The "Casualty" set in Bristol was not large enough for the surgical ward and operating theatre needed for "Holby City". So some scenes in the first episode had to be shot twice, first on the "Casualty" set and then again at Elstree, with cast members travelling between the two locations.
In October 2007, "The Daily Telegraph" reported that the Elstree site would be sold, and "Holby City" moved to share a set with "Casualty", possibly in Cardiff.
In March 2009, the BBC said that "Casualty" would move to a new set in Cardiff. In April 2009, "The Guardian" said that the BBC would retain Elstree Studios for at least another four years.
Some episodes have been shot on location abroad. In 2004, the romance between nurse Jess Griffin (Verona Joseph) and anaesthetist Zubin Khan (Art Malik) had an episode set in Paris.
In 2005, registrar Diane Lloyd (Patricia Potter) followed consultant Ric Griffin (Hugh Quarshie) to Ghana. This was part of the BBC's "Africa lives" series, a week of programmes bringing African culture to UK audiences.
In 2006, an episode in Switzerland had consultant Elliot Hope's (Paul Bradley) wife Gina (Gillian Bevan) committing assisted suicide after her motor neurone disease worsened.
A 2007 episode in Dubai focused on "Holby" registrar Joseph Byrne (Luke Roberts) meeting new nurse Faye Morton (Patsy Kensit).
In 2008, Joseph and consultant Linden Cullen (Duncan Pow) travelled to Cape Town.
In November 2008, series producer Diana Kyle said that they would not be filming abroad again for the "foreseeable future".
On 10 December 2012, it was announced that the show had filmed one episode in Stockholm. This focussed on Jac tracking down hospital CEO Henrik Hanssen (Guy Henry).
"Holby City" is shot using the single-camera setup.
Filming occurs from 8 am until 6 pm daily, 50 weeks a year.
From July 2007 onwards, the show took on the filmising technique, giving the impression of having been shot on film.
On 28 May 2010, the BBC announced that "Holby City" would move to HD by the end of the year.
The series moved to HD broadcasting, with a BBC HD simulcast, from the start of series 13 in October 2010.
From the eleventh series a musical montage segment was included in each episode. This was introduced by McHale to modernise the show. This use of songtages was first popularised by the US medical drama "Grey's Anatomy". McHale stated he was unaware of this until after "Holby City" had used the technique.
Music is selected by each episode's scriptwriter. Sometimes the producers and director would select the music in post-production. Actors have had some input: Hugh Quarshie selected the music he believed his character Ric Griffin would listen to in theatre. Asked in June 2010 whether she felt songtages were appropriate for a serious drama show, Kyle said: "they are an excellent way of telling stories visually".
"Holby City" was first shown on 12 January 1999 on BBC One.
The show's first series ran for nine episodes.
In June 2000, then Director-General of the BBC Greg Dyke pledged extra funding for BBC One, some of which was used for extra episodes of "Holby City".
The second series ran for 16 episodes.
The third series ran for 30 episodes.
Episodes were shown weekly from the fourth series onwards.
Series four to nine ran for 52 episodes. Series ten ran for 53 episodes, including the stand-alone finale episode "Mad World", set outside the hospital. Series eleven ran for 52 episodes. Series twelve had 55 episodes.
All series from then on had 52 episodes. The series reached its 500th episode on 13 April 2010.
In the first series episodes were 50 minutes long. From the second series episodes have been one hour.
The first series was shown on Tuesday nights at 8.10 pm. The second series moved to Thursdays. Halfway through the third series in 2001, Holby moved back to Tuesday night at 8.05 pm. It then moved into the 8pm timeslot, where it has remained. The show is occasionally shown on a different day.
In 2007, the show moved to Thursday nights to allow HolbyBlue to be shown in the 8pm Tuesday timeslot. BBC One Scotland has often shown the series at a later time.
In February 2019, it was announced that repeats of "Holby City" would begin on the channel Drama. This would begin with the first series.
In Finland it is shown on the channel Yle TV2 and is called "Holby Cityn sairaala".
Series twenty-two started on 7 January 2020.
"Holby City" follows the professional and personal lives of medical and ancillary staff at Holby General. It has an ensemble cast of main and recurring characters. The show has 10 to 20 main characters.
The original cast of 11 characters featured in the show's first episode was consultants Anton Meyer (George Irving) and Muriel McKendrick (Phyllis Logan), registrars Nick Jordan (Michael French) and Kirstie Collins (Dawn McDaniel), senior house officer Victoria Merrick (Lisa Faulkner), ward sister Karen Newburn (Sarah Preston), theatre sister Ellie Sharpe (Julie Saunders), senior staff nurse Ray Sykes (Ian Curtis), staff nurses Julie Bradford (Nicola Stephenson) and Jasmine Hopkins (Angela Griffin), and ward clerk Paul Ripley (Luke Mably).
For the first series, Young selected actors who were already established and had a soap opera background. Young had previously worked on the soap operas "Brookside" and "Family Affairs"
French had starred in the BBC's "EastEnders", while Stephenson and Faulkner had starred in "Brookside". Griffin had also appeared in ITV's "Coronation Street". Hiring of established actors continued as the soap progressed, with former "Brookside" actress Patricia Potter cast as registrar Diane Lloyd, "Star Wars" actor Denis Lawson cast as consultant Tom Campbell-Gore, and "Family Affairs" star Rocky Marshall cast as SHO Ed Keating. Later, roles were given to comedian Adrian Edmondson, film actress Patsy Kensit, and "Jesus of Nazareth" star Powell.
There is a casting department at Elstree Studios which casts actors for "Holby City" as well as "Casualty", "EastEnders" and "Doctors". The programme also has two casting directors who bring in actors for the producer and director to audition. Some cast members who play main characters have made previous appearances in minor "Holby City" roles.
Current characters include acting chief executive officer and consultant neurosurgeon Max McGerry (Jo Martin), consultant general surgeon and medical director Ric Griffin (Hugh Quarshie), consultant cardiothoracic surgeons lead Jac Naylor (Rosie Marcel) and Kian Madani (Ramin Karimloo), consultant general surgeons Ben Sherwood (Charlie Condou), Ange Godard (Dawn Steele), Sacha Levy (Bob Barrett), and Serena Campbell (Catherine Russell), speciality registrars Dominic Copeland (David Ames), Xavier Duval (Marcus Griffiths), and Chloe Godard (Amy Lennox), foundation training doctors Nicky McKendrick (Belinda Owusu) and Cameron Dunn (Nic Jackman), director of nursing Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher (Alex Walkinshaw), and senior staff nurses Donna Jackson (Jaye Jacobs) and Essie Harrison (Kaye Wragg).
"Holby City" has had a number of famous guest stars.
In the first few series:
In the fiftieth episode
Other notable guest stars include
In 2003, the BBC reached an agreement with the actors' union Equity to cease offering walk-on drama series roles to members of the public as prizes. When an untrained person won such a role in "Holby City" in a competition, Equity complained to the broadcaster that such prizes were "demeaning" to actors, depriving them of paid employment. The competition winner was allowed to visit the "Holby City" set, but did not appear on-screen as a result of the policy change.
The BBC has shown occasional crossover mini-dramas entitled "Casualty@Holby City". It has a number of characters from each of the two casts.