Casualty star William Beck has addressed the soap’s permanent move to Wales. It’s a huge shakeup for the cast and crew – not only will the show be filmed at the BBC’s Roath Lock Studios in Cardiff as it has been since 2011, but the Casualty universe itself will take place in Wales, rather than the fictional city of Holby.
Talking about the switch-up in an interview with Metro, Beck, who plays Dr Dylan Keogh, said: “It’s going to be really exciting. Those parameters we have been given to fulfil are really exciting and I think unprecedented.”
“What we will have on the other side of it is a huge opportunity,” he continued. “Three years, at least, to demonstrate that not just the creatives that we have here, but that Wales is going to be a place that offers drama, set as it so happens in Wales.”
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Announcing the change in May, a BBC document stated: “We are asking tenderers to include [an] authentic representation of Wales and reflect the reality of the Welsh NHS.
“This is not about radical change of the show, although the move to Welsh portrayal will mean a new fictional hospital based in Wales, and tenderers will need to address this core change in their editorial pitch to the evaluation panel.
BBC
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“The successful tenderer will need to be able to demonstrate how to incorporate Welsh portrayal and maintain familiarity at the same time.”
Prior to the shake-up, Casualty was set in the fictional county of Wyvern, with the area portrayed as part of south-west England. The change of setting is just one of many shifts for the series. Alongside the move to Wales, Casualty will welcome a number of new characters for its 40th season.
BBC
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“The move to Wales will present opportunities for new cast members, but we would expect much-loved characters to remain part of the editorial shift to the location of the new Welsh hospital,” the BBC said.
It has also been suggested that future seasons will have “a minimum of 24 episodes per series”.
Casualty airs on Saturday nights on BBC One and now streams first on BBC iPlayer, where episodes are released at 6am on the day of transmission.
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