More returns for Holby City anniversary

Paul Bradley and Patricia Potter are reprising their roles in the medical drama.

Paul Bradley is returning to the long-running drama series as Elliot Hope for its 1000th episode. He will appear in a total of five episodes with Elliot coming back to Holby City hospital on the pretext of seeing his old friend and protégé Jac, but the BBC has teased that an “ulterior motive” lies behind his return.

Elliot was last seen in 2015 when after ten years in Holby he decided to leave to be with an old flame, Brigitte Nye. 

“I’m really looking forward to returning to a programme on which I spent so many happy years. Holby has always been a hive of really exciting and imaginative stories and this won’t be any different, it’s going to be a cracker!” – Paul Bradley

Patricia Potter is also set to reprise her role as Diane Lloyd in a special episode which will go beyond the realms of the hospital into very different territory for the programme seeing as the character was killed off in a train accident in 2007. Potter had played the role since 2002. 

“It’s lovely to be returning to Holby. I really enjoyed my time there and made fantastic friends as well as meeting my husband. Returning after a decade is very weird but it’s as friendly as ever and revisiting Diane feels like putting on an old glove! She had a tragic end and this storyline feels like it puts the character to bed with some peace and resolution. It’s great.” – Patricia Potter

The hugely popular storyline of the Tan twins is also going to be revisited. Last seen on screen in 2008 as the memorable conjoined twin babies, the now 11 year old patients will come back to the ward where their life changing separation surgery took place.

“How could we possibly celebrate Holby’s 20th anniversary without a return stint from one of our most beloved characters? Elliot was the heart and soul of the hospital and the nearest thing to a father Jac has ever had – and her desire to please and prove herself to him at a particularly fraught time will have huge emotional consequences in our climactic story for 2019.

“It’s not often we literally bring a character back from the dead, and no, Diane won’t be walking out of the shower and telling her colleagues it was all a decade long dream. Her return is in itself an anniversary homage to a time on the show when we experimented quite regularly with genre and style, so the audience can expect something very different indeed in a unique and quirky episode where Ric faces a terrifying and life-changing choice, and the world of the hospital is literally turned upside down.” – Simon Harper, Executive Producer of Holby City and Casualty

In May the Beeb announced that Patsy Kensit and Luke Roberts will reprise their roles as Faye Morton and Joseph Byrne for one episode as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations. This followed earlier on screen returns for Sharon D Clarke as Lola Griffin and Denis Lawson as Tom Campbell-Gore.

Holby City launched in 1999 as a spin-off to Casualty which is based in the A&E department of the same hospital located in the fictional county of Wyvern, in the south-west of England. However, the two programmes are filmed in separate locations with Casualty relocating from Bristol to the Roath Lock Studios, Cardiff in 2011 whilst Holby City is recorded at Elstree studios in Borehamwood.