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The SpinOff of ''{{Series/Casualty}}'' launched in 1999, this focuses more on the lives of the medics than the actual emergencies involved. However, it is nearly always set ''within'' the hospital.

Like its parent show, ''Holby City'' has been running for an alarmingly long time, leading to much cast turnover, although unlike its parent show none of the original cast are still present. As of autumn 2016, the longest-running regular character is Ric Griffin (Hugh Quarshie), who debuted in 2001; the iconic Jac Naylor (Rosie Marcel), meanwhile, debuted in 2005.

The show finally drew to a close in 2022, with the BBC citing [[BritainIsOnlyLondon efforts to produce more programmes based outside of the south of England]].

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!!This show provides examples of:
* BeYourself: A 2018 episode also had a moral that "Being a GirlyGirl is okay, and it's not just about fashion and makeup, and some [[GirlyGirl girly-girls]] are badasses, and you shouldn't feel pressure to [[StatusQuoIsGod deviate from the look that suits you]] or try and be a {{Tomboy}} even if they pressure you to and make fun of you for being girly". She was a OneShotCharacter.
* ButNotTooGay: Averted. The gay couples get just as frisky as the straight couples (which is to say, not terribly frisky given that it airs at 8pm on the BBC, but the snogs are equally heated for both).
* TheCastShowOff: Jules Knight, who plays Harry Tressler, is a former member of classical crossover band Blake. The inevitable demonstration of his singing skills finally took place in his first ChristmasEpisode.
* {{Crossover}}: With its parent show ''{{Series/Casualty}}''. Done as the mini-series ''Casualty@Holby City'' in 2004 and 2005. A similarly large-scale one occurred in 2019, focused on a cyber-attack. As the two are set in the same building, however, many smaller incidents have occurred, with occasional permanent character moves.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Linden Cullen, [[spoiler:Penny Valentine]].
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Happens on multiple occasions, particularly for security guard and cafe staff characters.
* EverythingIsOnline: A major plot point in the 2019 crossover. [[spoiler:The hospital gets hit by a cyber attack]] and it turns out most of the electronics are connected.
* FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome: Has happened a fair bit during the 2003-2005 series.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The episode "Serenity", which introduced Bernie Wolfe, also featured AAU clinical lead Serena Campbell grumbling that her ward needs better trauma facilities. Almost exactly six months later, the AAU got its very own trauma bay -- headed by none other than renowned trauma surgeon and AAU ''co''-clinical-lead Ms Bernie Wolfe. [[spoiler:No wonder they wind up falling in love with each other.]]
* HardTruthAesop: A 2014 episode had the moral "Older doesn't necessarily mean wiser, and if you can't reason with an elderly person, don't try to, let them suffer the consequences of their own making.", when an abusive elderly patient yelled at a nurse. This OneShotCharacter, a grouchy old man seemed to treat the hospital more like a hotel than a hospital. This defied the "Respect your elders" moral that is often taught.
* HeldGaze: Serena Campbell (Catherine Russell) and Bernie Wolfe (Creator/JemmaRedgrave) are ''constantly'' sharing long, meaningful looks. After the episode where [[spoiler:they finally kiss]], one of the producers noted that they "could only play sizzling glances for so long" before the inevitable happened.
* InformedAttractiveness: Jac Naylor, although Rosie Marcel is quite the MsFanservice.
* InsufferableGenius[=/=]RightlySelfRighteous: Just about the entire cast. The entire medical team are ripe with attitude problems and constantly go over the heads of officials and regulations, it almost always only helps in saving patients lives.
* ItsAWonderfulPlot: Elliot is shown Holby as the hospital he never worked at in a Christmas [[invoked]]BizarroEpisode.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Jac Naylor and Michael Griffin are this. [[spoiler:One episode concerns Jac nursing a baby]].
* KarmaHoudini: Subverted with Ric Griffin - He stole Michael Spence's wife, and generally comes off as smug when he constantly relays messages to Michael from his ex-wife & Michael suffers a setback in his career. It's a subversion, because Ric has cancer, which appears to be both LaserGuidedKarma & letting him get away with all of this as other characters feel sorry for him. ''At the same time''.
** Played straight, however, with Oliver Valentine, [[spoiler:who looks as though he's going to get away with continuing to practise as a doctor illegally]].
** Some of the patients' immoral behavior (though usually caught out) is sometimes left uncovered. One patient supposedly was an adulterer whose manic wife caused him to have a road accident. [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale It's heavily implied she will continue making his life hell throughout the recovery.]]
* LongRunnerCastTurnover: None of the regular characters from when the show started in 1999 are still present; half of the current cast only joined in 2011 or later.
* OneTrueLove: Serena calls Bernie "the one great love affair of my life", and Bernie wholly returns the sentiment. If any one couple on this show has ever been written as this, it's these two.
* PrejudiceAesop: The show has this an OmnipresentTrope in its LongRunner history (23 years), so listing all the examples would take up too much room, but this [[AnAesop aesop]] is more of an EnforcedTrope due to the BBC's public service commitments.
* ProdigalHero: Henrik Hanssen, who left Sweden after his father was disgraced for using Nazi medical research. Henrik considered this [[ThisIsUnforgivable unforgivable]] since his mother was a holocaust survivor and blamed his father for driving her to commit suicide. [[spoiler:Turns out, his mother convinced his father to use the data and she killed herself for an entirely ''different'' reason.]]
* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: Serena tries and fails to let prize-winning doctor Arthur Digby know he's put his foot in it:
-->'''Serena:''' The F1 prize wasn't ''for'' tact, was it?
-->'''Arthur:''' Ah, no. Academic excellence.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: A few plots, but most notably the hospital [[spoiler:gets hit by a cyber attack]] not long after the real NHS was.
* SawStarWarsTwentySevenTimes: Comedian Toby Hadoke plays a character in the episode "Snow Queens" who shamelessly boats over how many times he's watched ''Film/TheMatrix''.
* SpeechCentricWork: No matter how much medical action there is, there will always be a ''very'' heavy ratio of dialogue:action each episode.
* SpinOff: Obviously.
** For two years had its own spinoff in the PoliceProcedural ''Holby Blue''.
* StatusQuoIsGod: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]]. Although there are many permanent changes per season, characters' love lives rarely last, and the GirlOfTheWeek or BoyOfTheWeek usually is gone by the end of the story arc or season; also, some characters [[AesopAmnesia do not learn the moral of the story]].
* TraumaCongaLine: Henrik Hanssen, the BenevolentBoss has had a father who was disgraced for Nazi medical research, and now is a victim of child abuse and has to deal with his abuser in a current storyline.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Paul Rose, an anaesthetist who had been a RecurringCharacter since 2000, stopped appearing without explanation in 2010.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Subverted with Bernie and Serena. By the time the former [[spoiler:runs off to Ukraine on secondment]], the only people who ''aren't'' sure whether or not they'll get together in the end are Bernie and Serena themselves -- it being obvious to everyone else with eyes that the two were practically made for each other.

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