Casualty

Casualty is the long running hospital drama set in the Emergency Department of Holby City Hospital. It is one of the longest running British television shows, having been on air for almost 30 years. Casulaty's sister show, Holby City, has been on air since 1999 and has aired almost 800 episodes across 17 series, whereas Casualty had only aired 400 by the end of its 17th series. This is due to the fact that earlier series of Casualty contained far fewer episodes when every since the 4th in Holby City has contained 52.

Casualty's exterior shots were mainly filmed outside the Ashely Down Centre in Bristol from 1986 until 2002 when they moved to the Centre of Bristol for just over 9 years. Then in 2011 Casualty celebrated its 25th birthday following that for the Bristol finale they filmed the ED catching fire and exploding. After 25 years in Bristol, Casualty moved to its new home at the Roath Lock Studios in Cardiff where it is currently filmed today.

Series
Casualty has been on air since 1986. It currently features twenty-nine series. Derek Thompson who portrays Charlie Fairhead is the only cast member to have been in Casualty since the start and continues to play him today.

The programme is usually transmitted on Saturday nights, although for a period in the late 1980s and early '90s it switched to Fridays. The first two series each consisted of 15 episodes; series 3 ran for 10 episodes (although one of those episodes was postponed following the death of its guest star, Roy Kinnear); series 4, 5 and 6 were 12, 13, and 15 episodes long respectively. The final episode of series 6, which focused on a plane crash, was postponed until February 1992, after being initially scheduled for transmission on 20 December 1991 - one day before the 3rd anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster.

When the show moved back to Saturday nights in September 1992, the series length was extended to 24 episodes per year, and placed in a pre-watershed slot at approximately 8pm. This initially caused some controversy due to the graphic and controversial nature of some of the storylines. In 1997-8, the episode number was increased again, with 26 episodes (including two 75-minute specials) making up series 12. Subsequent series each saw an increase in episodes; series 13 ran for 28 episodes, series 14 ran for 30 episodes, series 15 ran for 36 episodes, series 16 and 17 ran for 40 episodes and series 18 ran for 46 episodes. Since 2004, popularity of the show resulted in a switch from a traditional seasonal format (which had progressed from three months in its early years to around seven months by 2001) to an almost year-round production and transmission, as each series from series 19 (2004/5) to 25 (2010/11) has lasted for 48 episodes. However, this figure was dropped to 42 for series 26, with no summer break, which was related to production moving from Bristol to Cardiff. Series 27 consists of 44 episodes – an increase of 2 episodes on the previous series and returned to 48 for series 28. In addition, from series 26, the show also began broadcasting in August of their respective years, rather than start in September.

Current cast

 * See also: Current characters of Casualty


 * Amanda Mealing as Connie Beauchamp, the Clinical Lead of Holby ED
 * Derek Thompson as Charlie Fairhead, an Emergency Nurse Practitioner
 * Chloe Howman as Rita Freeman, the Clinical Nurse Manager
 * William Beck as Dylan Keogh, a consultant
 * Jaye Griffiths as Elle Gardner, a consultant
 * Richard Winsor as Caleb "Cal" Knight, a registrar
 * George Rainsford as Ethan Hardy, a registrar
 * Crystal Yu as Lily Chao, a registrar
 * Charles Dale as Big Mac, a healthcare assistant
 * Amanda Henderson as Robyn Miller, a staff nurse
 * Jamie Davis as Max Walker, a porter
 * Tony Marshall as Noel Garcia, a receptionist
 * Azuka Oforka as Louise Tyler, a staff nurse
 * Michael Stevenson as Iain Dean, a paramedic
 * Lloyd Everitt as Jez Andrews, a paramedic
 * Charles Venn as Jacob Masters, a senior staff nurse
 * Jason Durr as David Hide, a staff nurse

List of episodes

 * Main article: List of episodes