After 23 years, the BBC medical soap’s last episode is full of warmth, fondness for our health service and beautifully crafted insults. It will be missed
“If I need the last rites, I’ll ask for them.” As Holby City’s final episode opens on gritty heart surgeon Jac Naylor (Rosie Marcel) speaking from her deathbed, her icily determined words might be said not just on her behalf – but on behalf of the long-running medical drama itself.
Casualty’s cousin had started working its notice in June 2021, with a clear determination to hold strong until the very last moment. Rather than flatlining, it roused itself to deliver its best ever episodes in its last few months. And, instead of blowing itself up or forming a lynch mob (like El Dorado and Brookside), viewers tuned in to find Holby’s last ever televisual outing doing something far more dignified: going out gracefully.
