Dr Ruth A Deller(r.a.deller@shu.ac.uk @ruthdeller)

30 Years in Holby: analysing Casualty’s anniversary

Amanda Mealing, who plays Connie Beauchamp in the show, led the cast and crew onstage to accept the award and thanks fans for their support. "Thank you very, very much all of you who voted for us. We've been going for 30 years, some of you have been watching from the very start and some of you are new. You are strong, you are true, you are faithful.“

“It was a very tough category but what a wonderful way to celebrate the 30th anniversary," added Cathy Shipton, who plays Duffy. "Thank you everyone who has been in it and all of you for keeping us there.”

‘There is television that gets watched and there istelevision that gets discussed: the two do notnecessarily coincide… there is a wealth of televisionthat is invisible to what we do as academics; that is,there are programmes that exist, but seem not tobe seen… Ratings show that these series are notinvisible to significant proportions of the population.‘Invisibility’, then, aims to capture the notion thatthis is broadcasting which appears to go unseenwithin academia; it is simply overlooked or lookedthrough as though it were not there…. . In seekingout the new I am suggesting we downplay thesignificance of the old, the ongoing, the repetitive,the always- there. And in doing so, we inadvertentlyrender a wealth of programming invisible.’ (Mills2010: 1, 7)

‘[A]nalysis of soap operas has beenlimited in recent years precisely becauseit is assumed that all the work that needsto be done has been completed and wenow have an agreed approach towardstheir analysis. The fact that alternativeapproaches have not been developed,and changes in soap operas in the lastcouple of decades have not been takeninto account, demonstrates how easy it isto ignore soaps, precisely because theyare always there, part of the furniture oftelevision, ordinary and invisible’ (Mills2010: 8).

‘British soaps are no longer discussed, oreven very much watched, in televisionand media studies. Soaps have becomethe staple of textbooks and, if they have arole in contemporary debates, it is as thestandard binary against which other,more significant or engaging,programmes are measured. A similar lackof interest can be found in the broadertelevision culture online and in the Britishpress... This shift away from soap operapre- dates but is aligned to debates aboutquality and aesthetics.’ (Geraghty 2010:82-84)

• Anniversaries as ‘Pseudo-events’ – constructs formarketing and promotion rather than naturally occurring(Boorstin 1963).

• ‘Media events’ as moments of connection betweendispersed people, privileging the home as a centre ofencounter (Dayan and Katz 1992).

• ‘[P]opular media events break with the everyday but in amuch more routine way; they do not monopolize ... mediacoverage in total, but in a certain segment…’(Hepp andCouldry 2010: 8)

• Anniversaries as a site that connects the present, past andfuture – and draw upon television’s obsession withnostalgia and remembering/reiterating its ownimportance (Holdsworth 2011)

Plural audiences for anniversaries (see Hills 2013, 2015):• Regular viewers• Occasional viewers• Past viewers• New viewers• Viewers' friends and family

‘[T]he media anniversary is premised on highlighting culturalendurance. In terms of brand management, then, anniversarycelebrations are hugely valuable. They cut through the noise ofan “attention economy” (Webster 2014: 49), garnering audienceawareness and potentially even exerting a social pressurewhereby viewers feel they should “join in”. (Hills 2015: 3)

'[A]nniversaries are present-oriented: they celebrate thepast, but only on the basis of its strategic value in and forthe current moment. Anniversaries tell usabout broadcasters’ priorities as they stand now.' (Hills2015: 7)

'Anniversary discourses therefore offer a doublearticulation: they look back over the past but alsoassiduously (re)make a TV show or film franchise asrelevant to the here-and-now. They are pre-structured asanticipated events, via "count-down time” (Elsaesser 1998:214) and the circulation of paratextual arrays, and are hencenominated as historical (for broadcasters and audiencesalike) before they have even occurred. (Hills 2015: 105)

‘This special week will give a nod to the past and welcome thefuture. With storylines culminating and big momentous eventshappening, the EastEnders 30th anniversary will take its place intelevision history.’ (BBC statement in Kilkelly 2014)

We didn't want anyone to miss out. In celebrating the past, weknew we needed a dash of nostalgia and returning faces.Regarding the present, we wanted to bring some of our currentstorylines to a climax. And looking ahead, we wanted to launchsome new plotlines that would keep viewers hooked into thefuture.’ (Jason Herbison in Kilkelly 2015c)

It features our longest-serving, most-loved characters… It's gotprecisely the right level of big heart-stopping drama, warmth,nostalgia and everything that loyal viewers want to see.’ (BryanKirkwood in Kilkelly 2015b)

Matt Hills’ (2013) four anniversary types:

1) Naïve – mainstream media event with little to no sense of targeting fans; not time-bound to specific dates

2) Hybrid – ‘something for the fans’ combined with ‘consensus TV’

3) Niche – fan-oriented4) Hyped – part of an extended branding and marketing

campaign

• 10th anniversary 1996• Baz and Charlie’s son Louis is born (later SORASed)

• 20th anniversary 2006• Two special episodes: Charlie and Duffy in Cambodia• Casualty 1906• Holby Blue announced• 2007 – BAFTA for best continuing drama

• 25th anniversary 2011• Celebratory pieces in Radio Times and BBC website.• End of Bristol filming – closing shot of Ruth and Jay

leaving echoed S1 e1 shot of Charlie in car arriving.

