The eighteenth series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on 13 October 2015, and concluded on 4 October 2016. The series consists of 52 episodes. Oliver Kent continues his position as the show's executive producer, while Simon Harper serves as the series producer. Sixteen cast members reprised their roles from the previous series, while several recurring characters, and numerous guest stars feature in the series. Four actors depart during the series and two cast members reprise their roles after taking breaks in the previous series. Jemma Redgrave appeared in the series between February and September 2016 as general surgeon Bernie Wolfe. Jason Robertson joined the semi-regular cast in February 2016 as Jason Haynes, and two new cast members joined the serial in summer 2016: Marc Elliott as registrar Isaac Mayfield and Lucinda Dryzek as F1 doctor Jasmine Burrows.
Several crossover events with Holby City sister show Casualty occurred during the series. Four Holby City cast members appeared in Casualty during the series, while five Casualty actors starred in Holby City during the series, including former Holby City actress Amanda Mealing. Several storylines featured in the series with on-off relationships becoming a common theme throughout. One storyline sees CT1 doctor Dominic Copeland (David Ames) attacked by an aggressive partner, who is married. A prominent storyline in the series is CT2 doctor Arthur Digby's (Rob Ostlere) melanoma diagnosis, which proves to be terminal. Ostlere raised awareness for the illness off-screen too, and the story concluded in "I'll Walk You Home", which features Ostlere's departure.
Series 18 of Holby City attracted 4.5 million viewers on average with three episodes failing to reach the top 30 rated programmes of the week. During the series, Holby City was nominated for several awards, including a nomination at the 2016 British Academy Television Awards and the 2016 Broadcast Awards. Four cast members and three storylines were nominated at the 2016 Inside Soap Awards, and Ostlere won the "Best Drama Star" accolade. The serial also received a positive reaction to the characters and storylines with a domestic abuse storyline featured in the series prompting 177 calls to the BBC Action Line and 2,032 visits to the BBC Action Line's website.
Episodes
Production Holby City eighteenth series was produced by the BBC and aired its 52 episodes on BBC One in the United Kingdom. The series aired in the 8 pm timeslot on Tuesdays across the United Kingdom, except in Scotland, where the series has no fixed timeslot. Each episode runs for 60 minutes. There was no break between series 17 and series 18, with the premiere of series 18 airing one week after the finale of series 17, in the same timeslot. Oliver Kent continues his role as the executive producer of the show, while Simon Harper serves as the series producer. In October 2015, Harper announced the show would receive a new opening titles sequence and the new sequence was first previewed in November 2015. The new opening titles sequence first aired in the episode, "In Which We Serve", broadcast on 1 December 2015 as the eighth episode of the series. Harper confirmed in October 2015 that the series would feature a standalone episode, which would air in January 2016. The episode centres around junior doctors, Arthur Digby (Rob Ostlere), Morven Shreve (Eleanor Fanyinka), Oliver Valentine (James Anderson) and Zosia March (Camilla Arfwedson), and Harper confirmed that it would answer several "'will they, won't they?' questions". The episode, "Young Hearts, Run Free", aired on 5 January 2016 as the thirteenth episode of the series.
Crossovers This series featured several crossover events with Holby City sister show Casualty. Harper confirmed this series would feature crossovers with the show, especially around the time of Casualty thirtieth anniversary in September 2016. Guy Henry made three guest appearances as Henrik Hanssen in Casualty between January and May 2016, while Rosie Marcel guest appeared in a February 2016 episode of Casualty as her character Jac Naylor. On 28 June 2016, it was announced that Marcel, Henry and Alex Walkinshaw would guest appear in Casualty feature-length anniversary episode "Too Old for This Shift", originally broadcast on 27 August 2016, as their characters Jac, Hanssen and Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher respectively. Walkinshaw previously appeared in the serial as a regular character between 2012 and 2014. Marcel and John Michie, who portrays Guy Self, appeared again in Casualty two episodes later.
On 27 August 2016, it was confirmed that Amanda Mealing would appear in an episode of Holby City as her character Connie Beauchamp. The actress previously appeared in the serial between 2004 and 2010. Mealing appeared in episode 47, "Protect and Serve", broadcast on 30 August 2016. Michael Stevenson and Lloyd Everitt also appeared in the episode as paramedics Iain Dean and Jez Andrews while Tonicha Lawrence guest starred as Steph Sims, a patient who appeared in Casualty. George Rainsford also appeared during the eighteenth series as his Casualty character, Ethan Hardy. Rainsford appeared for Ostlere's final scenes as Arthur Digby after they pleaded with producers to allow them to share a scene together.
