Lily Chao is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Casualty, played by actress Crystal Yu.

Lily is good at her job but lacks any "bedside manner" and her no-nonsense attitude causes problems with colleagues and patients alike.

The show have also centered a standalone episode around the character, which played her turning into a detective roll to solve two murders and endangering her life confronting the culprit.

Yu decided to leave the serial in 2017 and Lily made her final appearance in the eleventh episode of series thirty-two, broadcast on 4 November 2017.

The character has been generally well received by critics favouring her sound medical skills and poor bedside manner.

[1] Three days later the BBC formally announced her casting and released a series of promotional pictures of Yu on-set and in character.

"[4] Executive producer Oliver Kent said that Lily and fellow new character Rita Freeman (Chloe Howman) "hit the ground running and are set to create a stir in the ED".

"[9] Lily begins doing her rounds on the Emergency Department ward and is mentored by Consultant Martin Ashford (Patrick Robinson).

[2] A Casualty spokesperson told Ellis (Inside Soap) that Lily's attitude during her first day shows that she is not interested in making friends.

[13] Ash is reprimanded for pretending that a patient had died, given a written warning for unprofessional conduct but as What's on TV reported he "expresses genuine remorse for the heartache he caused his junior doctor."

[13] Ben Dowell from the Radio Times announced that Casualty were planning three special stand-alone episodes with dark themes.

Accredited actor Gary Lucy had been cast as patient Valentine Kildare for the first episode which also had Lily as the centric character.

The episode was also set to an eerie tone with flickering lights and power cuts explained on-screen with electricity generator testing.

[18] Lily ends up putting her life in danger when she confronts a corrupt police officer who is responsible for the murders.

She notices that a romance is developing between registrar Ethan Hardy (George Rainsford) and barista Honey Wright (Chelsee Healey).

Yu defended her character's actions believing that Lily does not understand "romantic love" and is unsure of how to deal with it.

Yu thought that Lily was better suited to Ethan's brother Caleb Knight (Richard Winsor) with whom she had once slept with.

Initially she wanted to leave and go on to dermatology, where she’d probably make a lot of money, but now I think she’d miss the adrenaline and variety of her ED job and saving lives!

Halfpenny told Ellis that Lily is "an amazing doctor, but struggles to connect with people on a personal level, so I think she's threatened by somebody who can do both.

But Lily dismisses her heroics and launches a verbal attack on Alicia in front of other Emergency Department staff.

"[7] Senior nurse Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson) witnesses Lily's behaviour and compares the situation to when Ash was bullying her.

[7] Producer Hossington told Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy that Lily's behaviour was so extreme because she was grieving for her father.

[23] Yu found her final week of filming challenging and commented, "I was trying to be strong and do the Lily Chao defence mechanism, but I was heartbroken.

[26] Lily is offered a research position in Hong Kong, but is conflicted about taking it as she would have to end her relationship with paramedic Iain Dean (Michael Stevenson).

[26] David Brown (Radio Times) labelled her a "spiky new junior doctor" who is "focused and intellectually fierce ".

[4] Ellis of Inside Soap stated that "while we know that Dr Lily Chao's bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired, her treatment of colleague Alicia Munroe has been nothing short of brutal.

[27] Duncan Lindsay writing for newspaper Metro branded Lily "a competent doctor" but served better as a background character.

[15] A What's on TV reporter branded her a "no-nonsense medic" character, another opined "Doctor Lily Chao is infamous for her cold, clinical demeanour.