Casualty 40th Anniversary Preview: The Biggest and Boldest Story Yet

 

 Image: BBC

By Jon Donnis

Casualty is set to mark its 40th anniversary with a special double-bill promising to deliver one of the most ambitious and emotionally charged stories in the medical drama's history.

Produced by BBC Studios Drama Productions, the world's longest-running medical drama has spent four decades putting its characters through some of television's most challenging situations. Its anniversary event looks set to continue that tradition, with a major incident throwing Holby into chaos and leaving the emergency department team facing an unprecedented crisis.

The scale of the storyline immediately raises the stakes. With lives hanging in the balance, the ED team will be pushed to their limits as they attempt to deal with the aftermath of the incident. The story will bring together some of Casualty's most beloved characters, while placing them in situations where there may be no easy answers.

At the centre of the drama is Dylan, played by William Beck, who finds himself attempting to lead his team through their darkest hour while also dealing with personal tragedy. His leadership will be tested as the pressure mounts, with the anniversary storyline promising to explore the emotional toll of being responsible for others when everything around you is falling apart.

Meanwhile, Stevie, played by Elinor Lawless, and Flynn, played by Olly Rix, will be fighting for survival as a major rescue operation unfolds. Their situation adds another layer of urgency to an already chaotic scenario, with the race against time forcing characters to make potentially life-or-death decisions.

The promise of a major rescue operation suggests that the anniversary episodes will move beyond the familiar confines of the ED, giving Casualty the opportunity to stage a large-scale disaster story while retaining the character-driven drama that has been central to the series for 40 years.

What makes the double-bill particularly significant is that it is not simply looking backwards. While the episodes will celebrate Casualty's extraordinary history and the characters who have helped make the show such an enduring success, they are also intended to signal an exciting new chapter for the series.

After four decades on screen, the challenge is finding a way to make an anniversary feel genuinely important rather than simply nostalgic. By placing its characters in a major crisis and promising a story on an unprecedented scale, Casualty appears ready to meet that challenge head-on.

With Dylan, Stevie and Flynn all facing enormous personal danger, and the wider hospital caught up in the fallout from the major incident, the anniversary double-bill looks set to be an emotional and high-stakes celebration of everything that has kept Casualty at the heart of British television for four decades.

The promise from the cast and crew of "the biggest, boldest" episodes yet certainly sets expectations high. If the anniversary storyline delivers on that ambition, Casualty's 40th birthday could prove to be one of its most memorable chapters yet.

Pablo: Next Level brings autistic hero to the challenges of mainstream school

Images: Paper Owl/Crayola Studios/BBC

By Jon Donnis

Pablo is heading into a whole new world in Pablo: Next Level, a new animated comedy series for CBBC and BBC iPlayer aimed at children aged five to eight.

The series follows Pablo as he takes on the challenges of mainstream school, where unfamiliar rules, busy corridors and everyday classroom dramas can make navigating the school day anything but straightforward.

As Pablo tries to understand this new environment, his creativity becomes more important than ever. With the help of his book animal friends and his vivid imagination, he finds his own ways of making sense of the situations he encounters.

A key part of Pablo's approach is his sketchbook diary. By recording what happens through drawings, he can process his emotions while also showing the world from his own perspective. It gives the series a distinctive way of exploring the experiences and challenges faced by autistic children.

Pablo: Next Level continues the groundbreaking legacy of Pablo, which became the first animated children's series to feature an autistic central character when it screened on CBeebies and beyond. The original series became a major international success, selling into 190 territories in 35 languages, while also receiving multiple awards and a BAFTA nomination.

The new series continues to place autistic experiences at its heart, with the writing and voice work contributed by a team of young autistic talent. While the stories are built around comedy and the everyday adventures of school life, the series also offers a perspective on the world that is rarely seen in children's animation.

With children across the country preparing to start new schools or return to different classes, Pablo's experiences could prove particularly relatable for families navigating those changes together.

Pablo: Next Level airs weekdays on CBBC at 4.10pm from Monday 7 September, with five new episodes arriving on BBC iPlayer every Monday.

Labels: Pablo: Next Level, CBBC, BBC iPlayer, children's animation, autism, Pablo

150 character description: Pablo takes on mainstream school in a new animated comedy exploring friendship, imagination, emotions and the autistic experience.

Your Time Starts Now: Channel 4 Orders New At-Home Gameshow From Taskmaster Creator Alex Horne

Image: Ch4

By Jon Donnis

Channel 4 has commissioned a full series of Your Time Starts Now, a new play-at-home gameshow devised and developed by Taskmaster creator and host Alex Horne and Andy Devonshire.

