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117-620: Dark Reign: Young Avengers is a limited series written by Paul Cornell and drawn by Mark Brooks , which introduces a new group of powered teens calling themselves the Young Masters, but controlled by Norman Osborn . The new team is a twisted version of the Young Avengers, much like the Dark Avengers are to the original Avengers . Originally assembled by Coat of Arms as an examination of superheroism art project during

234-445: A heart surgeon , has occasionally left open-heart surgery to advise Holby City writers over 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

351-473: 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

468-673: 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

585-615: A character he created for the New Adventures , Professor Bernice Summerfield , and whom he later licensed to Big Finish Productions. He has also co-authored (often working with Keith Topping and Martin Day ) several non-fiction books on television, including The Guinness Book of Classic British TV , X-treme Possibilities (a guide to The X-Files ), and The Discontinuity Guide (a humorous guide to Doctor Who ). (Topping and Day's Doctor Who novel The Devil Goblins from Neptune

702-399: 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

819-562: 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

936-470: 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

1053-451: 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

1170-451: 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,

1287-426: 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

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1404-428: 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

1521-419: A short stint on Coronation Street , he began working for other production companies, including contributing an episode in 1999 to Red Production Company 's anthology drama series Love in the 21st Century for Channel 4. His episode, entitled Masturbation , starred Ioan Gruffudd as Jack. He was due to be one of the writers on Red Production Company's planned Queer as Folk spin-off series Misfits , but

1638-466: 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

1755-607: 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

1872-506: A son now ten years old. In 2010, he appeared as a contestant on an episode of the BBC Four quiz show Only Connect . He has written novels, non-fiction, audio plays and comic scripts. The following three novels in the series have been published by Tor Books , with two further novels remaining unpublished. About an out-of-uniform soldier in a parallel world where the ‘great game’ of European espionage continues into space. Some of

1989-535: 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

2106-580: 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

2223-491: 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

2340-566: 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

2457-543: 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 in preparation for his role as Anton Meyer , while Edward MacLiam observed laparoscopic surgery being performed before joining

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2574-402: 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

2691-455: 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

2808-635: 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

2925-661: Is given for the absence of the other founding members of the group, but at the conclusion of the storyline, Zodiac reveals that he only needed one of them to join him, and he selects Egghead. Big Zero, Enchantress, and Coat of Arms are later employed by Jeremy Briggs. They battle the students of the Avengers Academy in order to allow Briggs to complete his goal of depowering all of Earth's superhumans and giving their powers to people who are worthy of receiving them. In Avengers Undercover , Black Knight, Coat of Arms, Egghead, Executioner, Mako, and Melter appear as members of

3042-456: 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

3159-461: 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

3276-515: The Dark Reign storyline, the group was largely motivated by Melter 's desire to be real heroes, but hindered significantly by unclear and conflicting ideals including Executioner 's Punisher -style ruthlessness, Big Zero's racism and violent tendencies, Egghead 's psychopathy and hedonism, and Coat of Arm's distorted view of ethics. Only Melter and Enchantress showed much interest in actual altruistic heroism. The team began calling themselves

3393-708: The CBS Sherlock Holmes series Elementary . In 2018, he started co-hosting (with Lizbeth Myles from the Verity! podcast) a podcast reviewing horror films made by Hammer Film Productions entitled Hammer House of Podcast. In an interview on the Doctor Who: DWO Whocast , Cornell stated that this entry in Misplaced Pages described him as "both a Christian and a pagan ", which he has chosen not to correct as it illustrates his sympathies for

3510-532: 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

3627-489: 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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3744-491: 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

3861-647: The Shadow Council 's incarnation of the Masters of Evil. The Young Masters make their headquarters in Constrictor 's Snakepit in Bagalia . During this time, Excavator, Snot, and Mudbug are shown to have joined up with the Young Masters. During the time when Constrictor had sent Chase Stein and Deathlocket to A.I.M. Island, Enchantress and Radioactive Kid are shown to be in the company of the Young Masters. At

3978-769: 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 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

4095-618: The pagan world. He then goes on to state that he is an Anglican but is very " Low Church , almost a Calvinist " and this is partly because he doesn't enjoy hymns . Spiritual themes are not uncommon in his work (for example, his novel Something More ). Other frequent references in his work include owls . Cornell is married to Caroline Symcox, currently the Vicar of St Mary's Church, Fairford , who also has written Doctor Who -based audio plays for Big Finish Productions on her own and with Cornell. In 2021 Paul said that he and Caroline have

