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The thirteenth series of the British medical drama television series Holby City began airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 October 2010, and ran for 52 episodes, concluding on 11 October 2011.

Episodes

Production

The series is produced by the BBC and airs on BBC One in the United Kingdom. It is 52 episodes long, a reduction on the twelfth series which ran for 55 episodes. 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 the end of the year. Prior to its HD broadcast, Holby City was produced using Panasonic P2 Varicam camcorders. Coach House Studios purchased a new Avid Unity Media Network to produce the series in HD, also upgrading the Avid Media Composers and Symphony Nitris systems to the latest software version. The series was simulcast on BBC HD beginning with the opening episode, "Shifts", and on the new BBC One HD channel from its launch in November 2010. Danielle Nagler, head of BBC HD, was pleased with the series' HD debut, which she stated was not flawless, but was a "big improvement" on standard definition.

For series thirteen, Myar Craig-Brown became Holby City's series producer, following Diana Kyle, who held the role during the previous series. Craig-Brown had worked on Holby City as a script editor since its fourth series, being promoted to story editor before departing for several years. She then re-applied for a story editor position, and was made acting series producer. The series' consultant producer and lead writer was Justin Young, who was appointed after series creator Tony McHale stood down during series twelve. Young intended to introduce a more writer-led commissioning process, with writers creating more of the theme and story of their episodes than was previously the case. Belinda Campbell initially served as the series' executive producer. In February 2011, it was announced that Holby City's founding producer Johnathan Young would return to the BBC from March, succeeding Campbell as executive producer of both Casualty and Holby City.

Cast

Overview

The series began with 16 roles receiving star billing. Connie Beauchamp (Amanda Mealing) and Elliot Hope (Paul Bradley) are consultants on the cardiothoracic surgery ward, Darwin. Ric Griffin (Hugh Quarshie), Michael Spence (Hari Dhillon) and Jac Naylor (Rosie Marcel) are consultants on the general surgery ward, Keller, while Sacha Levy (Bob Barrett) is a locum general surgery registrar. Joseph Byrne (Luke Roberts) and Greg Douglas (Edward MacLiam) are cardiothoracic registrars, and Oliver Valentine (James Anderson) is a F2 doctor working under Greg. Oliver's sister Penny (Emma Catherwood) is also an F2, and works on the Acute Assessment Unit (AAU), alongside sister Frieda Petrenko (Olga Fedori). Faye Byrne (Patsy Kensit) and Donna Jackson (Jaye Jacobs) are also ward sisters, on Darwin and Keller wards respectively, and Elizabeth Tait(La Charné Jolly) is a staff nurse on Keller. Mark Williams (Robert Powell) is the hospital's Chief Executive Officer.

Guy Henry was cast as new joint Director of Surgery and consultant general surgeon Henrik Hanssen, who arrived in the series' first episode. His character is "a bit of a mystery man", apparently sent to the hospital by the Department of Health to make budget cuts. Henry describes him as "punctilious, pedantic and passionate about his work" with a dry sense of humour, and a rival to Connie.

Tina Hobley returned as ward sister Chrissie Williams following four months maternity leave in November 2010, and used her infant son Orson to play Chrissie's son Daniel. Jimmy Akingbola joined the cast in January 2011 as general surgical registrar, Antoine Malick. Laila Rouass was cast as cardiothoracic surgical registrar Sahira Shah, appeared from February 2011. Announcing her casting, Daniel Kilkelly of media entertainment website Digital Spy described Sahira as a rival for Jac and love interest for Greg, who shares a "dark history" with Hanssen. Rouass was able to relate to the role as, like herself, Sahira is a mother attempting to balance her personal and professional lives. Campbell stated that Rouass brought a "fresh new energy" to the series and that Sahira had been a "joy to create", commenting on the character: "While on the surface she appears to be cool and calm, underneath it all, she is kicking madly just to keep afloat. It will be fascinating to explore what is really going on underneath the façade of perfection Sahira has created for herself. I'm sure her character will be someone a lot of viewers will recognise in themselves." Adam Astill was cast as consultant orthopaedic surgeon Dan Hamilton. Former Waterloo Road stars Sarah-Jane Potts and Lauren Drummond joined the cast on 7 June 2011. Potts plays senior staff nurse Eddie McKee and Drummond plays agency nurse Chantelle Lane.

