Holby City (series 2)
Encyclopedia
The second series of the British
medical drama
television series Holby City
commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One
on 25 November 1999, and concluded on 9 March 2000.
, and moved from Tuesdays to Thursday nights. The series featured an ensemble cast of characters in the medical profession. Returning from the show's first series were George Irving
as consultant
Anton Meyer
, Michael French and Dawn McDaniel
as registrars
Nick Jordan and Kirstie Collins, Lisa Faulkner
as senior house officer
Victoria Merrick, Sarah Preston
and Angela Griffin
as ward sisters Karen Newburn and Jasmine Hopkins, Nicola Stephenson
as nurse Julie Fitzjohn, and Ian Curtis
as senior staff nurse Ray Sykes. The series also introduced Clive Mantle
as general surgical
consultant Mike Barratt, Jan Pearson
as ward sister Kath Shaughnessy, Jeremy Edwards
as Kath's son, healthcare assistant Danny Shaughnessy, and Thusitha Jayasundera
as general surgical registrar Tash Bandara. Mantle had previously played the same character in Casualty
. French departed from the show during the course of the series, and Preston and Curtis did not return for series three
. French attributed his departure to the programme becoming "uninteresting and formulaic", commenting: "There should be drama on television which is constantly challenging the audience. Not what the big bosses think will bring in the ratings. Someone has got to be brave and revolutionary." The series also featured a number of guest-stars in patient roles, including Paul Copley
and Annette Badland
.
Gub Neal called for the BBC to cease production of its drama programmes. Neal highlighted Holby City as an example of the station's "safe" programming, denouncing what he perceived to be the abandonment of quality productions in favour of star-led series and "an endless soup of indistinctive programmes". The Daily Mail
Jaci Stephens echoed Gub's concerns, writing that the excessive salaries paid to star-names had resulted in a dilution of overall talent, and the rise of "shallow, cliche-ridden drama, the success of which is dependent upon little more than an undemanding audience's lack of intellectual ambition." Stephens wrote that: "Nowhere is this more obvious than in Holby City, where doctors and nurses outnumber patients by about 25 to one." She criticised the storyline which saw Kirstie potentially infected with HIV
following a needle stick injury, contrasting it negatively to similar storyline on Chicago Hope
. Stephens concluded that the series was just "sentimental, simplistic tosh."
Reviewing "Search for the Hero", The Guardian
Nancy Banks-Smith
commented on the series' casting: "I had the uneasy sensation that I had met half these people before in assorted soap operas. If I am having an emergency Caesarean in economy class, the last person I want to see at the other end of the cleverly improvised coathanger is Cindy's
fancy man from EastEnders
." Fellow Guardian critic Adam Sweeting criticised the series' writing, observing: "In Holby, no cliché need ever fear being denied admittance." Natasha Joffe too was critical of the series' writing, opining that Holby City seemed "a bit soggy" following Nick's departure, and criticising the "Casualty-esque love of didactic plot mirroring" between the doctor and patient storylines.
By February 2000, Holby City had become the only new drama series under BBC One controller Peter Salmon to average more than 9 million viewers. The series saw Griffin win the "Best Actress" award at the 2000 Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards
for her role as Jasmine.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
medical drama
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
television series Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 25 November 1999, and concluded on 9 March 2000.
Production
Following its first series run of nine 50 minute episodes, the second series of Holby City ran for an extended 16 hour-long episodes. The series aired on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, and moved from Tuesdays to Thursday nights. The series featured an ensemble cast of characters in the medical profession. Returning from the show's first series were George Irving
George Irving (English actor)
George Irving is a British actor who is probably most famous for playing Anton Meyer in Holby City from 1999 to 2002...
as consultant
Consultant (medicine)
In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior doctor who has completed all of his or her specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen specialty...
Anton Meyer
Anton Meyer
Anton Meyer is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City, played by actor George Irving. He appeared in the series from its first episode, broadcast on 12 January 1999, until series four, episode 46, broadcast on 20 August 2002. His role in the show is that of consultant...
, Michael French and Dawn McDaniel
Dawn McDaniel
Dawn McDaniel is a British actress who has played Kirstie Collins in Holby City, and she has appeared in Soldier Soldier, Murphy's Law and Doctors----Other work includes* LIFE BEGINS Granada* MURPHY'S LAW BBC....
as registrars
Specialist registrar
A Specialist Registrar or SpR is a doctor in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland who is receiving advanced training in a specialist field of medicine in order eventually to become a consultant...
Nick Jordan and Kirstie Collins, Lisa Faulkner
Lisa Faulkner
Lisa Tamsin Faulkner is an English actress and television personality.-Early life:Faulkner was educated at Tiffin Girls' School, Kingston upon Thames.When Faulkner was 16, her mother, Julie, died of cancer...
as senior house officer
Senior house officer
A senior house officer is a junior doctor undergoing training within a certain speciality in the British National Health Service or in the Republic of Ireland. SHOs are supervised by consultants and registrars, who oversee their training and are their designated clinical supervisors...
