BBC's Holby City is coming to an end tonight after 23 years on screen. The drama series, which follows the highs and lows of staff and patients on the wards of fictional Holby City hospital, will air its final ever episode on Tuesday night.
Since the programme began in 1999, the hospital soap has been popular with BBC viewers and has run for 23 series. The first series began with an original cast of 11 main actors including Waterloo Road's Angela Griffin, former EastEnders actor Michael French and Manchester actor Ian Curtis, who each eventually left the show.
Throughout its 23 years on the BBC, characters have been introduced and written out with cast members including Patsy Kensit, Rosie Marcel, Bob Barrett, John Michie and the longest-serving cast member Hugh Quarshie.
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On June 2 2021, the BBC released a statement to announce that Holby City had been cancelled, and its final episode would be broadcast in March 2022. The 'difficult' decision was made as part of the broadcaster's plans to make more programmes to serve across the country.
The full statement read: “We are incredibly proud of Holby City but it’s with great sadness that we are announcing that after 23 years, the show will end on screen in March of next year.
“We sometimes have to make difficult decisions to make room for new opportunities and as part of the BBC’s commitment to make more programmes across the UK, we have taken the difficult decision to bring the show to a close in order to reshape the BBC’s drama slate to better reflect, represent and serve all parts of the country.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the amazing team at BBC Studios and all the cast and crew who have been involved in the show since 1999.”
During its time on screen Holby City has been nominated for more than 100 television awards and has won 10 awards including the 2008 British Academy Television Award for Best Continuing Drama. Its most recent series' have consistently drawn over four million viewers per week.
The show being axed caused a backlash from Holby City viewers and past and present cast members. Fans of the show launched a petition to save the soap, which reached more than 30,000 signatures in a matter of days - but sadly this wasn't enough to change the BBC's decision.
David Ames, who has played surgeon Dominic Copeland since 2013, was on Lorraine on Tuesday morning discussing the show being axed. The actor revealed that both he and his cast members had 'absolutely no idea' that the show was going to end.
David told Lorraine that the cast are slowly coming to terms with the news as it came as a shock to them.
"We had absolutely no idea. Absolutely none. I had a brief text chat with Russell T Davies about this and he said normally you hear a little rumbling somewhere or somebody will know something, but no one knew a thing," David said.
Ahead of the last ever and 1,102nd episode airing tonight, fans of the show have taken to social media to share their sadness.
"I am genuinely going to miss holby so much after tonight I have watched Holby City since I was 4 year old thanks for all the great story lines," Gemma wrote on Twitter.
"After almost a quarter of a century during which more than 1,100 episodes have gone out an era ends tonight. Tuesday evenings are never going to be the same without that title music soundtracking," another penned.
"So many important storylines tackled sensitively which raised the profile of issues that needed to be raised. The actors obviously bought in and really cared. Extremely sorry to see #Holbycity finish for reasons that didn’t hold up, in my opinion," wrote Helen.
The final episode of Holby City will air on BBC One on Tuesday, March 29 at 7:50pm.
