Holby City to end in 2022

[J. R.'s Piece]

I do find it fun sometimes on Casualty when on some occasions they try to go upstairs in the lift with a patient and something goes wrong and they either get stuck or have to go back to the ED immediately. Like a desperate attempt to go over to the domain of the other show is being thwarted by an unseen power. Although the crossover gods let Nick Jordan (Michael French) through in 2010, when he declared that they were going upstairs, in an exciting lift-entering cliffhanger, because Casualty’s Charlie Fairhead needed emergency surgery on Holby City. Which was fun when Ric Griffin complained about Nick Jordan daring to show his face upstairs after all the trouble that Nick caused on his stint on Holby City four years earlier, leaving for a better job with the line that it had been fun. To which Nick taunted the longest serving character, Ric Griffin (2001-2020 and five episodes of Casualty, including two as Acting CEO), about Ric snubbing surgeon Diane Lloyd and enjoying rubbing his engagement to the next of his many wives (who he dumped on their wedding day) in her face, which led to Diane dealing with it by fatally parking in front of an oncoming train. Nick had previously blamed his own surgical errors on Diane too. That crossover was also the last time an original Holby City cast member ever appeared on Holby City. And reunited Michael French with Paul Bradley again.

The last big crossover (a two-parter taking place on both shows) had them stuck in the lift at the end of the Casualty part and escaping into Holby City in part two, marking Holby City’s twentieth anniversary.

 

[Walford Boy]

Watching both Casualty and Holby City i am wondering if the BBC have axed the right show?

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Watching both Casualty and Holby City i am wondering if the BBC have axed the right show?

They have axed the one closest to London. Which helps to achieve their aim.

BBC to move more programming and teams to the North of England

The BBC has published a blueprint for its “biggest transformation in decades.”

www.google.co.uk

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

This is definitely sad news! I remember my dad watched this religiously - and by default I would too, though I haven't watched in a few years either except for the crossover episodes with Casualty. Connie Beauchamp remains one of my favourite ever characters from the show and is the reason I started to watch Casualty.

I think my favourite Holby City character was Anton Meyer, played by George Irving. He really anchored the first four series and was voted one of the sexiest men on television.

He turned up with Joan Collins in SSO!.

 

[Angela Channing]

Casualty and Holby City still do well in the ratings and were the 4th and 5th most popular dramas on TV during June:

1. Time - Sun 6 Jun - 10.78 million viewers
2. The Pact - Tue 1 Jun - 4.37 million viewers
3. In Plain Sight - Mon 7 Jun - 3.64 million viewers
4. Casualty - Sat 12 Jun - 3.46 million viewers
5. Holby City - Tue 8 Jun - 2.99 million viewers

 

[AndyB2008]

Bryan Murray who was in Holby is nowadays on Fair City - a programme which pre-Covid, had the types of plots similar to his stint on Brookside.

Thankfully without the patio burial.

 

[AndyB2008]

I have noticed that some articles illustrating Holby City’s end have actually featured inaccurate pictures from Casualty instead. Including a Holby City captioned photo of Derek Thompson (four appearances on Holby City) with Kate Winslet. Which was actually from a 1993 episode of Casualty, six years before Holby City began.

Speaking of Derek Thompson, Forces TV are airing No Place Like Home, which starred William Gaunt (now the only surviving cast member of the 3 actors playing The Champions).

But playing one of Gaunt's daughters was Derek's wife, Dee Sadler.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Speaking of Derek Thompson, Forces TV are airing No Place Like Home, which starred William Gaunt (now the only surviving cast member of the 3 actors playing The Champions).

But playing one of Gaunt's daughters was Derek's wife, Dee Sadler.

I’ve met William Gaunt a few times and once with Alexandra Bastedo. The last time Freddie Jones, Peter Wyngarde, Lindsay Wagner, Warwick Davis, Angela Douglas, Margaret Nolan, Caron Gardner, Shane Rimmer, Ray Brooks, Ayshea, Georgina Moon, Amanda Barrie and Anita Harris were there.

Derek Thompson also played Charlie Fairhead in the first episode of Holby City. Then again for the first part of the second Christmas disaster crossover (Casualty@Holby City). And in “Downstairs, Upstairs” in 2010, when Charlie’s condition in Casualty required Nick Jordan to rush him upstairs for surgery by his old friend Elliot Hope on Holby City. Which had four Casualty characters upstairs on Holby City. And two years later, Charlie was conducting interviews for a nursing position. Derek Thompson also appeared as Charlie Fairhead in the first episode of Holby Blue, which was cancelled after two series. Holby City’s Rosie Marcel, guested as Jac Naylor (who I’m especially fond of) in the first episode of series two of Holby Blue, when Jac was arrested in a story, which continued a storyline from Holby City. Think Jac, has been in over half a dozen episodes of Casualty, including it’s 30th anniversary helicopter crash, where the story continued afterwards on Holby City. And two weeks later, she was back on Casualty with neurosurgeon (former CEO) Guy Self also crossing over.