Storyline development In an October 2015 interview with Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy, Harper revealed a selection of upcoming storylines to feature in the series. He explained that a "dramatic and exciting" twist in a storyline involving Cara Martinez (Niamh Walsh) and her husband, Jed Martinez (Jody Latham), would challenge Cara's relationship with Raf di Lucca (Joe McFadden), while a theme of "people's pasts coming back to haunt them" would be explored with the characters of Mo Effanga (Chizzy Akudolu) and Serena Campbell (Catherine Russell). He stated that Mo would re-evaluate her life and relationship with Derwood "Mr T" Thompson (Ben Hull) following the return of her surrogate son, whereas Serena would begin a relationship in a new storyline before her past is explored. Harper also announced plans to explore the on-again, off-again relationships between audience favourites Zosia and Oliver, Arthur and Morven, Sacha Levy (Bob Barrett) and Essie Harrison (Kaye Wragg), and Mo and Mr T, adding that they would answer some ongoing questions in late 2015. He also stated that Zosia and Oliver would be "caught in the crossfire" of Jac Naylor's (Rosie Marcel) rivalry with Guy Self (John Michie) following Guy's move to Darwin ward. Harper said that Sacha and Essie's relationship would be challenged by Essie wanting to have a child as well as Sacha's Jewish family being unable to overlook Essie's grandfather's Nazi background. Harper also expressed an interest in creating more nurse characters as he felt the show lacked nursing characters.
In February 2016, David Ames revealed that his character, Dominic Copeland, would be attacked. The storyline began in autumn 2015 when Dominic begins a relationship with patient Lee Cannon (Jamie Nichols), although he is "gutted" when Lee steals from him and disappears. Lee returns when his pregnant wife, Alison Jones (Elizabeth Cadwallader), is admitted onto Keller ward, where she discovers Lee and Dominic had a fling. Lee becomes aggressive and confronts Dominic in the staffroom. Ames explained that Lee is "furious with the fact his whole world has crumbled" so Dominic reminds Lee about his misdemeanours. The actor stated that when Lee grabs a knife, he creates a "tug of war" between them and someone is stabbed. The storyline is revisited in May 2016 when Alison is readmitted onto the ward, leaving Dominic astounded. Dominic helps Alison as she delivers her child, but he becomes enraged when Alison asks him to accompany her to visit Lee in prison. Ames said that Dominic warns Alison that "you can't hold on to the past", something which he has to remind himself.
In his October 2015 interview with Kilkelly, Harper teased a "heartbreaking and touching" storyline to air in 2016 which would bring together every character. This storyline commenced in February 2016 when Arthur is tested as a liver donor for Morven's father, Austin Shreve (Clinton Blake). While testing, Essie discovers a mole on Arthur's back and believes it could be melanoma, however Arthur dismisses her claims as being "over-protective". Essie requests a second opinion from Hanssen, who orders for it to be removed and examined. Ostlere explained that Arthur "feels like the rug has been pulled out from under him" after his diagnosis. Off-screen, Ostlere raised awareness for melanoma, issuing his support during Melanoma Awareness Month. Arthur learns he has secondary tumours on his lungs, before discovering his treatment is not working and his cancer is terminal. The storyline concluded with Ostlere's departure from the show; on-screen, Arthur and Morven decided to travel together but before they can leave, Arthur collapses and falls unconscious. Since Arthur's cancer is too advanced, his life cannot be saved and he soon dies surrounded by his colleagues. Ostlere found filming his final scenes emotional and said he would miss playing the character.
Cast Overview The eighteenth series of Holby City began with 16 roles receiving star billing, a similar amount to previous series. Guy Henry appeared as Henrik Hanssen, the hospital's chief executive officer and consultant general surgeon. Catherine Russell played deputy chief executive officer, clinical lead of the Acute Assessment Unit (AAU) and consultant general surgeon Serena Campbell. John Michie portrayed director of neurosurgery and consultant neurosurgeon Guy Self. Don Gilet stars as consultant anaesthetist and later, consultant general surgeon Jesse Law. Chizzy Akudolu featured as specialist registrar of cardiothoracic surgery and later, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Mo Effanga. Bob Barrett appeared as Sacha Levy, the clinical skills tutor and specialist registrar, specialising in general surgery, who is later promoted to consultant general surgeon. James Anderson starred as cardiothoracic specialist registrar Oliver Valentine, while Joe McFadden portrayed Raf di Lucca, a specialist registrar of general surgery. Rob Ostlere appeared as CT2 doctor Arthur Digby, while Camilla Arfwedson and David Ames continued their roles as F2 doctors, and later CT1 doctors Zosia March and Dominic Copeland. Eleanor Fanyinka featured as F1 doctor, and later F2 doctor Morven Shreve (later credited as Morven Digby). Alex Walkinshaw starred as AAU ward manager Adrian Fletcher, while Kaye Wragg appeared as staff nurse and transplant co-ordinator Essie Harrison. Niamh Walsh portrayed staff nurse Cara Martinez, while Petra Letang featured as healthcare assistant and later, student nurse Adele Effanga. Additionally, Ben Hull and Carli Norris continued their semi-regular roles as Derwood "Mr T" Thompson, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, and agency nurse Fran Reynolds.
Norris departed the serial in episode 11 at the conclusion of Fran's storyline. Letang made her final appearance as Adele in episode 25 after over two years in the role. Gilet also departed the serial and Jesse made his final appearance in episode 27. Hull temporarily departed the serial in episode 31, although returned in episode 48. Ostlere opted to quit his role as Arthur, with producers making the decision to kill off his character. The actor decided to leave to pursue new challenges, but stated the decision was "difficult". Arthur departed in episode 35 when he died following a battle with terminal cancer. Walsh left her role as Cara after appearing on the serial for a year. The character departed in episode 37.