announced that Holby City had been cancelled and would conclude with the twenty-third series. The final episode was broadcast in March 2022. The decision was made as part of plans from the BBC to make more programmes across the country with the intention to better reflect it. An official press release statement thanked the entire cast and crew for their work on the serial and promised that it would "[go] out on a high". Gleeson explained that his team wanted to make the series' concluding broadcasts "the most entertaining Holby yet". Hugh Quarshie, the show's longest-serving cast member, told Sarah Marsh of The Guardian that the cast and production team were informed about the cancellation one hour before its announcement. The show's cancellation received a backlash from critics, fans and past and present cast members. Calli Kitson of Metro branded the decision "a huge mistake" and summarised, "Put simply, storylines in Holby City have saved people's lives." Borehamwood and Elstree Times writer and Elstree Studios historian Paul Welsh was disappointed by the news and felt sorry for the cast "whose fame rests on being in Holby City" and may struggle with typecasting. Quarshie, Joe McFadden (Raf di Lucca), Davood Ghadami (Eli Ebrahimi) and Luisa Bradshaw-White (Lisa Fox) were among the cast who expressed their sadness with the show's cancellation. Fans of the show launched a Change.org petition to save Holby City; it reached over 30,000 signatures in a matter of days. Characters and cast Characters Holby City follows the professional and personal lives of medical and ancillary staff at Holby City Hospital. It features an ensemble cast of main and recurring characters. New main characters have been both written in and out of the series regularly since it started, the show contains a core of 10 to 20 main characters on the show at any given time. The original cast of 11 characters featured in the show's first episode consisted of 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). Towards the end of its run the show featured an ensemble of sixteen regular characters.