Hollyoaks referenced the body under the patio, on the 16th anniversary of the airing of the final episode of Brookside. In a scene with former Brookside cast member, Alex Fletcher.

Hollyoaks airs Brookside joke on the anniversary of the soap's final episode

Remember the body under the patio?

www.digitalspy.com

In Casualty and Holby City, Bryan Murray played the surgeon whose team that Nick Jordan was previously on. He then gives Anton Meyer a bad report on Jordan, in Holby City.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Why don't the BBC merge their three long running shows into one. Holbyenders.

The first episode Sharon is rushed to Holby Walford General where she meets Kush's identical twin. She uncovers a mystery of many identical twins such as David Wicks.

Denise vists and bumps in her daughter Libby who isn't Libby but another twin.

Anthony Hopkins guest stars as the creator as Sharon discovers Eastworld, a strange hospital filled with life like robots of everyone she has met.

The show will run for 120 years with 7 viewers.

Jack Ryder, who played Jamie Mitchell in EastEnders, was in Holby City too. He even got to return in imaginary ghostly form after being killed off.

Well, SHADO HQ in Gerry Anderson’s UFO was four hundred feet below the Harlington-Straker film studios. The series used Neptune House, which is now used for interiors and exteriors for Holby City. It was also the Scott Furlong factory in ATV’s The Plane Makers. Which starred “Patrick Wymark appears by kind permission of the Governors of the Royal Shakespeare Company” as John Wilder. And Commander Straker in UFO had the same performer, Norma Ronald, playing his secretary and she had played John Wilder’s secretary in The Plane Makers.


And Neptune House turned up in ITC’s The Saint and Return of the Saint, among others.

Neptune House, BBC Elstree Studios - Fanderson

Seen prominently throughout UFO as the Harlington Straker Film Studios at West Harlington in Wessex, secret HQ of Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation. Doppelgänger (Eurosec HQ) UFO – Title Sequence UFO – Identified UFO – Computer Affair UFO – Flight Path UFO – Survival UFO – Exposed...

fanderson.org.uk

So that could explain the strange goings on. It was the aliens, especially as Emma Samms appeared in a few episodes of Holby City.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Casualty and Holby City still do well in the ratings and were the 4th and 5th most popular dramas on TV during June:

1. Time - Sun 6 Jun - 10.78 million viewers
2. The Pact - Tue 1 Jun - 4.37 million viewers
3. In Plain Sight - Mon 7 Jun - 3.64 million viewers
4. Casualty - Sat 12 Jun - 3.46 million viewers
5. Holby City - Tue 8 Jun - 2.99 million viewers

It is a very strange experience

Watching both Casualty and Holby City i am wondering if the BBC have axed the right show?

The BBC announced that they are reducing their property estate in London in their 13-page The BBC Across The UK document.

Holby City did pull off a bit of a surprise this week with a shock return from an offscreen death two years ago for Bernie (Jemma Redgrave….who has also been sighted in Cardiff recently…which is where Doctor Who and Casualty are made and she is people in both ). Well, they said there would be a resurrection but declined to say who. Which was then followed by another shock as her murdering psycho doctor bomb-placing son (who recently faked his own death) got hit by a vehicle in the hospital car park.

And Ethan and Iain from Casualty are listed as making crossover appearances on Holby City in two weeks time.

It is a bit odd going online about the cancellation sometimes. You get lots of people saying that the BBC has been deliberately making the show worse to make sure it isn’t missed. Even though the people working on the show were said to have been told of the cancellation just an hour before the public announcement.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

The BBC have confirmed that Holby City will conclude filming in December.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

The BBC’s Across The UK thingy, which has led to the end of Holby City:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/reports/the-bbc-across-the-uk.pdf

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Looks like BBC have found (or rediscovered) their replacement. There was talk of them launching a new Northern serial drama a while back in order to diversify their output but it looks like they're just reviving this to fill the gap instead

Waterloo Road returns to the BBC

The announcement underlines the BBC's commitment to make more programmes across the UK and is the first of the two new long-running network drama series to benefit from the investment

www.bbc.com

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Looks like BBC have found (or rediscovered) their replacement. There was talk of them launching a new Northern serial drama a while back in order to diversify their output but it looks like they're just reviving this to fill the gap instead

Waterloo Road returns to the BBC

The announcement underlines the BBC's commitment to make more programmes across the UK and is the first of the two new long-running network drama series to benefit from the investment

www.bbc.com

They actually said, “We will reallocate our content funds to deliver two new network long-running drama series over the next three years - one from the North of England and one from one of the Nations”.

It also mentions over a hundred “new and returning drama and comedy titles will reflect the lives and communities of audiences outside London”.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/reports/the-bbc-across-the-uk.pdf

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

They actually said, “We will reallocate our content funds to deliver two new network long-running drama series over the next three years - one from the North of England and one from one of the Nations”.

