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Casualty viewers were left ‘broken’ after a fan favourite was killed off during Saturday night’s episode. The BBC medical drama, which first aired on 6 September 1986, returned to screens on Saturday night, and fans will remember that Cassie Woods (Charlie Ann Upton) was in hospital following a horrific attack that took place a few weeks ago.

The character, who made her debut in June, is the foster sister of Dr. Nicole Piper (Sammy T Dobson), who spent much of the episode trying to discover more about her past in her hometown of Newcastle. Having gone up north to visit Tina Piper, her long-lost mother, Nicole was let in after Tina assumed she was the district nurse who had come to help her mother-in-law. Initially thrown out of the house when the truth came out, Nicole spoke to Ngozi (Adesuwa Oni) back at Wyvern’s hospital, who revealed that her sister’s condition had only got worse. Despite this, Ngozi insisted that Nicole stay overnight in Newcastle.

The next day, Nicole went back to her mother’s house, and a series of flashbacks revealed the tough childhood she had endured before being put into care, as her father was abusive towards her mother. Nicole then discovered that her mother was diabetic, not a drug addict as she had initially thought, and was sad to realise that she could have removed her from the care system at any time.

Tina then told Nicole that she had suffered a ‘diabetic coma’ and by the time she came round, she had already been placed in emergency care. Other truths then unfolded when Nicola discovered that her mother had been married for 22 years and her mother-in-law, Ruth, was the woman she had pretended to come to care for when she came into the house.

Back at Holby, it was revealed that Cassie had suffered catastrophic brain injuries, and doctors agreed that removing her life support was the only thing that could be done. A dispute ensued when Flynn Byron (Olly Rix) demanded that Cassie’s mother, Vicky, ‘needed more time’ to come to terms with it all, although the medics were thrown when he referred to her as Claire, the name of his ex-partner.

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It was later revealed that Doctor Lauren’s first patient, who had life support withdrawn, was Flynn and Claire’s baby son, as he told Dr Dylan Keogh (William Beck) through tears: “She just wanted more time with him. I pushed her into making a decision more he was ready.” The whole thing had brought about a discussion as to when was the right time to switch life support off, and ultimately did buy Vicky more time.

In Newcastle, Tina told Nicole that she couldn’t have possibly looked after them both. Nicole then received the tragic news from the hospital and eventually started to head back. Later that night, she returned to the ward and was reunited with Cassie’s mother by the bedside. She said: “Cassie would be really pleased that you’re here.”

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Vicky replied through tears: “She’d be really pleased that you’re here too.” No more words were said and Cassie was removed from life support. In a daze, Nicole then went back onto the hospital corridor and she was surrounded by all of her colleagues in a group hug.

The episode was an emotional one for fans of the long-running drama, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2026, and they flocked to social media to address just how sad the whole episode was.

One said: “Everyone hugging Nicole. That actually broke me.” Another said: “Poor Nicole [crying emoji]” and a third added: “What an episode, poor Flynn @Olly_Rix poor Nicole @sammytdobson[crying emojis] #BBCCasualty #Casualty.”

Despite this, one fan couldn’t understand why the character had caused so much concern to begin with as they said: “Why is everyone so concerned about this Cassie character. Who is she? They’re all moping around like she’s some much loved member of the team.”