Holby Blue

There is only so variation you can have with police dramas as you say. The ones that have endured are the ones that are idosyncratic. For instance:

The Bill has a more day-to-day feel to it, and arguably the most realistic of all of them. Midsomer Murders has a quaint and anachronistic flavour to it. Taggart has the macabre, dour and gritty edge to it.

Dalziel & Pascoe works because of the dynamic between the two "chalk and cheese" characters, an idea which has sadly has been poorly copied to death in other shows. Although they have used a similar idea effectively in New Tricks .

Touch of Frost has David Jason-- enough in itself to make it a classic

But that is only a token effort to "shut people up", as it were.

Is it contractual that Charlie should appear at the start of every Casualty spin-off?

Holby Blue is being shot in HD and is simulcast on BBC HD - though it doesn't "jump off the screen" as a lot of other HD stuff has - probably an intentional decision to make it not look bright and shiny. It does seem to partially suffer from the smeariness that Torchwood suffered from though...

Ok. so now the series has ended, what did everyone think of it? The show is due to return next year and filming begins later this year. More here http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/holbyblue/news.shtml

Never caught it as BBC Scotland kept moving it!

Watched the first 2 then went on holidays so missed it and lost interest after that. It was OK but not as good as The Bill.

I bet it will become an ongoing series like Casualty and Holby City have.