Recurring characters include Holby NHS trust chairman Terence Cunningham (Roger Barclay), staff nurse Mary-Claire Carter (Niamh McGrady), consultant plastic surgeon Sunil Bhatti (Silas Carson), psychiatric registrar Sarita Dubashi (Rakhee Thakrar), agency nurse Kieran Callaghan (Barry Sloane), who served as a love interest for Donna, and Foundation House Officer 1 (F1) Lulu Hutchison (Fiona Hampton).

Several cast members departed during the course of the series. Kensit resigned from the show during its twelfth series and departed at the end of 2010, having filmed her final scenes on 8 October 2010. She stated that she had had a "fantastic time playing Faye but felt it was the right time to move on." Mealing resigned during 2010 after six years in the role of Connie. Campbell deemed Mealing "an invaluable asset" to the series, commenting: "She created an iconic character and Connie will not be forgotten. Connie will have a dramatic but heart-warming departure which will tie into the dramatic entrance of an exciting new regular character." Roberts also announced his resignation in 2010, after being cast in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He filmed his final scenes for Holby City in September 2010. Quarshie took a break from the series when Ric was written out to recuperate from his cancer treatment. Powell also departed from the series to return to working in theatre, explaining: "I've been there for six years, and that was five years longer than I ever anticipated staying, and it just struck me that it was probably time to move on and go back to roots." Jacobs left the show in March 2011, after seven years playing Donna. As the series had seen the departure of so many cast members, and the introduction of many new ones, Jacobs deemed it "a new era with a new cast", one which she was not part of, and stated that the time felt right to leave. Catherwood departed the following month, when her character Penny was killed off.

Reception

Critical response

The series' opening episode received positive reviews from critics. The Daily Mirror's Jane Simon commended Henry's debut, writing that he was "off to a head-start, carrying off the haughty, brisk arrogance of a top consultant." What's on TV selected the episode as the "Top TV" choice of the day, similarly commenting that "Henry has a ball playing Holby's new top dog, stealing all the best lines as he adds a wonderful slice of cutting humour to proceedings." The Liverpool Daily Post also selected the episode as recommended viewing for the day of broadcast. Another positive review of Hanssen came from Becky Jones of the Leicester Mercury, who deemed him "the best thing about the programme", with all of the best lines. Rebecca Jordan of OntheBox rated the episode 4/5. She enjoyed Henry's "sarcastic yet strangely affable" character, comparing him to Gregory House for his ability to diagnose patients "nearly as fast as he distributes withering one-liners." Jordan pinpointed Hanssen's appeal as being the "much-needed humour" he brought to the series, as well as the dynamic between Hanssen and Connie, writing that "the volatile rapport between him and Connie is thoroughly engaging and leaves little doubt in our minds that he will quickly become an exciting addition to the show." Jordan also enjoyed the "metaphorical genius" of depicting Faye with blood on her hands following her role in Linden's death. The following episode, "The Short Straw", was also selected as the "Top TV" choice of the day by What's on TV, who commented that "some of the script is a little heavy-handed, but Guy Henry as panto-esque axeman Henrik is particularly good fun".

Ratings

On 7 December 2010, Holby City was scheduled against the ITV soap operas Emmerdale and Coronation Street, which aired outside their usual timeslots. The episode, "Losing Game", declined by two million viewers on the previous week and attained a 14.6% share of the viewing audience, its lowest percentage since 2003.

References

General

• Titles, credits, airdates and summaries: "BBC One - Holby City, Series 13". BBC. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
• Airdates and summaries: "BBC Press Office - Programme Information". BBC Online. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
• Viewing figures: "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 19 June 2010.

