Thursday 13th December

Casualty has been running for years now, and despite Charlie Fairhead I don’t always watch it.  I mean that despite enjoying it when I do catch it, it is never essential viewing a la Holby City.  And of course Holby was a spinoff from Casualty, which I feel in many ways has eclipsed its parent.  The script writing is very clever, and it has that mix of continuing stories running in the background, but a new drama every week, so that if you do miss an episode (friends have a particular habit of invading us on a Tuesday evening) it doesn’t really matter.  But it is the characters that really make it so watchable; Rick Griffin (please don’t let him be written out of it) Malik the black gay doctor with a swagger, Elliott Hope – everyone’s favourite, Nurse Chrissy Williams and her warm but bumbling husband Sacha, the precisely drawn and acted Henrick Hansenn (now sadly departed) and of course uber-bitch Jak Naylor, to name but a few.  And the cast keeps changing, with new entrants like Chantelle, the bimbo with a heart of gold and the new acting CEO of the hospital who is shaping up to be a great character too.

Great great stuff, and because it is only on once  a week it isn’t a soap, and yet it almost has the feel of one, the familiar characters , the ‘adult’ story lines, and not forgetting the gory bits for which the prosthetics team alone should win awards.  And talking about awards why is it that Holby never wins any.  Is it too light hearted to be considered serious drama and too serious for a soap?  Whatever – I love it, and apart from Question Time is about the only programme I try not to miss.  Missing anything else is usually a bonus.