4212-525: 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

4329-413: The "Young Avengers," but were only active as superheroes a short time before being confronted by the actual Young Avengers. The Young Avengers fought their darker counterparts where they vetted each member. Although Enchantress was a possible candidate for the original Young Avengers, she was rejected due to having a history with Loki . Displeased with the Young Avengers' decision, the team decided to become

4446-415: The "foreseeable future". In September 2010, Holby City 's nurse Donna Jackson ( Jaye Jacobs ) 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

4563-502: 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

4680-654: 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

4797-869: 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

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4914-641: 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,

5031-461: 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

5148-579: The Supermen . Cornell signed with DC Comics exclusively in 2010 as part of writing for Action Comics . His 16-issue run on the series included number 900. In late 2010 and early 2011, Cornell completed nine issues set in Batman's world: Knight & Squire , a six-issue miniseries, and a three-issue run in Batman & Robin , #17–19. In September 2011, as part of DC's The New 52 relaunch, Cornell became

5265-474: The Young Masters lie low following Osborn's defeat. They are compromised when Enchantress becomes weak and ill in the wake of Loki's death. The Young Masters return with Executioner and Egghead, joined by new recruits Mako , Radioactive Kid, and a female Black Knight in a plot to target older villains for assassination. It is later revealed that they had a mysterious benefactor, the villain Zodiac . No explanation

5382-545: The Young Masters. Executioner contacts Norman Osborn to gain his support and the backing of the Dark Avengers . When the Young Avengers return to their headquarters, the Dark Avengers arrive. The Young Masters aid the Young Avengers in fighting the Dark Avengers. After the Dark Avengers are repelled, the Young Masters leave. Following the " Siege of Asgard " storyline and the beginning of the Heroic Age storyline,

5499-400: 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

5616-521: 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." Holby City premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. Twenty-three series of Holby City aired over twenty-three years, prior to

5733-509: The award-winning Human Nature . Cornell then began working for Granada Television , where he wrote for the popular children's medical drama Children's Ward and created his own children's series Wavelength for Yorkshire Television , which ran for two series. He made the crossover to working in adult television full-time in 1996, when he was one of the main contributors to Granada's supernatural soap opera Springhill , which ran for two years on Sky One and later on Channel 4 . After

5850-492: 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

5967-588: The cancellation of the New Excalibur title and Cornell's new project was announced as being titled Captain Britain and MI: 13 . The third trade paperback , Vampire State , was nominated for the 2010 " Best Graphic Story " Hugo Award . Cornell has also written Young Avengers Presents No. 4 (April 2008) and a Fantastic Four mini-series comic, True Story , which started in July 2008, which featured

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6084-666: 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

6201-430: 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

6318-406: 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

6435-561: 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

6552-708: The close of the series, Alex Wilder joins the Young Masters. Original members: Later recruits: Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer. He is best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, being the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield . As well as Doctor Who , other British television dramas for which he has written include Robin Hood , Primeval , Casualty , Holby City and Coronation Street . For American television, he has contributed an episode to

6669-561: 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

6786-512: 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. In June 2002, cast members from Holby City and Casualty competed against

6903-420: 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

7020-446: 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

7137-457: 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

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7254-555: The episode " Father's Day ". The episode was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form in 2006 and came third in terms of votes for its category. Cornell later wrote a two-part story for Doctor Who' s 2007 series, based on his 1995 Virgin New Adventures novel Human Nature . The title of the first episode was also " Human Nature ", while the second was titled " The Family of Blood ". In 2008,

7371-470: 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

7488-496: 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, 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

7605-568: The first episode. The programme airs in Finland on 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

7722-507: The first series. His first episode, " Who Shot the Sheriff? ", aired on BBC One on 21 October 2006. His second, " A Thing or Two About Loyalty ", followed on 2 December 2006. He also wrote an episode for the second season of another Saturday evening family adventure programme, the ITV science-fiction series Primeval , transmitted in February 2008. He also wrote the one-off pilot Pulse , which

