The best family films to watch in the BT TV Player
May 30 | 2 min readCasualty has been raising the nation’s pulses with the most eventful A&E department on TV since it began in 1986.
During its time on our screens, the drama series has been a starting point for some of the biggest names in acting including Orlando Bloom, Kate Winslet and To Hiddleston– but who is currently in the cast?
Take a look at our guide to who’s currently on rota at Holby City Hospital.
Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson)
Emergency nurse practitioner Charlie Fairhead is the longest running character in the show, having started on Casualty in its very first episode.
His storylines have seen him lose the mother of his child in a car crash, have to stop his drug addict son selling a kidney in Romania, and narrowly avoiding a cardiac arrest during a gang siege at the hospital.
BBC pay figures from 2019 showed that Thompson's loyalty to Casualty paid off - as he earns the highest amount of any drama star for the broadcaster.
Connie Beauchamp (Amanda Mealing)
As the consultant and clinical lead in emergency medicine, Connie Beauchamp has the weight of the department on her shoulders.
She is driven to provide the best service she can to patients as she watched her own father die on a trolley in an emergency department, but her hard work can come at a price as it’s affected her relationship with her daughter.
Mealing originally spent six years in Casualty’s sister show Holby City as Connie, and took a four-year break from the medical drama world before returning to her character in Casualty instead.
Lisa Duffin (Cathy Shipton)
Nurse and midwife Lisa 'Duffy' Duffin is one of the most compassionate people you’ll meet at Holby City, and is great with any children who end up in the department.
She’s suffered her share of heartache with an on-off first marriage that ended in tragedy when her husband was killed in a car accident, and another relationship that saw her partner steal all her money before they moved to New Zealand together. They eventually split and she returned to Holby.
Shipton, who also appeared in the Spice World film, was one of the original 1986 cast members along with Derek, but left in 1993.
She returned from 1998 to 2003 and made a number of guest appearances, then arrived back on our screens in 2016.
Ethan Hardy (George Rainsford)
Cheery, charming specialist registrar Ethan Hardy wins over his patients and colleagues, but doesn’t find it so easy to impress women – unlike his brother Cal, who brought out old sibling rivalries when he also arrived at the hospital.
The brothers worked alongside each other for a few years, but Ethan tragically lost Cal when a disgruntled son of a former patient of Ethan’s stabbed Cal to death.
Rainsford has also appeared in Doctors, Waking the Dead, and Call the Midwife.
Dylan Keogh (William Beck)
The department’s consultant Dylan Keogh is brilliant at his job, but awkward and tactless. He loves a medical mystery and thrives on the more unusual cases.
Dylan used to be married to Sam Nicholls, but the couple are now divorced and he lives on a house boat with his beloved dog.
Viewers may also have seen William in The Great Fire, Vital Signs, and Red Cap.
Jacob Masters (Charles Venn)
Clinical nurse manager Jacob Masters can be hot headed and impulsive, but he’s also a charmer with everyone who crosses his path.
He manages to get patients to open up to him in a way they wouldn’t with anyone else, and although some of his tactics may be underhand, he uses them to try to save people’s lives.
Venn has also starred in Dream Team, Footballers’ Wives, and EastEnders.
Noel Garcia (Tony Marshall)
The department’s receptionist Noel Garcia is very proud of his job, although he’s not always the most organised when it comes to keeping track of files.
He is always positive and optimistic despite having suffered some terrible luck in life, and was delighted to get to know his long-lost daughter Honey when she arrived in Holby.
Marshall will also be familiar to viewers as one of the stars of hit period police drama Life on Mars, playing Railway Arms landlord Nelson.
Robyn Miller (Amanda Henderson)
Nurse Robyn Miller is one of the most caring people in the department and a natural at what she does.
However, as far as the academic side of her role goes, Robyn lacks a bit of confidence and is easily intimidated by her superiors.
Robyn suffered heartbreak when she began a relationship with a man who turned out to have terminal cancer and who died on their wedding day.
Henderson has also appeared as part of an ensemble in the 2012 Hollywood version of Les Miserables.
Elle Gardner (Jaye Griffiths)
As a single mother to three teenage boys, consultant Elle Gardner is used to have to juggle a number of crises at once.
In fact, wanting to escape the chaos of her home life was one of the reasons why she got back into medicine after a lengthy career break, but Elle finds she often has just as many people to take care of at work.
Griffiths has also starred in Silent Witness, Doctors, Doctor Who and The Bill, and first appeared in Casualty in 1993 as a different character called Sheena Whitehead.
David Hide (Jason Durr)
Quiet, thoughtful nurse David is a bit of a mystery to his colleagues – he rarely speaks, but is great at his job.
David had a bit of unexplained time off and now the other staff are determined to bring him out of his shell, but he could be hiding all manner of mysteries.
Durr is best known for his long-running role in Heartbeat, where he played PC Mike Bradley.
Louise Tyler (Azuka Oforka)
Nurse Louise Tyler has had just about every job going at Holby City – she first appeared as an ambulance call dispatcher, then moved to emergency reception, and eventually took up her current role in the department.
It transpired that Louise was a trained nurse, but lost her confidence after a baby died on her shift. Now, she’s back in scrubs and ready to take on anyone who gets in her way.
Azuka Oforka is another actor who made her first appearance in the drama as a totally different character, before returning years later as a regular.
Iain Dean (Michael Stevenson)
Paramedic Iain Dean is an ex-corporal who’s still not healed from the mental wounds of seeing his platoon blown up in Afghanistan by someone that he knew well.
He’s quick to jump into any dangerous situation, but is short tempered which often affects his judgment.
Stevenson has also appeared in ITV’s The Syndicate and Heartbeat.
Rash Masum (Neet Mohan)
Doctor Masum is an eternal optimist, but uses his cheeky chappy nature to hide his anxiety, which he sometimes struggles to get control of in stressful situations.
He has a drive to succeed just like his siblings all have in their professions, but Rash still lives at home and will always be a bit of a mummy’s boy.
Mohan has also starred in TV series No Offence and Line of Duty.
Ruby Spark (Maddy Hill)
Paramedic Ruby is something of a perfectionist whose medical and procedural knowledge is expansive and bordering on photographic.
Fiercely intelligent, Ruby is defensive and try as she might, finds it difficult to join in with jokes on the wards.
Soap fans might also recognise Hill from her time as Danny Dyer’s onscreen daughter Nancy Carter in EastEnders.
