Characters of Holby City Characters of Holby City "Holby City" is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 12 January 1999 on BBC One. The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama "Casualty". It is set in the same hospital as "Casualty", Holby General, in the fictional city of Holby, and features occasional crossovers of characters and plots with both "Casualty" (in episodes broadcast as "Casualty@Holby City") and the show's 2007 police procedural spin-off "HolbyBlue". "Holby City" follows the professional and personal lives of surgeons, nurses, other medical and ancillary staff
Holby City describing real nursing work in contrast as "very post-watershed". In November 2009, Antony Sumara, CEO of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Hospital Trust, wrote a column criticising "Holby City" for misrepresenting real hospital life. Tom Sutcliffe of "The Independent" reviewed a December 2009 episode poorly, finding it "astonishing" that any patients leave Holby General alive, as the staff are "so busy looking stricken or lovelorn at each other". In December 2003, "The Times" Libby Purves wrote a critical opinion piece, observing that "Holby City" medical staff are often depicted getting drunk in clubs, but afterwards are able to function properly