7839-409: 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

7956-543: The modern-day set Sherlock Holmes series Elementary . Cornell has also written for a number of British comics, as well as Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the United States, and has had six original novels published. He is one of only two people to be nominated for Hugo Awards in prose, comics and TV. Already known in Doctor Who fan circles, Cornell's professional writing career began in 1990 when he

8073-450: 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

8190-408: The notable series and episodes he has worked on include: Holby City This is an accepted version of this page 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;

8307-488: 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

8424-402: 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

8541-488: 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

8658-536: 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

8775-1228: 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,

8892-444: 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

9009-488: 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

9126-721: 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

9243-479: The series was never made, being abruptly cancelled by Channel 4. In the 21st century he has written mainly for the BBC , contributing episodes to all three of their regular medical dramas: Casualty , Holby City and the daytime soap opera Doctors . He also contributed to the 1950s-set Sunday evening prime time drama series Born and Bred and was one of the writers of the 2005 series revival of Doctor Who , writing

9360-484: 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,

9477-503: 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

9594-498: The show ran until 29 March 2022. It follows the lives of medical and ancillary staff at the fictional Holby City Hospital , 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

9711-431: 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

9828-550: 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

9945-411: 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

10062-413: 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

10179-418: 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),

10296-420: 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 , Jane Asher , Robert Powell , Ade Edmondson and John Michie . McHale

10413-672: 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

10530-584: 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

10647-579: The team encountering characters from the pages of literary classics. In 2008, he wrote a comic which featured on the Doctor Who website. He has also written the Young Avengers limited series that ties into Dark Reign and Black Widow : Deadly Origin a mini-series that ties into the character's appearance in Iron Man 2 . Cornell became the next Action Comics writer after War of

10764-402: 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,

10881-435: The two episodes were nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form . In February 2006, Cornell announced in a post on his weblog that he would be writing an episode for the BBC's forthcoming Robin Hood , produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for the same Saturday evening family slot as Doctor Who . He later announced on his blog that he was also writing a second Robin Hood episode for later in

10998-522: 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

11115-405: 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

11232-482: 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

11349-586: The writer for the DC Comics titles Demon Knights and Stormwatch . Cornell's last DC work was the 14-issue science fiction series Saucer Country , which ended with the June 2013 issue. Cornell is part of the regular panel of the podcast SF Squeecast , which won the 2012 and 2013 Hugo Award for best fancast. In January 2016, Cornell announced his return to television drama work when he told followers on his Twitter feed that he had written his first script for US television, contributing an episode to

11466-495: Was a winner in a young writers' competition and his entry, Kingdom Come , was produced and screened on BBC Two . Soon after, he wrote Timewyrm: Revelation , a novel for the Virgin New Adventures series of Doctor Who novels. Timewyrm: Revelation was a reworking of a serialised fan fiction piece Cornell had penned previously for the fanzine Queen Bat . Several other Doctor Who novels followed, including

11583-435: 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 ,

11700-544: Was also based on an original idea with Cornell.) He has also written comics, both for Doctor Who Magazine and the 2000 AD spin-off Judge Dredd Megazine . He has written Wisdom , a 6-issue limited series for Marvel Comics ' MAX imprint, featuring the character Peter Wisdom , with art by Trevor Hairsine and Manuel Garcia . It was announced at the 2007 Wizard World Chicago comic book convention that Cornell would be following Chris Claremont on Marvel's New Excalibur . Plans were subsequently changed with

11817-409: 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

11934-463: 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

12051-459: 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

12168-519: 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 '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

12285-588: 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

12402-463: 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

12519-474: 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

12636-437: 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,

12753-410: 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

12870-491: 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

12987-439: 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

13104-415: 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

13221-532: 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

13338-498: 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

13455-555: 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

13572-777: Was shown on BBC Three in early June 2010. Outside of television, he has been active in various other media, having written six Doctor Who novels for Virgin Publishing and BBC Books during the 1990s, three Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish Productions and a fully animated internet-broadcast Doctor Who adventure, Scream of the Shalka (starring Richard E. Grant as the Doctor) for bbc.co.uk in 2003. He has also written two mainstream science-fiction novels, Something More and British Summertime for Gollancz , and various novels, short stories and audio dramas based around

13689-410: 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 technique and introducing musical montage segments into each episode. Twenty-three series of Holby City aired, with

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