediately after her arrival, Heggessey ordered a review of the "Balloon" idents the channel had been using for its between-programme idents since 1997. In her opinion, the balloon was "slow and distant" and so, on 29 March 2002, after much speculation, she decided to abandon
17238-426: The phone. The program uses 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 . 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
17407-400: The police procedural Mersey Beat : "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 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
17576-483: The position of Darwin ward sister . Registrar Nick Jordan ( Michael French ) clashes professionally with his estranged wife Karen Newburn ( Sarah Preston ), and pursues relationships with registrar Kirstie Collins (Dawn McDaniel) and theatre sister Ellie Sharpe (Julie Saunders). Ward clerk Paul Ripley ( Luke Mably ) resigns after being caught kissing a comatose patient, and house officer Victoria Merrick ( Lisa Faulkner ) begins taking amphetamines to cope with
17745-426: 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 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
17914-419: The pressures of work. In the series finale, Jasmine is stabbed by thieves, and Nick endeavours to save her life in theatre. Holby City was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin–off from the long–running BBC medical drama Casualty . Young wanted to explore what happened to patients treated in Casualty once they were taken away to the hospital's surgical wards. While Casualty 's scope
18083-459: The programme's lead writer throughout the first series, which ran for nine episodes. Young cast actors who were already established names in the acting industry, particularly from a soap opera background. Several cast members shadowed real surgeons and nurses in preparation for their roles to increase the show's realism. The series received mixed reviews from critics. It was compared favourably with Casualty , but received negative reviews in which it
18252-474: The rights to broadcast the show in the UK for two years. The Voice UK achieved good ratings for the BBC but ratings dropped towards the end of the first series and the second series. In 2013, The Voice UK was rescheduled to avoid a clash, and as a result, ratings have improved. In November 2015, it was announced that The Voice UK would be moving to ITV from 2017, especially because of the ITV plc ownership of franchise owner, Talpa Media . On 8 October 2013,
18421-532: The role of executive producer until 2021. 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
18590-1166: The romance between nurse Jess Griffin ( Verona Joseph ) and anaesthetist Zubin Khan ( Art Malik ) culminated in an episode set in Paris. The following year, registrar Diane Lloyd ( Patricia Potter ) followed consultant Ric Griffin ( Hugh Quarshie ) to Ghana 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 's ( Paul Bradley ) wife Gina ( Gillian Bevan ) committing assisted suicide after her motor neurone disease worsened. A 2007 episode filmed in Dubai focused on Holby registrar Joseph Byrne ( Luke Roberts ) meeting new nurse Faye Morton ( Patsy Kensit ), and in 2008, Joseph and consultant Linden Cullen ( Duncan Pow ) travelled to Cape Town when Faye experienced difficulties there. Series producer Diana Kyle stated in November 2008 that due to major BBC budget cuts,
18759-450: The same hospital as Casualty , in the fictional city of Holby , and features occasional crossovers of characters and plots with both Casualty (which include dedicated episodes broadcast as Casualty@Holby City ) and the show's 2007 police procedural spin-off HolbyBlue . 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
18928-545: The satellite and terrestrial resolution was increased to full HD . BBC One HD at launch did not offer regional variations, and therefore the channel could not broadcast during regional programming slots, most noticeably the local news programmes. The BBC Trust admitted that this was due to technical and financial constraints, but the BBC announced on 6 June 2011 that the national variations of BBC One Northern Ireland, BBC One Scotland and BBC One Wales, would become available from 2012. On 24 October 2012, Northern Ireland received
19097-440: 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
19266-486: 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 included a segment featuring the Holby City cast performing a comical version of " Hung Up " by Madonna . The 16 November 2007 Children in Need appeal again contained
19435-559: The series as "a joyful, exuberant reinvention and a fine legacy from Ms Heggessey." Heggessey did later concede in a 2005 interview with The Independent newspaper that arts programming had suffered a cutback under her control of BBC One. However, she did respond to this omission following criticism from the Board of Governors of the BBC by commissioning programmes such as the arts documentary series Imagine... (2003–present) and A Picture of Britain (2005). On 14 February 2005 it
19604-469: The series in September 2003, after Heggessey had spent two years persuading the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide , to abandon their attempts to make a feature film version of the programme and allow it to instead return it to BBC One. The new version of Doctor Who (2005–present) debuted on 26 March 2005 and became a critical and popular hit, with Paul Hoggart of The Times newspaper describing
