Holby City needs an emergency makeover (Holby City)

Member Name: Leannie1000

Product:	Holby City
Date:	01/11/09 (55 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Used to be good

Disadvantages: Unrealistic, bit silly

Holby City is a hospital-based drama, which goes out on BBC1 for an hour every Tuesday. It is a spin-off from Casualty, both are set at Holby City Hospital.

Most of the action is based around two wards at the hospital and it is heavily focused on the personal lives of the staff - mostly the nurses and doctors.

It has a few famous faces in it, mostly it acts as a retirement home for old soap stars, it has Leslie Ash in it, Patsy Kensit and Robert Powell at the moment, but it is has had various well-known faces over the years.

It's very 'soap' - lots of dramatic storylines, deaths, affairs, unplanned pregnancies and the like.

I used to really like Holby City and used to watch it most weeks. However, four years ago, I started working in the NHS. I have spent several years working in a hospital and the fact is, Holby City is the least realistic hospital programme ever! OK, they have to dramatise things and yes, some things have to be unrealistic for the purposes of the show (junior doctors spend months on individual wards not years!), but some of it just really gets my goat! The other week for example, they had CHILD on an ADULT ward. Ridiculous. And why was that woman pregnant with the co-joined twins not on a maternity ward? And a chief exec who knows the name of thousands of staff? How likely.

I'm aware the average viewer will not notice these things but I feel duty bound to point out that it's rubbish! (Yes, I'm not allowed to watch it with other people!)

The acting is hardly amazing and some of the dream sequence scenes are well... a bit Hollyoaks!

I only really watch it these days if I fancy a good rant, although I can see why others would watch it. I do feel it used to be better a few years ago, it's becoming a bit silly. The good thing about Casualty back in the 80s/90s was that it was really political and showed the NHS for what is was, struggling with Tory cutbacks. I think it's a shame we don't see more of this in Holby City - especially at the moment, possibly facing a very bad winter, with looming budget difficulties.

All in all, this programme is OK, I watch it if nothing else is on, but it should raise its game and do a bit more research!

PS Hospital staff are generally not as good looking as those in HC, just thought I should let you know.

Summary: My take on Holby City