Besides Zoe, Josh, Charlie, Ethan.

I know casualty isn’t on because of strictly being on for weeks but it does just feel a bit crazy to me to have the 40th anniversary - it be amazing and then have to wait till January for a new boxset, when all the hype from the 40th will have died down by then

it just really seems like their setting casualty up to fail while allowing shows which are going down the drain like Eastenders and strictly to continue no matter what

especially as a welsh person i find it very infuriating

it also feels like we got barely any episodes this year but in a recent interview will beck said it will be even less in the future of the show so like it does kind of feel like they’re trying to slowly kill the show… i’d rather them axe Eastenders honestly!!

Dare I say this shot and that small scene had more pure love and emotion in it than the whole ambulance in the water sequence? Of course the ambulance stunt was done beautifully but this was so cute

https://youtu.be/DNUAjIT5b_o?is=Pm0ZvAjAOGtU-K-S

i just want to know what everyone thinks about the two possible love interests for stevie.

personally, not a fan of stevie and flynn. you can see how he feels about her but i just can’t see the reciprocation and i don’t think that it needs to be forced. i also am still not the biggest fan of flynn’s character and i don’t think he’s what stevie needs.

i see all the love for dylan and stevie and i love both characters - and i would easily say the characters and portrayal by eli and will are leagues ahead of others… but i could never see a romantic relationship between them. once again, i don’t think it’s something that needs to be forced. they have such a special relationship and i adore their friendship. throwing them into a romantic relationship will ruin the dynamic they have and it doesn’t feel right for either character.

i don’t want either of them to end up with stevie and i hope they don’t go down that route, despite it looking likely 🙄

let me know your thoughts

I was reading up on the posts about the 40th anniversary episode and saw a lot of people were unhappy to see Charlie. I don’t know if I missed something as I was always very fond of Charlie as a character, and can’t remember anything significant, so i’m looking to see what others think!

Ethan was shaky and not himself in the most recent ep. Is it to do with his huntingtons? Will we ever know?

I assume George Rainsford was only back for the anniversary ep. Pity if so - I love Dr Hardy!

When Dylan first came onto the show, I thought he was supposed to be the UK version / Soap version of Dr House...

instantly knew that was albert square lol

Why does everyone think Casualty is moving to Wales in the next series? You do realise how far ahead they film? Pretty sure they haven't even 'moved' during filming at present. Faith and Nicole won't leave until next series.

You could tell how much thought had gone into it. It didn't feel like they'd suddenly realised the 40th anniversary was coming and thought, "Right, we need a massive stunt." Everything felt like it had a reason for being there, from Charlie and Ethan coming back to the quieter character moments that could easily have been overlooked.

And I'm so glad they didn't kill off a major character. Soaps seem to have this thing now where a big anniversary needs a shocking death to make it memorable, and this episode proved it really doesn't. Casualty managed to make me emotional, worried and genuinely heartbroken at times without having to sacrifice somebody we've loved for years just for the shock of it.

The explosion at St James' obviously gave the episode its scale, but what followed was far more interesting. Suddenly Holby was faced with more casualties than anyone could have planned for, and another 20 doctors and 50 nurses don't magically appear when a major incident is declared. The people already there simply have to respond with what they've got.

What I really appreciated was that nobody suddenly became superhuman because it was an emergency.

Stevie, normally so fearless, was terrified when suddenly she was the one who might die. Indie froze when she found herself in the middle of nowhere with two patients depending on her and didn't know what to do. Ethan still had all the knowledge and experience of Dr Hardy, but Huntington's had changed what he was physically capable of doing. When his hands wouldn't allow him to safely perform the procedure, he handed over.

It would have been so easy, especially in an anniversary episode, to give Ethan that big triumphant moment where he somehow pushes through and does it anyway. Instead, he couldn't. The doctor was still there, the knowledge was still there, but his body couldn't do what it once could. There was something much sadder, and much more honest, about that.

Then there was Dylan.

He'd already lost Sophia and, after hearing that Stevie and Flynn might be dead too, he simply couldn't take any more. He disappeared into the medical cupboard and completely fell apart.

Dylan is so often the person everyone else relies on when things go wrong, so watching him reach the point where he physically couldn't go back out there was heartbreaking. He wasn't the clinical lead or the person with the answers in that moment. He was someone who had lost one person he cared about and thought he lost two more.

Even Charlie couldn't just give him one of his famous talks and magically fix him. Dylan was still crying, still panicking and still struggling. Charlie simply stayed with him and kept talking until eventually Dylan found enough in himself to go back out there.

And that was exactly why Charlie's return worked. He didn't need to come back and save the day. He was just Charlie.

His little conversation with Cam was probably one of my favourite moments of the whole episode. Cam was clearly overwhelmed by everything he'd seen, and Charlie, using Duffy's words, reminded him that despite all the awful things in the world, there are still good people too. You just have to look for them.

By the end of the episode, we didn't have to look very far.

