Country of origin United Kingdom Original network BBC One
BBC One HD | No. of episodes 46 | |
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Original release 30 August 2014 (2014-08-30) – 23 August 2015 (2015-08-23) | ||
The twenty-ninth series of Casualty began airing on 30 August 2014, one week after the end of the previous series. The series consisted of 46 episodes, and concluded on 23 August 2015. The series saw the shock death of Jeff Collier (Matt Bardock), as well as the departures of long-standing characters Tess Bateman (Suzanne Packer) and Martin Ashford (Patrick Robinson). This series also welcomed Honey Wright (Chelsee Healey), Jacob Masters (Charles Venn) and Grace Beauchamp (Emily Carey); as well as the returns of Maggie Coldwell (Susan Cookson), Sam Bateman (Luke Bailey) and Ben Harding (Mark Letheren).
Contents
Overview
The twenty-ninth series of Casualty featured a cast of characters working in the emergency department of Holby City Hospital. The majority of the cast from the previous series continued to appear in this series. Amanda Mealing appeared as the clinical lead and a consultant in emergency medicine Connie Beauchamp, whilst Patrick Robinson appeared as consultant Martin "Ash" Ashford. George Rainsford and Richard Winsor portrayed specialist registrars Ethan Hardy and Caleb "Cal" Knight. Crystal Yu starred as a doctor undergoing the first and later, second year of core training Lily Chao. Derek Thompson continued his role of senior charge nurse and emergency nurse practitioner Charlie Fairhead, whilst Suzanne Packer appeared as clinical nurse manager and later, ward sister Tess Bateman. Chloe Howman portrayed staff nurse and later, senior staff nurse and clinical nurse manager Rita Freeman, whilst Amanda Henderson and Lee Mead starred as staff nurses Robyn Miller and Ben "Lofty" Chiltern. Charles Dale portrayed emergency care assistant and later, healthcare assistant Mackenzie "Big Mac" Casualty. Jamie Davis continued his role of porter Max Walker, whilst Tony Marshall and Azuka Oforka appeared as receptionists Noel Garcia and Louise Tyler. Matt Bardock and Gemma Atkinson starred as paramedics Jeff Collier and Tamzin Bayle, with the latter appearing in a recurring capacity.
Chelsee Healey's casting in the role of barista Honey Wright was announced on 19 May 2014. She was billed as having "big hair and a big personality". She made her first appearance in episode six, broadcast on 11 October. A trailer previewing "dramatic Winter episodes" was released on 4 October 2014 including the introduction of Connie's daughter Grace Beauchamp. Emily Carey's agency revealed that she had been cast in the role of Grace. Grace made her first appearance during episode twelve, broadcast on 29 November 2014. Frances Tomelty and Sarah Jayne Dunn were announced to be joining the show in August 2014 by series producer Erika Hossington. Tomelty's agent and Dunn's official website revealed they had been cast as Audrey and Taylor respectively. Audrey is introduced as the grandmother of Grace, whilst Taylor is a love interest for Cal Knight. Both characters made their first appearance in episode thirteen, broadcast on 6 December 2014. Carey and Tomelty departed from the series in episode eighteen, broadcast on 24 January 2015, whilst Dunn departed in episode twenty-nine, broadcast on 18 April 2015, at the conclusion of the storyline which saw her revealed to be conning Cal. Charles Venn was announced to be joining the cast as nurse Jacob Masters. Venn described his casting as "a pleasure and honour", whilst Kent said he was "thrilled" to welcome Venn. Venn's debut episode was broadcast on 18 July 2015, a week later than originally planned.
Bardock announced his decision to leave his role of Jeff Collier on 30 June 2014, following seven years on the show. His exit aired in episode five, broadcast on 4 October 2014 when he was killed in a car explosion whilst saving Ash's life. Atkinson announced that following Bardock's decision to leave the show, she would also be departing. She revealed that she had been introduced for one storyline and would depart at the conclusion of the storyline. Tamzin departed in episode six, broadcast on 11 October 2014 when she chose to resign from her job in the aftermath of Jeff's death. Robinson made an off-screen departure from his role of Martin "Ash" Ashford in episode fifteen, broadcast on 3 January 2015, having made his final appearance in the previous episode. Packer's decision to leave her role of Tess Bateman was revealed in April 2015, although the news was not confirmed by the BBC or Packer. Tess' exit storyline saw the guest appearance of Luke Bailey, who portrayed Tess' son and former healthcare assistant Sam Bateman, who asked her to move to Leeds with him and his son, Charlie. They departed in episode forty-four, broadcast on 15 August 2015, but Tess made a cameo appearance in the following episode.
Jane Hazlegrove and Sunetra Sarker temporarily departed from their respective roles of paramedic Kathleen "Dixie" Dixon and consultant Zoe Hanna in the previous series. Hazlegrove returned in episode one, broadcast on 30 August 2014, while Sarker returned in episode eight, broadcast on 25 October 2014 accompanied by a "top secret" returning character teased by Hossington. The returning character was revealed to be Dylan Keogh (William Beck) during the episode's broadcast. Episode six, broadcast on 11 October 2014, saw the return of Jamie Collier (Daniel Anthony) and Iain Dean (Michael Stevenson) who both appeared for Jeff's funeral. Stevenson, who previously appeared on the show for six months in 2013, returned to the show as a regular cast member. Hossington revealed that Iain and Dixie would begin a partnership which would be "fun" to create. Mark Letheren made guest appearances in episodes eleven, twelve, thirteen and forty-six as counsellor Ben Harding, a role he has played on-off since 2007. Susan Cookson reprised her role of former consultant Maggie Coldwell in episode twenty-six for a non-canon storyline which saw Maggie invite Zoe to join as an Air Ambulance doctor. Gregory Forsyth-Foreman returned to the show as Louis Fairhead in episode thirty-two for a storyline which saw Louis become addicted to drugs.
