Holby City series 18

Holby City
Series 18
No. of episodes52
Release
Original networkBBC One
BBC One HD
Original release13 October 2015 (2015-10-13) –
4 October 2016 (2016-10-04)
Series chronology
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Series 17
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Series 19
List of episodes

The eighteenth series of the British medical drama television series Holby City commenced airing in the United Kingdom on 13 October 2015, and concluded on 4 October 2016. The series consists of 52 episodes. Oliver Kent continues his position as the show's executive producer, while Simon Harper serves as the series producer. Sixteen cast members reprised their roles from the previous series, while several recurring characters, and numerous guest stars feature in the series. Four actors depart during the series and two cast members reprise their roles after taking breaks in the previous series. Jemma Redgrave appeared in the series between February and September 2016 as general surgeon Bernie Wolfe. Jason Robertson joined the semi-regular cast in February 2016 as Jason Haynes, and two new cast members joined the serial in summer 2016: Marc Elliott as registrar Isaac Mayfield and Lucinda Dryzek as F1 doctor Jasmine Burrows.

Several crossover events with Holby City's sister show Casualty occurred during the series. Four Holby City cast members appeared in Casualty during the series, while five Casualty actors starred in Holby City during the series, including former Holby City actress Amanda Mealing. Several storylines featured in the series with on-off relationships becoming a common theme throughout. One storyline sees CT1 doctor Dominic Copeland (David Ames) attacked by an aggressive partner, who is married. A prominent storyline in the series is CT2 doctor Arthur Digby's (Rob Ostlere) melanoma diagnosis, which proves to be terminal. Ostlere raised awareness for the illness off-screen too, and the story concluded in "I'll Walk You Home", which features Ostlere's departure.

Series 18 of Holby City attracted 4.5 million viewers on average with three episodes failing to reach the top 30 rated programmes of the week. During the series, Holby City was nominated for several awards, including a nomination at the 2016 British Academy Television Awards and the 2016 Broadcast Awards. Four cast members and three storylines were nominated at the 2016 Inside Soap Awards, and Ostlere won the "Best Drama Star" accolade. The serial also received a positive reaction to the characters and storylines with a domestic abuse storyline featured in the series prompting 177 calls to the BBC Action Line and 2,032 visits to the BBC Action Line's website.