Ben Sherwood is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City, played by actor Charlie Condou.

Writers originally devised the character as a villain, but changed his personality following Condou's casting.

Condou was contracted to Holby City for three months and his sexuality story leads to his exit in episode 11 of series twenty-two, originally broadcast on 24 March 2020.

On 3 September 2019, it was announced that actor Charlie Condou had joined the cast as Ben Sherwood, a locum consultant on the general surgical ward, Keller.

[1] Simon Harper, the show's executive producer, praised Condou and said that the drama was "lucky" to hire him.

[5] The actor confirmed that he would portray a "really big story",[6] but he was unsure whether Ben would be reintroduced for a longer stint in the future.

[6] Ben's position as a consultant required Condou to learn medical terminology and a doctor's examination routine, something which he struggled to do as well as the general dialogue and acting.

[8] He found that working on Holby City helped him create a healthy work-life balance as he only lives 45 minutes away from the set.

[4] The backstory created for Ben states that he has spent time working in the private sector of medicine, which has made him wealthy and "a bit flash with his money".

[4] Ben has also spent time working for the National Health Service (NHS) in a position at neighbouring St James Hospital.

[10] Barrett enjoyed filming the story with Condou, calling it "marvellous" to portray love rivals.

[13] Ben makes his first appearance in the series twenty-one episode "Be True, Be Brave, Be Kind", originally broadcast on 19 December 2019.

[6] After a successful few weeks with Ben, Essie decides that she wants to tell him about her illegal adoption of Isla, a relative's newborn daughter.

[11] Essie soon changes her mind after patient Maria Edelman (Susan Engel) encourages her to follow love.

[24] When surgeon Henrik Hanssen (Guy Henry) experiences complications operating on Dom's mother, Carole Copeland (Julia Deakin), he asks for Ben's assistance.

[26] Condou was surprised by the plot twist and thought it would create an "awkward" situation for Ben, Dom and Essie.

[7] Condou thought it was realistic for Ben to be in a relationship with Essie, but also feel conflicted about his sexuality, comparing it to the story of television personality Phillip Schofield, who came out in February 2020.

[22] Ben becomes paranoid as a result of Dom outing him to Essie and when he spots her laughing with other nurses, he reminds her about her secrets.

The suggestion was made by This Morning's resident doctor, Ranj Singh, who asked Harper if the drama could feature them as a reflection on the NHS, who use the badges as a message of inclusion.

[29] Harper explained that they would be "at the heart of the big story where Ben (Charlie Condou) struggles to accept his sexuality and come out of the closet".

[29] Following the release of Holby City's spring trailer, Dainty (Digital Spy) confirmed that Ben's sexuality story would lead to his exit from the drama.

The reporter also revealed that actor Paul Clayton had reprised his guest role as Roger Ffolkes for the story.

[5] Condou liked the scenes, describing them as "lovely",[27] and told Laura-Jayne Tyler of Inside Soap that he actually witnessed the attacks at the time so he was pleased when writers mentioned them in the script.

[5] Following his conversations with Roger, Ben decides that he should leave the hospital and "spend a bit of time trying to figure out who he is".

[5] He also confirmed that the "door is left open" for Ben to return and the character would be working in his private medical practice in a neighbouring hospital.