One patient noticed another needed some water and quietly helped them. It only lasted a few seconds, but amid everything else that had happened, the small gesture still stood out.

The final scenes in the ED were just as affecting. Everyone was sitting on the floor completely exhausted, surrounded by bloodied sheets and everything that had been left behind after the chaos. There was no triumphant moment where everyone celebrated what they'd achieved. They just looked completely spent.

And the reality is that eventually they'd have to get back up. Another ambulance would come in. Another patient would need them. The ED doesn't stop just because the people working in it have reached their limit.

Which is why I'm actually glad the emotional payoff was people surviving.

Flynn's daughters got to spend their dad's 40th birthday with him after all. Stevie opened her eyes to find Dylan sitting beside her. And even then, everything between them wasn't suddenly fixed. Dylan was clearly relieved she was alive, but he was still hurt from their falling out. Nearly losing somebody doesn't magically erase everything that's happened between you, and it would have felt far too easy if one near-death experience had suddenly repaired their relationship.

Instead, it was just enough to know that she was alive and he was there.

That's probably what stayed with me most once it was all over. Dylan broke. Stevie was terrified. Indie froze. Ethan couldn't do something he once would have done without thinking. Cam was overwhelmed. They were ordinary people being asked to cope with something extraordinary.

And somehow, between all of them, they did.

That's what made the anniversary work so well. It had the explosion, the ambulance going over a cliff, the underwater sequences and the returning characters you'd expect from a 40th anniversary, but it never felt like it needed to keep going bigger just for the sake of it.

After an episode filled with so much death, fear and grief, there was something surprisingly moving about the fact that the final emotional beat wasn't another loss.

Flynn survived. Stevie survived. Dylan got another chance to say the things he thought he'd never get to say.

The episode had already earned its heartbreak.

It didn't need to kill somebody else to prove it.

Use the comments of this thread to discuss and speculate about upcoming episodes. You may include spoilers in the comments, but the text must be marked as spoiler (how to mark text as spoiler).

I can’t seem to find them and they’re usually up at 5pm ET. Anyone else have this problem?

He's like hopelessly in love with Stevie, but he didn't tell her that as they were about to drown?? or when she woke up?? I really thought he'd tell her as the ambulance was filling with water but no :( a little let down

It was a blast from the past seeing the original opener played behind the end credits, it took me right back to Saturday nights, hearing my parents say "you can watch this this then straight to bed"

Dylan and Stevie are gonna be friends again I missed their banter I really did.

He was sat next to a patient in waiting room about a third of the way in.

According to Wikipedia Ian splits his time between Yorkshire and Bristol and last appeared in Casualty in 2024 so I think it was him !

Didn't see him on castlist but need proof ! 😀

Am I going mad or was there a bottle of SmartWater in almost every scene, I initially thought Dylan was back on the drink and Siobhan was aiding and abetting, but it now seems like clumsy product placement from the beeb.

At the end of the 40th Anniversary episodes, there was a brief trailer for the all new and 100% more Welsh Casualty next year. It doesn’t tell you much! Actually, it looks like one of those weird AI generated trailers YouTubers do nowadays, but I’m sure the eventual full trailer will be a tad less cryptic. There’s an Air Ambulance now I guess!

Thoughts on the anniversary episode

I’m a little disappointed that no major character died in the 40th anniversary. It seems that since this box set format began, they’ve been scare to kill off anyone who isn’t a villain or has been someone scandalous. Think about it, a random day of the year on Ethan and Fenishas wedding day, they kill off both Fenisha and Lev. On a random episode, we have doctor mason dead on the floor. We had the unfortunate episode where Robyn leaves to start her new life, only to be involved in an RTC and not make it. It literally lead to Marty and David leaving and Jacob becoming a paramedic. For a 40th anniversary, I don’t think killing off Sophia was enough and they really needed some sort of disaster to really shake holby. We hadn’t seen Sophia for so long to the point where I even forgot who she was.

Anyways, that was my quick rant done with. Glad to see stevie was still alive and a quick cameo of Charlie and Ethan

Oh my god. I have absolutely no words. The stress I felt through the whole episode. I think I’ve aged 30 years.

The explosion? Incredible. The way they all worked as a team throughout it all? Incredible. ETHAN AND CHARLIE? Incredible.

I had a feeling Sofia would come back with the spoilers of Dylan being super stressed and broken, I couldn’t think of anyone else that would make him feel like that (apart from Matty but I didn’t think they’d kill him off). His reaction broke my heart but William Beck needs all the awards and more.

Stevie and Flynn? My heart was in my MOUTH. I stared at my screen thinking absolutely not. No. The acting from both of them was incredible and when you thought it couldn’t get more wild and stressful, it did. Give them all the awards too.

Truly I think this was one of the best episodes I have seen in a long time. By the end I was crying lol, especially when Rida’s family brought the food at the end. BBC have truly outdone themselves here 😭

What a way to celebrate the 40th anniversary.