Hossington confirmed in her interview with Digital Spy that Guy Self (John Michie) and Elliot Hope (Paul Bradley), both regular characters in Holby City, would appear in the series. She noted that Guy would "pop up quite a lot", but despite this he only appeared in episode seven. Elliot appeared in episode one. Following their returns to Holby City in October 2014 and April 2015 respectively, Michael Spence (Hari Dhillon) and Henrik Hanssen (Guy Henry) made appearances in Casualty. A love interest for Robyn Miller, Zach Manley (Aleksy Komorowski) was introduced in episode thirty-one. He departed in episode thirty-eight at the conclusion of his storyline. The mother of Max Walker, Greta Miller (Kazia Pelka), was introduced in episode forty-one. She departed in episode forty-six, having appeared in the Red Button special, "Mrs Walker-To-Be". Matthew Marsh guest appeared in episode forty-three as the father of Dylan Keogh, Brian Carroll alongside Vicky Hall who appeared as Brian's partner Hazel Leyton.
Main characters
Recurring and guest characters
Production
Erika Hossington served as the Series Producer. Oliver Kent was the Executive Producer for the series. The theme tune updated January 2014 remained the same, however, the titles had been modified over the series as characters had joined or left. In July 2014, it was announced that the series would feature three standalone episodes, which were independent from the main story arc and did not make any references to ongoing storylines. The first standalone episode aired in November. It was a murder mystery that centred around Dr Chao and featured a guest appearance from Gary Lucy. The second aired on 28 March 2015 and centred around Dr Hanna. The third and final episode aired on 11 July 2015, and saw Dr Hardy turn detective after a mysterious suicide case.
Casualty scriptwriter Mark Catley, who wrote the final standalone episode: "Holby Sin City" received huge backlash for his episode which aired on 11 July 2015. Sinister tweets were sent to Catley by fans of the show, expressing their displeasure at the episode.
Following the death of Jeff Collier, and positive response to his send-off, Casualty promised more on-screen surprises for its viewers. Kent commented on the decision to air more surprises, saying: "We know that people like spoilers, but we also know that people like surprises, so that's really set us off." After the death of popular Paramedic Jeff Collier, Casualty bosses announced their plans to air two exclusive webisodes, which were titled "Radio Holby". The first episode aired after episode seven, with the second episode airing after the eighth episode. "Radio Holby" followed established character Noel Garcia as he went on an pursued his dream of being a DJ. Hossington commented on the decision to air "Radio Holby" saying: "Everyone who worked on the webisodes stepped up a level, and with their passion, enthusiasm and dedication totally focused on making the best finished project. The end result is a real treat for our website visitors and fans."
On 12 November 2014, it was announced ex-Casualty star Rebekah Gibbs (Nina Farr) had died from cancer. Upon the news of Gibbs's death, a decision was made to dedicate that week's episode to her. The episode aired on 15 November 2014, and was called "Deadfall".
On 13 February 2015, it was announced ex-EastEnders star Chucky Venn would join Casualty as a new nurse named Jacob Masters. He made his first appearance on 18 July 2015, a week later than originally planned. Upon the casting of Jacob, Venn commented about his feelings upon the casting, saying: "It's truly a pleasure and honour to be part of Casualty as it's such a successful long standing medical drama."
On 10 August 2015, Casualty was criticised over a patient storyline, in which Dylan Keogh's father, Brian Carroll crashed his lorry after blacking out at the wheel. Carroll was diagnosed with narcolepsy, but refused to tell the DVLA about his diagnosis. This was branded "deeply unfortunate" and "too similar" to the real-life 2014 Glasgow bin lorry crash. The Daily Mirror picked out four similarities in which the fictional lorry crash was parallel to the real-life incident.
Casualty also announced plans to air a dramatic episode set in Romania. The episode was named "Exile" and aired on 16 May 2015. The episode itself was filmed in Bucharest, Romania. The storyline revolved around Charlie and his drug-addict son Louie, who found himself in hospital after being beaten up. Connie also joined Charlie on his dramatic adventure. Thompson commented on his storyline, saying: "I had a friend whose daughter was a drug addict. I lived with second-hand experience of what it was like for him to experience that." Executive Producer Oliver Kent also commented on the decision to take Casualty away from its filming location, saying: "We get a bit nervous about taking Casualty out of its precinct because it can look a bit odd to see really established characters away from their normal environment."
Reception
On 17 March 2015, Casualty was awarded the Best Soap and Continuing Drama accolade at the RTS Awards ceremony 2013-2014. The soap outdid its competitors: Coronation Street and EastEnders. Royal Television Society also commented on the show's win, saying that Casualty was: "...a show that had regained exceptional form. A strong sense of the community within the show never detracted from the individual journeys the characters went on...an excellent drama." Casualty was also long listed for Best Family Drama by TV Choice Awards. Sister show Holby City was also nominated. It was announced on 30 June 2015, that both Casualty and Holby City had been shortlisted in the TV Choice Awards. Casualty was longlisted under the category Best Drama at the Inside Soap Awards. After beating the longlist, Casualty was shortlisted it's category.