Paul Nicholls Reveals Details On Holby City’s New Gay Romance

Holby City newcomer Paul Nicholls and co-star Adam Astill has revealed details about the drama’s new gay romance plot.

Paul Nicholls will make his Holby City debut as Nurse Simon Marshall in Tuesday night’s [22nd May] episode of the medical drama. It soon becomes clear though that Nicholls character of Simon shares a history with Dan Hamilton. The arrival of Simon at the hospital will once again cause Dan to question his sexuality as Astill explained to the TV Times.

“There was certainly something between them, they were good friends and that turned into something a lot stronger and deeper, but even back then Dan wasn’t ready to come out and admit to whatever homosexual feelings he might have had…It’s a mixture of emotions because he hasn’t really admitted to himself that he’s gay and when Simon arrives it suddenly brings back a lot of feelings.”

Paul Nicholls told the TV Times that Simon was in love with Dan but tries to put the past behind him when he asks Dan out for the date. The actor told the television listings magazine ‘Simon fell in love with Dan, whether anything physical happened we don’t know, but he did fall for him and he has always been the one that got away ever since. Simon quickly sees that Dan has not changed one iota and he’s still completely denying that side of him. That annoys him because Dan is ignoring who he is and it puts him off him, but then one night he asks him out for a drink, and Simon says yes and then things start to happen’

Dan Hamilton’s sexuality was first called into question last year especially when he was involved in a gay kiss with Antonie Malick (Jimmy Akingbola) in a locker room. The kiss prompted a few complaints from viewers but was defended, at the time, by the BBC who said “Holby City aims to reflect real life in the setting of a medical drama and this means telling stories about characters from many different backgrounds, faiths, religions and sexualities. We approach our portrayal of same-sex relationships in the same way as we do heterosexual relationships and aim to ensure depictions of affection or sexuality between couples are suitable for pre-watershed audiences.”

Holby City and fellow medical drama Casualty have featured a number of gay characters and romances over the years. In 2003 the two dramas featured a crossover romance as Holby City regular Ben Saunders (David Paisley) dated Casualty regular Tony Vincent (Lee Warburton).

Holby City continues on Tuesday night on BBC One at 8pm

[Written by Rosemary Bright and Martha Kirkpatrick]