Specific

1. "Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
2. "Holby City: Series 13". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
3. "Holby City: Series 12". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
4. "BBC One HD to launch Autumn 2010" (Press release). BBC. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
5. Strauss, Will (8 June 2010). "Coach House Studios upgrades for Holby in HD". Broadcast. IMAP. Retrieved 25 June 2010. Coach House Studios has bought a new Avid Unity Media Network that will be used to produce BBC1's Holby City in HD At the same time the Avid Media Composers and Symphony Nitris systems used on the BBC1 drama have also been upgraded to latest software version. Holby City is currently in production using Panasonic P2 Varicam camcorders hired from Visual Impact. It will be broadcast in HD from the autumn
6. ^ "Shifts". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
7. Laughlin, Andrew (27 October 2010). "BBC HD's Nagler on... picture quality". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi UK. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
8. ^ Craig-Brown, Myar (19 October 2010). "Holby City goes into High Definition". BBC Online. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
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11. "Continuing Drama Shadow Schemes". BBC Online. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
12. ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (7 November 2010). "Laila Rouass joins 'Holby City'". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi UK. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
13. Campbell, Lisa (9 February 2011). "Talkback drama chief heads back to Casualty". Broadcast. EMAP. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
14. "Holby City: Current Characters". BBC Online. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
15. "Harry Potter actor Guy Henry joins Holby". What's on TV. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
16. "BBC Press Office: Week 45". BBC Online. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
17. "Tina Hobley baby to be co-star". The Press Association. 28 September 2010. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
18. Kilkelly, Daniel (26 November 2010). "Exclusive: New registrar cast in 'Holby City'". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi UK. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
19. Kilkelly, Daniel (9 February 2011). "Adam Astill (Dan Hamilton, 'Holby City')". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi UK. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
20. "Actress Rakhee sworn to silence on Holby City role". Leicester Mercury. Northcliffe Media. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
21. Miles, Tina (3 December 2010). "Former Hollyoaks actor Barry Sloane speaks about his new Holby City role". Liverpool Echo. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
22. Griffin, Cheryl. "Fiona Hampton joins Holby". Holby TV News. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
23. "Patsy Kensit Strictly avoids rehearsals". STV.tv. STV Group plc. 7 October 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
24. Rollo, Sarah (13 March 2010). "Kensit quits 'Holby' to focus on marriage". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi UK. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
25. "Amanda Mealing to quit Holby City". What's on TV. 30 June 2010. Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
26. "Amanda Mealing is leaving Holby". BBC Online. 6 July 2010. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
27. "Holby's Luke wins role in Pirates of the Caribbean". What's on TV. 19 July 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
28. "Holby's Doc Hollywood". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
29. "Holby's Hugh: 'Ric has to take time out'". What's on TV. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
30. Powell, Robert (25 January 2011). "Steve Wright in the Afternoon: with Holby City actor Robert Powell and travel expert Paul Evans". Steve Wright in the Afternoon (Radio interview). Interviewed by Steve Wright; Tim Smith; Janey Lee Grace. BBC Radio 2. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
31. Simon, Jane (3 March 2011). "Holby City actress Jaye Jacobs: I was scared to leave the show but it helped me find a man". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
32. Moon, Katy (5–11 March 2011). "Sad to leave? I was sobbing on my last day". Inside Soap. Hachette Filipacchi UK: 40.
33. Simon, Jane (19 October 2010). "Holby City". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Archived from the original on 21 October 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
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36. Jones, Becky (20 October 2010). "It's a hospital pass for doctors at Holby as new boss causes a stir". Leicester Mercury. Northcliffe Media. Archived from the original on 22 October 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
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39. Plunkett, John (8 December 2010). "Holby City suffers at hands of Coronation Street and Emmerdale". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
40. Laughlin, Andrew (8 December 2010). "Frankie Boyle comedy slips below 1m". Digital Spy. Hachette Filipacchi UK. Retrieved 8 December 2010.

External links

• Holby City series 13 series 13 at BBC Online
• Holby City series 13 at the Internet Movie Database

• Holby City series
• 2010 British television seasons
• 2011 British television seasons