 Donna was raised by her grandmother Shirley ( Lynda Baron ) , who appears in the series eight episode " Bad Blood " . Clarke Peters , star of American drama series The Wire , was cast as her estranged father in 2009 . He appeared from 14 July to 11 August 2009 , suffering from cancer of the <unk> flexure , pancreas and abdominal wall . Jacobs was " thrilled " by Peters ' casting , and reported that his first appearance rendered the programme 's crew " star @-@ struck " for the first time in her five years on the show . His appearance allowed Donna to confront her father over his abandonment of her as a child , and rendered her devastated upon learning that he had accepted his impending death . Peters assessed that his appearance had an " enormous impact " on Donna , explaining that his role allowed the audience to discover more about her life , as : " This is a way to get into these characters rather than just seeing them as one @-@ dimensional characters , dealing with whatever happens at Holby . " Producers Diana Kyle and Tony McHale intended the storyline to reveal a new side to Donna , depicting her attempting to cope , in contrast to the " smiling party girl " viewers were familiar with . 