It also mentions over a hundred “new and returning drama and comedy titles will reflect the lives and communities of audiences outside London”.
View attachment 30584

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/reports/the-bbc-across-the-uk.pdf

I've seen a few people online pointing towards Waterloo Road being added to BBC iPlayer during lockdown and speculating that views must have been high enough for them to revive it.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

I've seen a few people online pointing towards Waterloo Road being added to BBC iPlayer during lockdown and speculating that views must have been high enough for them to revive it.

Yes. The performance of Waterloo Road on IPlayer is mentioned in the link here.:

BBC revives Waterloo Road six years after cancellation

Secondary school drama originally aired from 2006 to 2015

www.independent.co.uk

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Speaking of Derek Thompson, Forces TV are airing No Place Like Home, which starred William Gaunt (now the only surviving cast member of the 3 actors playing The Champions).

But playing one of Gaunt's daughters was Derek's wife, Dee Sadler.

Actually, when William Gaunt was reunited for a documentary and two commentaries with his co-stars Stuart Damon (who died earlier this year) and Alexandra Bastedo, he did actually talk about going back to Elstree and guesting on Holby City. Comparing how it was done to how General Hospital was being done with Stuart Damon in the USA. Think Stuart Damon was fired from General Hospital the next year, after thirty years, recording his character’s death on Stuart’s 70th birthday. But then he was kept on for a while, as a ghost. And did some guest spots later. As Holby City uses Neptune House both for the outside of the hospital and inside on the top floor, as the wards.

There were plans to reunite the three Champions again and they had all agreed to meet again at a London event but Alexandra Bastedo died.

 

[AndyB2008]

Actually, when William Gaunt was reunited for a documentary and two commentaries with his co-stars Stuart Damon (who died earlier this year) and Alexandra Bastedo, he did actually talk about going back to Elstree and guesting on Holby City. Comparing how it was done to how General Hospital was being done with Stuart Damon in the USA. Think Stuart Damon was fired from General Hospital the next year, after thirty years, recording his character’s death on Stuart’s 70th birthday. But then he was kept on for a while, as a ghost. And did some guest spots later. As Holby City uses Neptune House both for the outside of the hospital and inside on the top floor, as the wards.

There were plans to reunite the three Champions again and they had all agreed to meet again at a London event but Alexandra Bastedo died.

Yep, Stuart Damon was fired from General Hospital, by Jill Farren Phelps no less.

The same Jill Farren Phelps who fired his on-screen mother Anna Lee from GH( Lee had been given a reassurance from Wendy Riche that she had the role for life), and it is rumoured that caused Anna Lee's death not long afterwards.

Heaven forbid if Jill Farren Phelps joined a UK soap - given she fired oldies like Anna Lee, Stuart Damon, Barbara Berjer and David Hedison from the soaps she was EP on, if she was to join a UK soap - Rita would end up murdered by Sharon for money, Audrey would fry in a salon fire, Nana McQueen would be poisoned, Diane Blackstock (had the actress not retired) would have been violently assaulted and put into a coma, Jack Osbourne would have a heart attack and Patrick Trueman would be hit by a car. As they are played by older actors, who Jill Farren Phelps doesn't like. Oh, and she'll have one of her friends in it too. (Marlon Dingle would be on Jill Farren Phelps's axe list too, as the actor is in his 50's).

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Why don't the BBC merge their three long running shows into one. Holbyenders.

The first episode Sharon is rushed to Holby Walford General where she meets Kush's identical twin. She uncovers a mystery of many identical twins such as David Wicks.

Denise vists and bumps in her daughter Libby who isn't Libby but another twin.

Anthony Hopkins guest stars as the creator as Sharon discovers Eastworld, a strange hospital filled with life like robots of everyone she has met.

The show will run for 120 years with 7 viewers.

The doubles could be explained by merging it with Russell T Davies’ and Phil Ford’s children’s drama, Wizards Vs Aliens, at Cardiff. The Nekross had clone factories. They cloned a lead’s dead mother.

That way, Don Gilet be three different characters at the same time. And two more WVA goodie regulars, Michael Higgs and Annette Badland, were naughtier people on EastEnders.

Plus instead of leaving by death, discharge or taxi, characters could leave or be recast by extraction ageing them rapidly.

Or people could be eaten by Nekross King (Brian Blessed), who got the throne by eating his own brother. Or just get tossed down a pit and eaten by the pet Skorpulus, like Ruthie Henshall’s Stephanie Gaunt.

I’ve noticed on sites that people seemed to have been posting about their enjoyment of the last few weeks of Holby City, with the bomb explosion. They were filming Christmas earlier this month.

 

[AndyB2008]

Debra Stephenson is in the episodes currently.

I can't watch (or listen to her on Dead Ringers) without thinking of her star appearance in Series 5 of Bad Girls, where she's dancing in front of Theo Ellis of Wolf Alice's dad with a giant toy manhood on her. (This when we've been led to believe Shell had died).

That series 5 is the one where Shirley of EastEnders meets a sticky end because of Theo Ellis's dad.