The future of Casualty is reportedly in doubt
BBC bosses have reportedly told the cast and crew of legendary soap that
they have “two more years”, sparking fears for the show. The medical drama,
which launched in 1986 and is the world’s longest-running, has been hit by “super-inflation in drama production” and cost-cutting measures.
Staff are said to have been told that their contract renewals will be their last, with filming of the 39th series currently underway. An insider told The Sun: “Never mind on life support, it feels like Casualty has now received its death warrant.
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“The official messaging is that all is well because the show was recently recommissioned for two more years.” They added: “But when that new round of contracts were signed, the feedback was ‘two years, then we’re done’. To be honest, no one was very surprised. The writing has been on the wall for a while now.”
It was also reported last year that chiefs had taken a number of cost cutting measures after they’d episodes were slashed in line with the cost of living crisis. This meant that Casualty was taken off-air from September 16 until December 30 to keep fees down. Along with budgets being dried up and the programme losing some of it’s biggest names such as Strictly star Nigel Harman announcing his departure and OG Derek Thompson, 75, who played Charlie Fairhead from the day the show first aired.
However, the BBC has denied the claims, with a spokesperson saying: “Casualty isn’t going anywhere, the latest recommission is simply part of the normal business cycle.”
If the BBC were to take Casualty off-air there would only be one longstanding drama belonging to the channel – EastEnders. With Casualty’s life span hanging on by a thread, it could soon find it’s self on the scrap heap along with Holby City which came to and end in March 2022 and Doctors in October of the same year.
