Yahoo News Holby City's 20th anniversary - everything you need to know
If you didn't know already, Holby City is marking its 20th anniversary next year – and the show has some very exciting plans up its sleeve.
Instead of pulling out all the stops on one big episode, Holby will be peppering its celebrations throughout the year, meaning fans should keep their eyes peeled for big returns, Easter eggs, special standalone episodes and much, much more. With the Holby year-long birthday bash due to kick off as soon as January, here is everything we know so far:
1. There'll be a special standalone episode in January
Holby City will be beginning their big year of celebrations on Wednesday January 2, with a special standalone episode involving three of the show’s longest running characters. Split over two episodes (the second part will air the following week), the story follows Ric, Jac, and Sacha as they head off to an awards ceremony in the country.
Of course, the trip is far from straight-forward and soon descends into disaster when they bump into some faces from their past. The episode has been directed by Tracy Rooney, who worked on Sacha’s mental-health episode, and has been billed as a perfectly pitched combination of funny, sad and celebratory.
Speaking about the standalone episode, Bob Barrett – who plays Sacha – explained: It’s been a tough year in the hospital and they wanted a feel-good episode which was about friendship and about people in adversity but coming through it it and bonding.
“It’s a disastrous trip – Sacha falls in a swimming pool, Ric has a fight with Denis, Jac is ill and they are all bitching and arguing with each other. But somehow, through all of that, they come together on New Year’s Eve and have an amazing time. The end up really bonding and realising they are lucky to have each other. The relationships are all reunited which is fantastic.
"There are some very funny scenes where they are all singing in the car. There is some real knock-about comedy, but it’s also very moving.”
2. There are at least two big returns
In very exciting news forHolby fans, the show is planning to pay homage to its 20th-anniversary year with some nostalgic nods to the past. This means there will be lots of big character comebacks peppered throughout the year – with the first two already confirmed.
Ric will be getting two blasts from his past in the show’s standalone episode at the start of next year, when he’s confronted by his former wife Lola and one of his biggest professional rivals, Tom Campbell-Gore.
Doctor Who star Sharon D Clarke is reprising her long-running Holby role as Ric’s ex-wife Lola for one episode, which will prompt her husband to look back at the cold reality of his years at the hospital.
Teasing the estranged couple’s reunion, Hugh Quarshie, who plays Ric, said: “When Lola comes back, they seemed to have enjoyed a night together. There’s no graphic description of anything happening – it’s quite clear that something has happened and there’s some suggestion that this has rekindled some desire in Ric. There is a twist in that, which I won’t share – it’s rather amusing. When Ric is wondering if they’ve made a terrible mistake in letting her go, she looks at him quizzically. Let’s just say that it’s a potential Berena moment."
And as if a run-in with his ex weren’t stressful enough, Ric will also have to face off for funding with long-time rival Tom (Denis Lawson) at the Innovation Conference.
Ric added: “The scenes with Tom Campbell-Gore are almost bittersweet because he’s married a much younger woman who’s giving him a lot of grief and Ric feels his pain.”
3. Expect even more returns throughout the year...and some Easter eggs
If Tom and Lola’s return isn’t exciting enough, fans can expect to see more familiar faces popping onto the Keller and Darwin Wards over the course of the year. Keen to mark the momentous milestone in a different way to its sister show Casualty, Holby will be filling the next twelve months with a number of special treats instead.
We already know about Zosia is also due to make a comeback at some stage, but there could be some proper golden oldies thrown into the mix at some point too.
Happy 20th Birthday to @BBCHolbyCity! Watch this space for guest appearances from familiar faces this year including Sharon D. Clarke and Denis Lawson. pic.twitter.com/6YpBLQsO27
- BBC One (@BBCOne) December 11, 2018
Holby City’s executive producer Simon Harper, explained: “We aren’t having an anniversary episode as much. Holby is Holby and Casualty is Casualty. Casualty have the budget to do a movie-style anniversary episode with a helicopter crashing into the hospital, whereas Holby is intensely more character and script driven. What we’re giving the audience is a whole anniversary year of treats which celebrate the new, but also pay homage to the old – the show’s heritage and history.”
He added: “Other returns I can’t confirm yet but there are some very big ones I am talking to. We will pepper them throughout the year.I am hoping to get some returning characters for a special episode written by our creator Tony further down the line.”
4. There'll be lots of new faces
Keen to embrace the new as well as the old, viewers will also see an influx of fresh blood entering the realms of Holby early next year. First up is Ange, who arrives during the show’s standalone episodes to open a swanky new unit. Played by Dawn Steele, Ange will be taking centre stage in several big stories throughout the year – especially when she’s joined by her daughter Chloe and her boyfriend Evan.
With Olivier Award nominee Amy Lennox and former EastEnders star Jack Ryder, arriving hot on the heels of Dawn’s debut, there is no shortage of new faces and this clan will be taking the show in an exciting new direction.
5. There are going to be more experimental episodes…
With both Holby and Casualty getting more experimental in recent years, it probably won’t come as much surprise that there are more plans to deviate from the show's house style next year.
Simon said: “You’ll see some episodes to celebrate our anniversary, sometimes playing with our format – which we did very successfully with the Sacha mental-health episode.”
6. …And more collaborations with Casualty
We’ve already beenpromised some very exciting collaborations from Casualty boss Lucy Raffety, but Simon added further fuel to the theories when discussing what else fans could expect from Holby’s 20th birthday.
He teased: “There will be more collaborations with Casualty – with something very exciting coming up in the spring! And the show will, of course, remain true to the question that has always summarised it – how do you balance work and personal life in a profession that demands everything in the pressured landscape of the modern NHS.
7. There's a big episode planned for November
Holby’s anniversary festivities will run all the way through to next November, with a very special instalment planned on Bonfire night to coincide with the the show’s 1000th episode.
“Bonfire night next year will actually be Holby’s 1000th episode", Simon explained. “That will be a big episode, rooted in present storylines.”
Holby City continues tonight (Tuesday December 11) at 8pm on BBC One.
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