Previous anniversaries and special events

• Series 29 finale and Series 30 launch (2015)• 1000th episode June 2016• Series 30 finale• Start of series 31: Official 30th anniversary episode double length ep – 7.2 million• Back to Ours iPlayer episode• End of series 31: one shot episode• Casualty and Holby City crossovers• Other major events: Connie and Grace’s accident; Robyn’s wedding; Robyn gives

birth; Charlie and Duffy’s wedding; Cal’s death; doctors’ strike; arrival of newcharacters; big-name guest stars…

30th anniversary: multiple events

• Paratextual anticipation and speculation (Garner 2015, Gray 2010, Hills 2015)• Mystery narratives extend beyond fictional form (soap itself) to paratextual

speculation, not only about storylines, but about production, actors, audiences.Will this please the fans? Will X return? Will the episode(s) be a ‘fitting’tribute?

• Plural audiences for anniversaries (see Hills 2013, 2015):• Regular viewers• Occasional viewers• Past viewers• New viewers• Viewers' friends and family

• Media event beyond the episode(s) themselves – trailers, reveals, clues asmoments of ‘mini-event’ and inducement to watch.

Role of paratexts and promos

• Paratexts including social media, press releases, interviews, online contentand trailers as a site of play between audiences and production (Gray 2010;Deller 2014)

• Affective sensibilities of play – appealing to audiences’ nostalgia andrecognition as well as humour, fear, joy and sadness.

• Extra products: BBC Shop special collections; Back to Ours

[Soap producers] used notions of spoilers in different ways to establish hype:revealing spoilers to initially hook viewers in, then keeping spoilers from themto ensure they continued watching. This is common practice with soap operas,inducing viewers to watch through the promise of sensational storylines orcharacter introductions/returns then rewarding that viewing by insertingsurprise twists, revelations and events. This strategy tends to pay off inincreased viewer numbers and social media discussion... Viewers are spoiled asto what will happen, but have to tune in to find out the answersposed in promotional questions such as ‘Who will die?’ (Bell and Deller 2017)

Series 29 finale and series 30 launch (August 2015)

"We started planning the 30th anniversary two years ago… We really wanted to build to it, so that when people watch the actual episodes, they can look back and see that they're a pay-off to lots of things that have been happening over the course of the last series… Casualty's co-creator Paul Unwin came back to write and direct two episodes at the start of Series 30, and we felt that was a brilliant way to start the celebrations. But we're also building towards episodes one and two of Series 31, which will go out around the time of the 30-year milestone next year. It's similar to how EastEnders started with the murder of Lucy Beale, but their 30th anniversary was the culmination of that story. In our show, what we established with those first two episodes of Series 30 - which had Charlie in very serious jeopardy and Connie rescuing him - sets up the whole of this series. That will be paid off in those first two episodes of Series 31 next year."(Producer Erika Hossington in Kilkelly 2015)

Trailer 1 Trailer 2 Titles

‘Too Old For This Shift’ (S31 e1(&2) AKA 30th anniversary, 27 Aug 2016)The heart of the hospital in danger for Casualty 30th Anniversary SpecialBBC One’s Casualty marks its 30th anniversary with an action-packed high adrenaline feature-length film… The beating heart of Holby’s ED, Charlie Fairhead (played by Derek Thompson) will also be celebrated as he reaches 30 years of service to the NHS. He’s the lynchpin of the department and leads the team in a diplomatic and indispensable way, but for this special episode, the shift won’t be a smooth ride for Charlie and his colleagues.

Casualty is the longest-running emergency medical drama series in the world, and Derek Thompson has played the role since the series’ inception in 1986. He is the only continuous original cast member, and as he marks 30 years on screen, he comments on his anniversary: “From day one of filming Casualty in 1986, I’ve been so proud of it’s true-to-life storytelling, representing everything the NHS stands for. I’ve been a part of a few anniversaries over the years, but this really feels like a significant moment in British television history.”…

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales will be recording a special soundtrack for this episode at their home in Cardiff Bay, BBC Hoddinott Hall. Composed and conducted by Jeremy Holland-Smith, this will be the first time Casualty has collaborated with the orchestra.

