Holby City
Holby City is a popular UK hospital drama that has been running on BBC 1 for over ten years.
A dramatic medical fuelled soap opera, Holby City is a spin off show from the critically acclaimed emergency room drama Casualty and is set in the same fictional hospital – Holby City Hospital.
It was said in 1998 that viewers and fans were anxious to see the goings on and drama of other wards (beside the A&E ward in Casualty) in Holby City Hospital, and that was when creators Mal Young and Tony McHale put their creative heads together and created Holby City, a now BAFTA winning television success.
Holby City follows the lives of the staff at Holby City hospital and the patients that find themselves in need of their help. Although the doctors, nurses and surgeons alike are all played by regular actors, the patients are played by guest actors – some of which are already household names, such as radio and television personality Eric Sykes, comedian Phill Jupitus and Blue pop star, Lee Ryan.
Holby is set in the fictional county of Wyvern, which if real, would actually replace Bristol – which is where sister show Casualty was filmed up until recently – on the UK map. Although strong references to next door neighbour, Wales, are mentioned in the show, Holby City is actually filmed in Hertfordshire, in Elstree Studios – the same studio in which UK soap opera Eastenders is filmed.
Although the shows are closely linked, Casualty and Holby City rarely interlink their characters, although, on occasion this has been shown.
Mal Young, creator of Holby City explained that he wanted to show fans of Casualty where the patients end up after being examined in A&E and he has certainly achieved it with the award winning Holby City.
