Holby City Police spin-off to launch

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,1761940,00.html

I don't like the sound of this. No doubt if it is successful it will end up running as a weekly soap every week

It just seems to be trying to grab ratings from The Bill with copycat programming

And it also says that it is likely to be on Wedensday nights at 8 - directly up against The Bill. How totally unoriginal - and personally, despite Holby doing very well, i can see it being a complete flop. I mean The Bill and Holby Blue would be after EXACTLY the same audience.

so when will it get shown in scotland, as wednedays is when there show holby cicy.

MereyBeat tried to take off The Bill in the final series, and it got axed......

There was talk sometime ago that there was to be a Bill spinoff set in a hospital.

It's nice to see that in this day and age originality still prevails.

I think if it was to launch on a Wednesday night then it will have to be on during the 9pm hour, it would be trounced hands down if it was up against the bill.

Yes, Sunhill General or something. The BBC do not need to be doing this, they don't need another hour of soap to add to Holby City, Casualty, Eastenders, Neighbours, Doctors.

They seem desperate for a decent cop show, they've not had one really since Juliet Bravo.

Holby City itself has become boring with the same storylines over and over. It was better when it was on for a series for say 20 weeks and then off for a break. But like most soaps these days its on too often.

As for this spin off - time for some new ideas I think

Quite. And better still when it concentrated on doctors and nurses at work rather than doctors and nurses' personal lives.

Although Holby City is very much like a soap, it is actually considered a drama, as is Casualty!

However it is what the BBC have announced as a general drama policy shift. They are looking to make their value for money savings by commissioning longer runs of the same dramas rather than short runs - as the economies of scale kick in significantly.

It still seems too much like playing it safe and milking a franchise for all it's worth, like ITV do.