With a series consolidated average of 5.35 million viewers every Saturday night, Casualty, airing all year round, has featured more future stars than any other UK soap or drama series, including some of the world’s best known Hollywood actors… (BBC 2016a) Trailer 1 Trailer 2

‘Too Old For This Shift’ (S31 e1(&2) AKA 30th anniversary, 27 Aug 2016)‘Every episode of Casualty is an action move with a big, squishy heart and this is that but times as large. It is an action move – it’s action move length – it’s an even bigger stunt than we would ordinarily do. It involves all of our characters and Charlie’s at the centre of it.

I think that [its longevity]’s due to a number of things, really. I think the format, which looks simple, is actually deceptively complex and allows for viewers to explore all sorts of different worlds and then see the dramas play out in the emergency department with the heroes that we know and love. It’s also the fact that it’s always been – and always will be – firmly rooted in the present. As far as it can be, it’s always about the issues of today or the year. It’s about Britain and the world that we live in. Casualty has its roots kitchen sink drama and not American movies and that’s very much part of its identity.

Also, I think that the fact it’s about nurses first and foremost is a big part of it because most other medical dramas focus on doctors. Casualty is fundamentally a show about nurses – and I think it’s always had flawed characters who the audience can get to know and love. The fact that Derek Thompson, who plays Charlie, has been there since the beginning, I’m sure is a major part of why the show is still popular. It’s interesting that at the end of the last series where we put out trailer of Charlie having his heart attack – that really affected people because they suddenly realised that this central character was in real peril. It really brought home what an important character he is. (EP Oliver Kent in Lindsay 2016)

‘One’ (AKA One Shot, 29 July 2017)

Casualty to celebrate the end of 30th Anniversary series with a pioneering one-shot episodeBBC One’s longest running medical drama Casualty will mark the end of series with a unique one-shot episode, a first for the show… Written by Paul Unwin, the original co-creator, this extraordinary episode will cover an hour in the famous emergency department and incorporate all our well-loved series regulars… Simon Harper, Acting Executive Producer for Casualty and Holby City, says: "It's thrilling to have Paul, as the co-creator of Casualty, conclude our 30th Anniversary series with this unique episode whose exciting concept is a first for the show.“ Erika Hossington, Series Producer, Casualty, says: "This very special episode will give the audience a unique insight into an hour in A&E. It will be an intense, emotional hour where staff and patients are faced with life changing events. We want to reflect the front line in its unedited, rawest form, and this one shot episode with a brilliant script from Casualty creator Paul Unwin, has given us the opportunity to do that.“ (BBC 2017)

Trailer

• ‘Social networks don’t switch off in the face of contemporary media events: rather, they areenergized by, and in turn work to narratively (re)activate, the paratextual prefigurationsand after-images of a brand anniversary. (Hills 2015: 21)

• ‘Television topics that trend highly are generally those considered as ‘watercooler’ TV…While soap operas are discussed on Twitter regularly, the frequency of episodes meansthey do not generate enough traffic to ‘trend’ regularly – unless there is the climax of amajor storyline, they are not considered ‘event’ TV.’ (Deller 2011: 225-6)

• Origins in concern for NHS in 1980s (Holland et al 2013)• Emphasis on human error, malpractice and irresponsibility as responsible for medical issues,

both individually and collectively: 'injury and death are not just haphazard misfortunes but causally motivated by social responsible individuals' (Hallam 2000: 192).

• Representations of diverse identities and social issues (Hallam 2000)

• Personal responsibility: drone accident; wedding fire; Connie's car accident; Charlie as epitome of social responsibility and good character.

• Communal responsibility: inter-team dynamics; resource limitations; medical negligence (including in the past); moments of celebration – in balance with work.

• Identities and social issues: parent/child relationships; sexuality and relationships; racism; mental health; abortion.

• Air ambulance criticisms• Doctors' strike

Casualty at 30: social and political dimensions

Getting the balance between the show being entertaining and medically plausible is a challenge for the writers. I would receive the scripts to read through beforehand and also visit the set during filming. This way I could comment on the story as it evolved and make sure the scenes looked realistic, were medically accurate and that medical terms were pronounced correctly… The show really captures the amazing close knit team that work in an Emergency Department (ED). Casualty highlights the camaraderie and support in an ED team, as well as demonstrating the stressful environment and unpredictable nature of our work. (Jones 2016)

Derek, 68, said: “There is only one star of Casualty and that is the NHS. But personally I am worried about the NHS. I don’t think in the last 30 years anyone has lived up to their promises. I think an awful lot of it, as is true of a lot of an awful lot of political statements and indications and promises, is – for want of a better word – bulls***.” (Jefferies 2016)

Casualty at 30: conclusions

• Anniversary specials: moments of visibility.• Anniversary and genre: soap, action, melodrama, medical.• Paratexts, promos and hype.• Fan-service: returning characters; visual nods; 'Chuffy' etc.• 'Real-world' NHS relationship.• Charlie as key figure: historically, narratively, morally, politically.• As national institution?

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