Following a successful pilot, the broadcaster has ordered an eight-part series, with each episode running for 60 minutes. The format takes the spirit of the Taskmaster universe and brings it into viewers' homes, challenging households across the UK to take on a series of deliberately devious tasks without ever leaving home.

The new show builds on Horne's previous at-home formats, including The Button, which he devised and narrated in 2018, and HomeTasking, created during the 2020 lockdown as an attempt to keep audiences entertained while people were confined to their homes.

Your Time Starts Now will see five teams made up of friends and families compete against one another, with each household required to demonstrate creativity, lateral thinking, speed, knowledge and teamwork. As with Taskmaster, the challenges are designed to test how contestants approach problems, rather than simply how quickly they can complete them.

There is also a potentially significant financial incentive. Every task comes with a cash reward, while the household with the most money at the end of each episode must decide whether to take their winnings or risk them by playing for double the amount the following week.

That decision could prove particularly tempting as the series progresses, with the format offering the possibility of a cash prize running into millions by the end of the series.

With Horne and Devonshire behind the format, Your Time Starts Now looks set to take the inventive, unpredictable spirit of Taskmaster and apply it to a much larger group of contestants, with ordinary households across the UK becoming the players.

Hercule Poirot gets a new face in first look at BBC's Hercule

Image: BBC/Mammoth Screen/James Stack

By Jon Donnis

The BBC has unveiled the first look at Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in the forthcoming six-part drama Hercule, which is now filming in Liverpool.

Produced by Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited, the series will offer a different perspective on one of fiction's most recognisable detectives, exploring Poirot as a man while also portraying Britain in the years between the two World Wars.

Hercule will draw on three of Agatha Christie's early Poirot stories, while expanding the character's world by introducing him to several future friends and allies, as well as a particular nemesis.

Bluemel leads an ensemble cast that includes Henry Ashton, James D'Arcy, Calvin Demba, Phil Dunning, Jack Gleeson, Tamsin Greig, James Nesbitt, Guy Remmers, Rebecca Rittenhouse and Mawaan Rizwan.

The new series marks another screen interpretation of Christie's celebrated detective, whose novels have sold more than 750 million copies worldwide and have continued to attract readers and viewers for more than a century.

Written by Benji Walters, Hercule will see Jonny Campbell direct the opening two episodes. Chanya Button will direct episodes three and four, with Alrick Riley taking charge of the final two instalments.

Charlie Palmer serves as series producer, with executive producers including Walters and Campbell, James Prichard for Agatha Christie Limited, Rebecca Durbin and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen, Nick Lambon for the BBC, and Robert Schildhouse, Jon Farrar and Stephen Nye for BritBox.

The six-part series will consist of six 60-minute episodes and is being made for BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, with BritBox set to carry the series in North America.

Hercule is due to arrive in 2027. Fifth Season is handling global distribution.

EastEnders to bring Nancy and Lee Carter back to Walford in autumn 2026

Image: BBC

By Jon Donnis

EastEnders is set to welcome back two familiar faces later this year, with Nancy and Lee Carter returning to Walford for a short stint.

Maddy Hill and Danny Hatchard will reprise their respective roles, marking the latest reunion for the Carter family. Their return is expected to have a significant impact on Linda Carter, although the circumstances that bring Nancy and Lee back to the Square are being kept under wraps for now.

The Carter family has been through plenty since Nancy and Lee were last in Walford, meaning their return is unlikely to be entirely straightforward. With Linda having plenty to catch up on, the reunion could quickly become complicated.

Hill said she was "SO excited" to return to EastEnders and step back into Nancy's shoes, adding that she had missed the character and was particularly looking forward to working with familiar faces and her on-screen family.

Hatchard, meanwhile, said he was "absolutely over the moon" to be returning as Lee, describing Albert Square as a "home away from home" and saying he was "proper buzzing" to be back.

Executive producer Ben Wadey said: "We are absolutely thrilled to have Maddy and Danny back in Walford, bringing two much-loved pieces of the Carter family back together."

He added that while Linda will be delighted to have her children together again, "she's got a lot to catch up on".

Nancy and Lee's return is currently scheduled for autumn 2026, with further details about their storyline yet to be announced.

EastEnders is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Doctor Foster Series 3: First Look at the Final Chapter of Suranne Jones Drama

Suranne Jones as Gemma Foster (Image: Robert Viglasky)

By Jon Donnis

Doctor Foster is set to return for a third and final series next year, with BBC One and BBC iPlayer releasing a first look at the new five-part drama alongside details of its latest casting.