19773-719: 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 Anton Meyer ( George Irving ) and Muriel McKendrick ( Phyllis Logan ), registrars Nick Jordan ( Michael French ) and Kirstie Collins (Dawn McDaniel), senior house officer Victoria Merrick ( Lisa Faulkner ), ward sister Karen Newburn ( Sarah Preston ), theatre sister Ellie Sharpe (Julie Saunders), senior staff nurse Ray Sykes ( Ian Curtis ), staff nurses Julie Bradford ( Nicola Stephenson ) and Jasmine Hopkins ( Angela Griffin ), and ward clerk Paul Ripley ( Luke Mably ). Towards
19942-480: 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 ( Guy Henry ) and exploring his backstory. Holby City was shot using the single-camera setup . Filming occurred from 8am until 7pm daily, 50 weeks a year. From July 2007 onwards,
20111-576: The series' "most compelling character", though deemed Holby City mediocre and its storylines "safely unoriginal". Billen compared Holby City negatively to the American medical drama ER , opining that the former show has a meandering pace in comparison to the latter's briskness, and that ER has a higher calibre of actors. The Sunday Herald also compared the series unfavourably to ER , writing that Holby City served to highlight ER 's "true sophistication". Morgan refuted these negative comparisons, however, writing that: "The sign of great drama
20280-497: 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
20449-429: The show took on the filmising 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
20618-484: The show's end in March 2022. The show's first series ran for nine episodes. In June 2000, then Director-General of the BBC Greg Dyke 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
20787-407: The show's final series: Eli Ebrahimi ( Davood Ghadami ), Madge Britton ( Clare Burt ), and Russell "Russ" Faber ( Simon Slater ). In casting the first series of Holby City , Young—who had previously worked on the soap operas Brookside and Family Affairs —selected actors who were already established names in the acting industry, particularly from a soap opera background. French had starred in
20956-413: 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 technique and introducing musical montage segments into each episode. Twenty complete series of Holby City have aired, and
21125-413: 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 ) and Max McGerry ( Jo Martin ) were introduced to the series. Max's son, Louis McGerry (Tyler Luke Cunningham),
21294-669: The staff are "so busy looking stricken or lovelorn at each other". In December 2003, Libby Purves wrote a critical opinion piece in The Times , observing that Holby City 's 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 , chair of Alcohol Focus Scotland, criticised an episode of Holby City which saw doctors downing tequila slammers, stating that it glamorised irresponsible drinking. Similarly, in October 2007, drinks' industry body
21463-429: The staff at real hospitals in preparation for their roles. Stephenson and Griffin spent time at Watford Hospital, where they underwent a crash course in nursing basics, including handling bed pans and learning to make beds with hospital corners. Irving observed coronary artery bypass surgery performed at Papworth and Middlesex Hospital , while French shadowed a consultant and registrar at Papworth Hospital, observing
21632-580: 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 's first series, episodes were 50 minutes long. From
21801-484: The strategy of experimenting with the BBC One schedule. This he continued in January 2007, when he moved the current affairs series Panorama from its Sunday night slot back to the prime time Monday evening slot from which it had been removed in 2000, most likely in response to a demand from the Board of Governors of the BBC for the channel to show more current affairs programming in prime time. Fincham's judgement
21970-496: The theme and story of their episodes than was previously the case. 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 , has occasionally left open-heart surgery to advise Holby City writers over
22139-467: The time Michael Grade and Jonathan Powell were blamed for the decision (Grade was the target of death threats ) but it was later revealed that the decision was taken due to the series running out of creative inspiration, making it impossible to find anyone (at the time) who knew what to do with the series. On 9 September 1985, the long-standing children's programming block was overhauled and rebranded as Children's BBC , which gave it dedicated idents for
22308-521: 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 and help viewers make an informed decision about whether to sign up to the Organ Donor Register. An interactive episode of Casualty@Holby City
22477-404: The two shows had occasionally crossed-over storylines and cast members before; for instance developing a romance between Holby City 's Ben Saunders ( David Paisley ) and Casualty 's Tony Vincent ( Lee Warburton ). The first full crossover was spearheaded by Casualty 's executive producer Mervyn Watson, and Holby City 's McHale. Logistical difficulties arose from the fact
22646-414: 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. On 27 April 2006,
22815-442: The vast majority of children in the UK already tune in to CBeebies and CBBC to find their favourite BBC children's programmes. Far from being a 'cynical' move, we're just following where our audience has already gone." As part of the review in 2012 other changes were brought in, including: In 2012, the BBC out-bid ITV for the rights to air a British version of Dutch TV talent show The Voice . The BBC paid £22 million for
