in the series. It has occasionally featured special episodes filmed on location abroad. From October 2010, Holby City moved to high definition broadcasting. In September 2016, as part of the broadcaster's Compete Or Compare Strategy, the BBC confirmed the show would be one of the first put up for tender. In the tender released in October, it was confirmed the contract, open to independent producers and BBC Studios, would be for 3 series of a minimum 50 episodes per series, delivered from December 2017 with no break in transmission and produced from the existing production base at BBC Elstree Centre. BBC Studios was announced as the winning bidder and was to continue to produce the show through to 2020. It was announced on 18 March 2020 that production had been suspended on Holby City and other BBC Studios continuing dramas in light of new government guidelines following the COVID-19 pandemic. A BBC Studios statement said there would be no impact on the immediate broadcast of episodes, but that the "long-term ramifications are still unclear". Despite this, it was announced on 9 April 2020 that the drama would be going on an extended hiatus on 14 April. It was later confirmed that the show would return in July 2020. Development Holby City was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the BBC medical drama Casualty, which is set in the emergency department of the fictional Holby City Hospital. Young wanted to explore what happened to patients treated in Casualty once they were taken away to the hospital's surgical wards. While Casualty scope is limited to "accident of the week" storylines about patients entering hospital, Holby City allowed the possibility of storylines about long-term care, rather than immediate life and death decisions. The series was commissioned by BBC One Controller Peter Salmon, and began airing on BBC One on 12 January 1999. Series producer Richard Stokes believes that the series' popularity stems from the fact the hospital setting presents numerous plotline opportunities, explaining: "You have licence to create life-and-death situations every week, something you cannot do in any other set piece. The interaction of the characters can be sexy and social issues also permeate the writing. But, basically, hospital drama is successful because the viewers will forgive all the yukky bits for the wonder of a life saved." The focus of the series has developed since its conception,