Fans of BBC One medical drama Casualty have been left in shock after learning about a development regarding the show.

Casualty has now been put out to tendering, a process that will decide which producer makes the show, though the BBC will retain all the rights for the programme.

While this development won’t impact the future of the medical drama, it will change the foundations of the series. Casualty is set in the Emergency Department of Holby City Hospital, but this won’t be the case once the new production company take over.

It means the ED will be set in Wales, rather than the fictional city of Holby.

In an official document from the broadcaster, there is hope the show will ‘evolve into Welsh portrayal while maintaining the core attraction to the loyal fan base’.

The contract asks tenderers to include ‘authentic representation of Wales and reflect the reality of the Welsh NHS’.

‘This is not about radical change of the show, although the move to Welsh portrayal will mean a new fictional hospital based in Wales, and tenderers will need to address this core change in their editorial pitch to the evaluation panel.

‘The successful tenderer will need to be able to demonstrate how to incorporate Welsh portrayal and maintain familiarity at the same time.’

The development has left fans of the show in shock. Ever since Holby City ended in 2022, they have loved seeing old characters occasionally pop up in Casualty. It keeps the two worlds together, but now many are fearing the history of Holby could be eradicated.

Metro reader Kirsten said: ‘Nooooo holby is literally meant to be a random town situated somewhere between south west england and wales. it’s meant to be ambiguous.’

This user of X said: ‘Ridiculous to expect us to believe that an entire hospital staff would relocate!’.

On our Metro Soaps Facebook page, this fan echoed many others and wrote: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, while another wondered: ‘How will they explain all the characters moving to wales suddenly?’.

We currently don’t know how the move to the Welsh hospital will take place.

Amid the fears though, it’s possible the show could simply note that Holby is a district in Wales, therefore keeping it familiar to fans of both shows, but opening up more opportunities to explore the Welsh NHS.

The new Casualty producer is set to take over in November, with the revamped episodes airing in late 2026.