Victoria Merrick, Sarah Preston
Sarah Preston
Sarah Preston , is an English actress, who is best known for playing Karen Newburn in Holby City, Celia Cobb in Doctors, and Amanda Parry in EastEnders....
and Angela Griffin
Angela Griffin
Angela Griffin is a British actress and television presenter.-Acting career:She appeared in the popular long-running British soap operas Emmerdale and most famously in Coronation Street as Fiona Middleton from 1993 to 1998...
as ward sisters Karen Newburn and Jasmine Hopkins, Nicola Stephenson
Nicola Stephenson
Nicola Stephenson is an English actress. She is known mainly for her roles in television, which include Margaret Clemence in Brookside, Julie Fitzjohn/Bradford in Holby City, Suzie Davidson in Clocking Off, Jackie in ITV's Christmas Lights/Northern Lights/City Lights, and Sarah Williams in BBC's...
as nurse Julie Fitzjohn, and Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis (actor)
Ian Curtis is a British actor, writer and director who is better known for his lead roles in Holby City where he played Ray Sykes and Soldier Soldier in which he played Corporal Mark Hobbs...
as senior staff nurse Ray Sykes. The series also introduced Clive Mantle
Clive Mantle
-Early life and education:Mantle was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. He was a pupil at Kimbolton School, Cambridgeshire and a chorister in St John's College Choir for four years...
as general surgical
General surgery
General surgery, despite its name, is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal organs, e.g., intestines including esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland . They also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft...
consultant Mike Barratt, Jan Pearson
Jan Pearson
Jan Pearson is an English actress currently known for playing Karen Hollins in the BBC's daytime soap Doctors which she joined in February 2009. In 2010, Jan won the award of Best On-Screen Partnership for her role as Karen Hollins alongside with Chris Walker.-Early life:Born and brought up in...
as ward sister Kath Shaughnessy, Jeremy Edwards
Jeremy Edwards
Jeremy Edwards is an English actor and television presenter, who has appeared in the TV shows Hollyoaks and Holby City...
as Kath's son, healthcare assistant Danny Shaughnessy, and Thusitha Jayasundera
Thusitha Jayasundera
Thusitha Jayasundera is a Sri Lankan actress based in the United Kingdom.Thusitha played Tushura 'Tash' Bandara in the BBC Hospital Drama Holby City for three years. She later played Ramani DeCosta in the ITV1 police drama The Bill....
as general surgical registrar Tash Bandara. Mantle had previously played the same character in Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
. French departed from the show during the course of the series, and Preston and Curtis did not return for series three
Holby City (series 3)
The third series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 5 October 2000, and concluded on 6 June 2001.-Production:...
. French attributed his departure to the programme becoming "uninteresting and formulaic", commenting: "There should be drama on television which is constantly challenging the audience. Not what the big bosses think will bring in the ratings. Someone has got to be brave and revolutionary." The series also featured a number of guest-stars in patient roles, including Paul Copley
Paul Copley
Paul Mackriell Copley is an award-winning English actor and voice-over artist.-Early life:Copley was born in Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, and grew up beside a dairy farm there. His father, Harold, was involved with local amateur dramatic productions, as were the rest of his family...
and Annette Badland
Annette Badland
Annette Badland is an English actress best known for her work in children's television.-Biography:Her training took place at East 15 Acting School, London...
.
Reception
On 22 November 1999, three days before the series première, then director of Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
Gub Neal called for the BBC to cease production of its drama programmes. Neal highlighted Holby City as an example of the station's "safe" programming, denouncing what he perceived to be the abandonment of quality productions in favour of star-led series and "an endless soup of indistinctive programmes". The Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
Jaci Stephens echoed Gub's concerns, writing that the excessive salaries paid to star-names had resulted in a dilution of overall talent, and the rise of "shallow, cliche-ridden drama, the success of which is dependent upon little more than an undemanding audience's lack of intellectual ambition." Stephens wrote that: "Nowhere is this more obvious than in Holby City, where doctors and nurses outnumber patients by about 25 to one." She criticised the storyline which saw Kirstie potentially infected with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
following a needle stick injury, contrasting it negatively to similar storyline on Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...
. Stephens concluded that the series was just "sentimental, simplistic tosh."
Reviewing "Search for the Hero", The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Nancy Banks-Smith
Nancy Banks-Smith
Nancy Banks-Smith is a British television critic; she began writing for The Guardian in 1969. In 1970 she was recommended for the Order of the British Empire, which she declined.*1951- 1955: Northern Daily Telegraph, reporter...
commented on the series' casting: "I had the uneasy sensation that I had met half these people before in assorted soap operas. If I am having an emergency Caesarean in economy class, the last person I want to see at the other end of the cleverly improvised coathanger is Cindy's
Cindy Beale
Cindy Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Collins.Cindy always had an eye for the lotharios of Walford and despite trying to settle down repeatedly with the more reliable Ian Beale, she was unable to remain faithful to him. She had a selfish...
fancy man from EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
." Fellow Guardian critic Adam Sweeting criticised the series' writing, observing: "In Holby, no cliché need ever fear being denied admittance." Natasha Joffe too was critical of the series' writing, opining that Holby City seemed "a bit soggy" following Nick's departure, and criticising the "Casualty-esque love of didactic plot mirroring" between the doctor and patient storylines.
By February 2000, Holby City had become the only new drama series under BBC One controller Peter Salmon to average more than 9 million viewers. The series saw Griffin win the "Best Actress" award at the 2000 Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards
EMMA
EMMA is an Organization which raises awareness of discrimination through media campaigns, social networking, and the EMMA Awards....
for her role as Jasmine.
Episodes
"Episode #" refers to the episode's number in the overall series, whereas "Series #" refers to the episode's number in this particular series.| Episode # | Series # | Title | Director | Writer | Original airdate | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|
External links
- Holby City series 2 (1999) at BBC Online
- Holby City series 2 (2000) at BBC Online
- Holby City series 2 at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
- Holby City series 2 at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...