22984-433: The weeks leading up to 15 November 1969, BBC1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system in order to test it. At midnight on 15 November, simultaneously with ITV and two years after BBC2 had done so, BBC1 officially began 625-line PAL colour programming on UHF with a broadcast of a concert by Petula Clark . Colour transmissions could be received in monochrome via monochrome 625-line sets until
23153-501: The word "The" and moved into the BBC logo. Each new campaign incorporating the theme retained the same animated sequence. In May 2007, Fincham decided to drop Neighbours , an Australian soap opera, from BBC One after 21 years on the channel, when its producers, FremantleMedia significantly raised the price they wanted the BBC to pay for it in a bidding war. Fincham commented that it was 'a big loss', but that BBC One would not pay 'the best part of £300 million'. Neighbours left
23322-426: The worst offender at the time was the Channel 4 medical drama No Angels , which she described as: "so inaccurate that it makes Holby City look like a factual documentary." No Angels creator Toby Whithouse 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
23491-458: The £18 million salary that the BBC paid Jonathan Ross in 2006, although Ross's BBC One work—primarily consisting of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross —formed only part of his overall BBC commitment. The channel was named Channel of the Year at the 2007 Broadcast Awards. Following its rebrand in March 2002, BBC One launched The One to Watch campaign, during which animated blocks created
23660-438: Was again called into question, this time by The Telegraph , for his decision to spend £1.2 million replacing the channel's 'Rhythm and Movement' idents , which had been introduced by his predecessor Lorraine Heggessey several years earlier, with the 'Circle' idents , a set of eight ten-second films, some of which were shot abroad in locations such as Mexico and Croatia. Fincham later found himself having to publicly defend
23829-433: Was allowed to visit the Holby City set, but did not appear on-screen as a result of the policy change. 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 , featuring a number of characters from each of the two casts. Prior to the commissioning of Casualty@Holby City ,
23998-405: Was an executive producer for the duration of Holby 's first series, before joining Channel 4 in 1999. Kathleen Hutchison 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
24167-461: 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 . 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
24336-455: 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. Holby City was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the BBC medical drama Casualty , 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
24505-530: Was announced that Lorraine Heggessey was to leave the BBC to take up the post of Chief Executive at production company Talkback Thames . She left on 15 April. Five months after her departure, BBC One was named "Channel of the Year" at the Edinburgh Television Festival , primarily on the strength of Heggessey's commissions such as Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who . Joining the channel as Controller in 2005, Peter Fincham oversaw
24674-430: Was broadcast for the last time after being on air for 14 years. On 27 October 1986, BBC1 launched its daytime television schedules. In a statement, BBC Daytime head Roger Laughton said: It was the natural extension of the corporation's commitment to public service broadcasting, since half the population had access to television during the day mainly the retired, unemployed and housewives. Stereo audio transmissions, using
24843-587: Was cast in the recurring role of Lady Byrne 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 . The programme also has two dedicated casting directors who bring in
25012-519: Was contrasted poorly with the American medical drama ER . The series première attracted 10.72 million viewers, falling to 8.51 million by the series finale. The series focuses on the hospital's cardithoracic ward, Darwin. Department heads and consultant surgeons Anton Meyer ( George Irving ) and Muriel McKendrick ( Phyllis Logan ) clash frequently over patient care and division of beds. Tension arises between nurses Julie Fitzjohn ( Nicola Stephenson ) and Jasmine Hopkins ( Angela Griffin ) over
25181-461: 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. Holby City has featured a number of famous guest stars. Emma Samms , Antonio Fargas , Ronald Pickup and Leslie Phillips made appearances within the show's first few series, and Anita Dobson , Peter Bowles and Susannah York all appeared in
25350-671: Was filmed at the BBC Elstree Centre 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 , who were succeeded by Kathleen Hutchison from 2002 to 2004, Richard Stokes 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
25519-473: Was first popularised by the US medical drama Grey's Anatomy , 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 personally selected
25688-510: Was head of BBC Sport prior to 1981. The first major overhaul was to axe the unpopular Sixty Minutes current affairs programme: this was a replacement for the news and magazine show Nationwide . Its replacement was the BBC Six O'Clock News , a straight news programme in a bid to shore up its failing early evening slot. It was believed the BBC were planning to cut short the evening news and move more light entertainment programming in from
