Casualty series 18

The eighteenth series of *Casualty* ran on BBC One from 13 September 2003 to 28 August 2004, spanning 46 episodes. The show follows the professional and private lives of the medical and support staff working in the emergency department of the fictional Holby City Hospital. The serial was nominated for Best Continuing Drama at the 2004 British Academy Television Awards. The series launched in the UK on 13 September 2003 with a two-part episode broadcast on consecutive days. Foz Allan was the series producer, with Mal Young and Mervyn Watson as executive producers. Young, also the BBC Controller of Drama, said, "Series 18 will hopefully keep surprising and gripping our audience." Filmed in Bristol, the opening episodes, described as the show’s "most ambitious yet," involved a double train crash. Two production teams worked for over 24 days to film the stunt, using 1,470 supporting artists. Location filming took place on the Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough. Actors Kwame Kwei-Armah and Ian Bleasdale, who play paramedics Finlay Newton and Josh Griffiths, enjoyed the experience; Kwei-Armah compared it to making a "big movie." Writers created a story to raise funds for the 24th Children in Need telethon in November 2003. It featured a cameo from Lord Lichfield and saw staff produce a charity calendar, later sold commercially to benefit Children in Need. The eighteenth series includes a cast of NHS staff working in Holby City Hospital’s emergency department and the Holby Ambulance Service. Twelve cast members from the previous series returned. Original cast member Derek Thompson continued as clinical nurse specialist Charlie Fairhead. Ian Bleasdale, who joined in the fourth series, played Josh Griffiths, the operational duty manager at Holby Ambulance Service. Simon MacCorkindale portrayed consultant and clinical director Harry Harper. Christine Stephen-Daly appeared as acting registrar Lara Stone, and Christopher Colquhoun as registrar Simon Kaminski.