Almost a decade after audiences were first introduced to Gemma Foster, Suranne Jones will reprise her role alongside Bertie Carvel as Simon and Tom Taylor as their son Tom. The new series will once again be created and written by Mike Bartlett, with Drama Republic, the production company behind Riot Women and One Day, making the series in association with Fictional Company and TeamAkers Productions.

The returning cast also includes Adam James as Gemma's neighbour Neil, Thusitha Jayasundera as her friend and colleague Ros, and Anna Madeley as Lucy.

Joining them is Dustin Demri-Burns, known for Slow Horses and Criminal Record, who will play Callum, Gemma's new partner. The series will also feature Rosalie Craig, Gracie Oddie-James, Lois Baglin, Karima McAdams, Anjana Vasan, Michael Balogun, Christina Balmer, Justin Salinger and Ash Tandon.

The story picks up ten years after Gemma discovered that Simon was having an affair, setting in motion a devastating chain of events that ultimately saw her 15-year-old son Tom disappear. Now, Gemma remains a GP and is still living in the same house, but her life appears to be entering a new chapter.

Having found love again, Gemma is preparing to get married. However, as the wedding approaches and those closest to her gather around her, events from her past begin to resurface. Her happiness and reputation are soon placed under threat, forcing Gemma to confront a new danger while attempting to protect the people she loves.

With someone seemingly determined to hurt her, Gemma must uncover the truth and expose whoever is behind the latest threat. The central question will be whether she can finally leave the events of the past behind, find justice and secure the future she believes she deserves before everything she has rebuilt is destroyed.

Doctor Foster originally aired in 2015, with its second series following in 2017. The drama became a major BBC hit, with almost 10 million viewers watching the finale of series two. Both series received critical acclaim and won National Television Awards, while Suranne Jones earned a BAFTA for her performance as Gemma Foster.

The third series will bring the story to its conclusion, giving Gemma one final chapter after years of betrayal, revenge and personal upheaval.

The Ministry of Time: BBC and A24 Begin Filming on Ambitious Time-Travel Drama

Aoife Hinds (Image: Pip) and Billy Howle (Image: Iona Wolff)

By Jon Donnis

The BBC and A24 have begun filming The Ministry of Time, a new six-part drama based on Kaliane Bradley’s bestselling debut novel. Production is now under way in and around London, with Aoife Hinds and Billy Howle leading the cast.

Hinds, known for Normal People and Dune: Prophecy, plays Sophy, a civil servant whose hard-earned promotion takes her into a secret government experiment unlike anything she could have anticipated. Howle, whose credits include The Perfect Couple and Under the Banner of Heaven, plays Commander Graham Gore, a Victorian polar explorer brought forward from the 19th century as part of the programme.

The series centres on a newly established government department tasked with gathering people from different periods of history, known as ‘expats’, and bringing them into the present day. The experiment is intended to establish whether time travel can work on a practical level, with Sophy assigned to help Graham adapt to modern life.

What begins as a professional relationship gradually develops into an intense and forbidden romance. Their growing connection becomes increasingly complicated as Sophy discovers that the Ministry's motives may be far more sinister than she first realised. As the true purpose of the experiment emerges, their relationship places both of them in increasing danger.

Alice Birch, who previously worked on Normal People, The End We Start From and Dead Ringers, has adapted Bradley's novel for television. Aneil Karia, whose credits include Hamlet, The Gold and Surge, serves as lead director.

Bradley said she is excited to see the story brought to the screen, joking that she might have reacted very differently had she travelled back six years and discovered what would happen to the polar explorer she had begun writing about.

BBC Director of Drama Lindsay Salt described the series as a distinctive, genre-defying drama, highlighting the relationship between Sophy and Graham at the heart of the story. She also praised Birch's adaptation and said the BBC was looking forward to audiences joining the pair on their unusual journey.

The Ministry of Time will consist of six 60-minute episodes and is being produced by A24 for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Frances du Pille is the producer, while executive producers include A24, Alice Birch, Kaliane Bradley, Aneil Karia and Jo McClellan for the BBC.

Amediateka, Bell Media's Crave, Binge Australia and ZDF are co-producing the series, with A24 handling international distribution.

With its combination of science fiction, historical figures, government conspiracy and an increasingly dangerous romance, The Ministry of Time has the ingredients for a drama that can move between genres while keeping its central relationship at the forefront. The casting of Hinds and Howle also puts two performers with strong dramatic credentials at the centre of a story that spans centuries.

Further casting and details about the series are expected to be announced in due course.