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As in life, so in drama. the cast and crew of Casualty have to adhere to social distancing rules.
As in life, so in drama. the cast and crew of Casualty have to adhere to social distancing rules. Photograph: Alistair Heap/BBC
As in life, so in drama. the cast and crew of Casualty have to adhere to social distancing rules. Photograph: Alistair Heap/BBC

'Like walking into hell': Casualty and Holby City tap into the Covid crisis

This article is more than 3 years old

The last time Holby City made news was when it donated its ventilators to the NHS. Now, along with its sister show, its latest episodes feature topical coverage of a health system in peril

On 10 November, a stark, uncompromising episode of Holby City, set at the peak of the first Covid spike, is set to air. In it, staff nurse Donna Jackson likens her work to “walking into hell each day”, while clinical lead Ric Griffin expresses concern that the hospital is “not even close” to being prepared. CEO Max McGerry, meanwhile, is seen admitting to her staff that the PPE they are wearing is four years past its use-by date.

So profound has been the impact of the pandemic on the NHS, that when Casualty and Holby City resumed production recently, big changes had to be made. Pre-existing scripts for BBC One’s perennial medical dramas were binned, and planned storylines jettisoned as the focus shifted on to capturing life at Holby City hospital in the midst of a Covid crisis.

“There was no chance of using the material that had been written because it wouldn’t have felt relevant,” says the BBC’s head of continuing drama, Kate Oates. “The world has changed and Covid has affected both the NHS and the way people feel about their jobs.”

As for Holby, Jo Martin – who plays McGerry – described the PPE scene as “awful to film. But it was real. We know that there were real-life hospital bosses having to tell their workers that they weren’t going to be looked after. You could hardly believe it happened in this day and age, but it did. What we’re showing is the sheer exhaustion of the staff and their feelings of being left out there on their own. It was a complete debacle.”

All of which raises the question: just how political are such dramas allowed to be? Casualty (a return date for which has yet to be confirmed, although shooting has also resumed) was conceived in the mid-80s as a response to Thatcherite economics. And while crusading characters such as emergency department nurse Charlie Fairhead and Holby’s Griffin are still occasionally seen tub-thumping, the focus in recent years has been on sudsy melodrama rather than social commentary.

As a result, the two programmes are now almost taken for granted, certainly by the majority of critics. But is this a chance for Casualty and Holby City to once again become state-of-the-nation shows? And how feasible is this when the new director general of the BBC, Tim Davie, is making impartiality his number one priority?

“I have talked to Tim about this,” says Oates, “and he recognises that we’re a drama and that it’s OK for somebody to be making a social or political point if it’s true to character. If you don’t have the Rics of this world talking about what’s happening to the NHS, then it wouldn’t feel truthful. But if you keep making that point, not only do you stop being impartial, but it also gets a bit boring. You need balance.”

Martin says: “Strong political views are going to come through in an episode like this. You can’t just stand in the middle. It’s hard-hitting and it doesn’t flinch, but I don’t think we had a choice.”

Production on both series was halted in March, with Holby City making headlines shortly after, when it donated its supply of fully working ventilators to the NHS Nightingale hospital in London. “It would have been ridiculous for them to be sitting in a TV studio instead of being put to use,” says Oates. She will not be asking for them back now that filming has restarted and she is also keen to stress that the PPE the characters are wearing has not come at the expense of medical professionals. “It’s not from the same suppliers that the NHS uses. It would be an unpalatable irony if the costumes we were using took something away from the people who really needed them.”

It is, though, just as effective as what is currently worn in hospitals. So, on Casualty, there will be scenes set in resus in which actors can breach the BBC’s two-metre social distancing policy because the gowns they are wearing offer adequate protection. For everyone else at Casualty’s base in Cardiff or on Holby City’s set at Elstree, it is a case of being constantly reminded of the rules.In some cases, the real-life partners of actors have been drafted in to be body doubles for kissing scenes, an option that Martin is ready to embrace. “My husband would love a good on-screen snog with me and then get paid for it,” she says with a laugh. Then there is the matter of makeup, which the actors now have to apply themselves, with professional advice coming from across the studio floor. Cuts and bruises are no longer being crafted by the makeup artists either, although more severe injuries, as well as surgery closeups, are being realised – as they always have been – with prosthetics. “We’re doing all the usual operations, with blood flowing and hearts pumping,” says Martin. “We have to keep the numbers down on set, so there are a lot more dummies lying around. I keep thinking they’re supporting artistes who aren’t breathing.”

One thing Oates does not want to skimp on, though, is spectacle. After all, where would Casualty be without its pyrotechnics and disasters? She says: “Weirdly, the filming of a stunt can be easier than having one person pass a simple prop to someone else because you have more time and money to ensure that people are safe.

“There are life lessons to be learned and conversations to be had off the back of Casualty and Holby City, whether it’s about the daily hardships of NHS staff, the money they’re paid or the equipment they’re given. But hopefully, on shows like ours, we can make those social points at the same time as our heroes are seen in their best Avengers style embracing the same kind of life-or-death situations they always have.”

In a TV landscape where many productions are still in a critical condition, the fact that Oates and her team have adapted so quickly means that viewers will not be deprived of new contemporary drama that reflects the unsettling world in which we are now living. After years of being overlooked, Casualty and Holby City are about to provide an emergency service.

Holby City is on BBC One on 10 November

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