25857-601: Was in comparison lacking in serious programming. BBC Television became BBC1 when BBC2 launched on 20 April 1964, transmitting an incompatible 625-line image on UHF . The only way to receive all channels was to use a complex "dual-standard" 405- and 625-line receiver with both a VHF and a UHF aerial (405-line-only sets became obsolete in 1985 when VHF transmissions ended). BBC1 moved to purpose-built facilities at Television Centre on 20 September 1969. Television News continued to use Alexandra Palace as its base and by early 1968 had even converted one of its studios to colour. In
26026-437: Was in four episodes as an injury prone footballer, Denise Welch had a recurring role as risk manager Pam McGrath, mother of nurse Keri , Clarke Peters appeared for five episodes in 2009 as the father of nurse Donna Jackson, and Graeme Garden had a recurring role from 2003 to 2007 as cardiothoracic consultant Edward Loftwood. Cascade Brown played Sophie Hindmarsh in 2004, Antonio Fargas appeared in 2003 as Victor Garrison,
26195-407: Was introduced in 2020, marking the introduction of the show's first regular transgender 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 ). Amy Murphy joined the show's cast as Kylie Maddon in February 2021. Three regular characters were introduced in
26364-488: 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 , BSkyB chief executive Tony Ball 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
26533-491: Was just a case of where to put them." Wogan had been scheduled for a 10 pm slot, but Grade moved it to a 7 pm slot as he believed the show had potential. From February to August 1985, a high number of American mini-series were broadcast while filming took place of a number of new home grown programmes, including 'Allo 'Allo! , In Sickness and in Health , and Open All Hours . Further improvement came about when
26702-434: Was launched on 2 November 1936 under the name BBC Television Service , which was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution . It was renamed BBC TV in 1960 and used this name until the launch of the second BBC channel, BBC2 , in 1964. The main channel then became known as BBC1. The channel adopted the current spelling of BBC One in 1997. The channel's annual budget for 2012–2013
26871-418: Was made clear "Children's programmes are absolutely fundamental to the BBC and that is why we have protected investment in them in the light of cuts elsewhere." Children's programming on BBC One ended on 21 December 2012. The move was criticised by Teletubbies co-creator Anne Wood , who described the changes as "ghettoising children's programmes" and believe it was merely a cost-cutting measure. Wood said "On
27040-404: Was moved to Thursdays for the duration of HolbyBlue 's 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
27209-489: Was moved to a 19:30 slot, where it managed to soar to 20 million, helping the BBC1 audience share increase to nearly 50% for the first time since 1982. On 27 February 1985, Doctor Who was placed on an 18-month hiatus. The BBC originally planned to axe the series as they wished to spend its budgets on new programming for the channel, but was forced to back down from public pressure and Doctor Who returned in September 1986. At
27378-437: 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
27547-414: 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 's Charlie Fairhead ( Derek Thompson ) was operated on by Holby City 's Elliot Hope after suffering
27716-531: 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 onwards, with writers creating more of
27885-498: Was praised by campaigners for the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (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 . 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
28054-462: Was produced at the BBC Elstree Centre just north of London. As a result, some crossover scenes had to be shot twice, first on the Casualty set and then again at Elstree, with cast members travelling between the two locations. McHale wrote the series' first episode, and served as the show's lead writer. Holby City premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One . Its first series ran for nine episodes of 50 minutes in length, which were broadcast first in
28223-499: 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 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
28392-569: Was swapped with the SD channel on Sky's EPG for HD subscribers. This was followed by the Welsh and Scottish variants on 10 December. On 24 March 2014, BBC One Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland HD launched on Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media outside the regions they were originally seen in. On 31 March 2016, BBC One HD in England moved from channel 141 on the Sky electronic programme guide to channel 115,
28561-409: Was £1.14 billion. It is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBC's other domestic television stations and shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising. The television channel had the highest reach share of any broadcaster in the United Kingdom as at 2019, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership ITV . In 2013, a major global study of the BBC by
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