Casualty series 29
Jane Hazlegrove reprised her role as paramedic Kathleen "Dixie" Dixon in the premiere episode, following a three month absence.
Sunetra Sarker, William Beck and Michael Stevenson reprised their roles as ED consultants Zoe Hanna and Dylan Keogh, and paramedic Iain Dean in October 2014.
Charles Venn joined the show's main cast in summer 2015 as senior staff nurse Jacob Masters.
The standalone episodes were noted as being "independent from the main series story arc", as well as making "no reference to ongoing plotlines".
In addition to this, the Casualty production team were shortlisted under the Best Television Soap and Continuing Drama category at the 2015 BAFTA awards.
"[3] The final webisode, "Mrs Walker-To-Be", centered around the characters of Zoe Hanna (Sarker) and Max Walker (Davis) as they went on their respective pre-wedding celebrations and was published online on 22 August 2015, following the broadcast of episode forty-five.
The standalone episodes were noted as being "independent from the main series story arc", as well as making "no reference to ongoing plotlines".
In addition to this, the episodes were created by former show scriptwriters, in an attempt to "tempt back some of Casualty's writing alumni who had gone onto bigger and better things".
The episode, entitled "Deadfall", was written by Jeff Povey and directed by David Innes Edwards, and featured main character Lily Chao (Yu) solving a murder mystery.
[8] The final standalone episode, entitled "Holby Sin City", aired on 11 July 2015, and was written by Mark Catley and directed by Simon Massey.
[9] In August 2014, Hossington revealed in an interview with Digital Spy that her main aims for Casualty since taking over were to focus the show on "the characters who the audience really loved" and to see more "interest and compelling" guest stories.
[6] The twenty-ninth series of Casualty featured a cast of characters working in the emergency department of Holby City Hospital.
George Rainsford and Richard Winsor portrayed specialist registrars Ethan Hardy and Caleb "Cal" Knight.
Jamie Davis continued his role of porter Max Walker, whilst Tony Marshall and Azuka Oforka appeared as receptionists Noel Garcia and Louise Tyler.
Matt Bardock and Gemma Atkinson starred as paramedics Jeff Collier and Tamzin Bayle, with the latter appearing in a recurring capacity.
[11] A trailer previewing "dramatic Winter episodes" was released on 4 October 2014 including the introduction of Connie's daughter Grace Beauchamp.
[14] Frances Tomelty and Sarah Jayne Dunn were announced to be joining the show in August 2014 by series producer Erika Hossington.
Bardock's final scenes aired in episode five, broadcast on 4 October 2014, when Jeff was killed in a car explosion as part of a "shock twist".
[20] Robinson's departure from the serial was announced in episode fifteen, broadcast on 3 January 2015, following the show's return from the Christmas break, although it was not screened.
[24] Jane Hazlegrove and Sunetra Sarker temporarily departed from their respective roles of paramedic Kathleen "Dixie" Dixon and consultant Zoe Hanna in the previous series.
[25] Episode six, broadcast on 11 October 2014, saw the return of Jamie Collier (Daniel Anthony) and Iain Dean (Michael Stevenson) who both appeared for Jeff's funeral.
[26] Mark Letheren made four guest appearances throughout the series as counsellor Ben Harding, a role he has played on-off since 2007.
[29] Hossington confirmed in an interview with Digital Spy that Holby City characters, Guy Self (John Michie) and Elliot Hope (Paul Bradley), would appear in the series.
[30] Following their returns to Holby City in October 2014 and April 2015 respectively, Michael Spence (Hari Dhillon) and Henrik Hanssen (Guy Henry) featured in one episode of Casualty each.
[74] The Casualty production team were shortlisted at the BAFTA 2015 awards under the category of Best Television Soap and Continuing Drama, however the show was unsuccessful, with Coronation Street winning instead.
