Holby City - Passing on - 10:25 am Thursday, July 30 on U&Drama +1

Amanda Mealing (Actor) .. Connie Beauchamp

Born: April 22, 1968 in London

Best Known For: Playing Connie Beauchamp in Holby City and Casualty.

Early-life: Amanda Jane Mealing was born in London on April 22, 1968 and grew up in Dulwich, South London. The youngest of four children, she is the only adopted member of her family. Her older brother, who was 14 years her senior, died after using heroin when she was 15. At the age of six, Amanda made her professional debut in a Julie Andrews TV special. She started taking Saturday classes at the Italia Conti Academy, before enrolling full-time when she was nine. As a child star, she went on to land roles in Just William, The Morecambe & Wise Show, and Grange Hill.

Career: Mealing went on to appear G.B.H., Anglo Saxon Attitudes, The House of Eliott, The Darling Buds of May and The Detectives. She had recurring roles in Jake's Progress, The Grand, and The Lakes. She joined the cast of Holby City in 2004, playing cardiothoracic consultant Connie Beauchamp. During a break from the series, she appeared in Strike Back: Project Dawn, Death in Paradise, and Law and Order: UK. In 2014, she reprised her role as Connie Beauchamp in Holby City sister show Casualty.

Quote: On her Connie Beauchamp character: 'She's on a mission to take over, and she doesn't care whose toes she has to step on to do it.'

Trivia: Mealing discovered that her birth mother modelled for Biba in London during the 1960s and her biological father was a half-Sierra Leonean poet and activist. The day after giving birth to her second son, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She made a full recovery.

Michael French (Actor) .. Nick Jordan

Born: September 17, 1962 in Bow, London

Best Known For: Playing EastEnder David Wicks and Casualty's Dr Jordan.

Early-life: Born Michael Clark on September 17, 1962, to parents David and Sheila. He's the son of a greengrocer and has two sisters - Helen and Jane. He was interested in the stage from an early age and was a keen member of a local drama club. He later trained at the Mountview Theatre School, and was a 'blue coat' entertainer at the Holiday Club International in Majorca.

Career: Michael spent 10 years appearing on stage and working as an air steward before his big break came in 1993 when he landed the part of David Wicks in EastEnders. He stayed in Walford for three years before leaving to appear in Crime Traveller (he returned briefly in 2012 to mark the death of his on-screen mother, Pat Evans). More TV roles followed in The Gentleman Thief, Born and Bred, and The Fabulous Bagel Boys. He also featured in radio plays and did video game voiceover work. Between 1998 and 2013 he had various stints playing Dr Nick Jordan in Casualty and sister programme Holby City. He returned briefly to EastEnders in 2012 to mark the death of his on-screen mother, Pat Evans. He rejoined EastEnders as a regular character in September 2013.

Quote: On playing Nick Jordan: 'I want it to show in my eyes that I know what this guy is going through. I've got to be as real as I possibly can.'

Trivia: On the West End stage, French has appeared in West Side Story, Chicago, Joseph, and Les Miserables.

Patricia Potter (Actor) .. Diane Lloyd

Hugh Quarshie (Actor) .. Ric Griffin

Born: December 25, 1954 in Accra, Ghana

Best Known For: Playing Ric Griffin in Holby City.

Early-life: Hugh Antony Kobna Quarshie was born on December 22, 1954, in Accra, Ghana, where he spent the first few years of his life. He moved to England and grew up in Golders Green, north London. Hugh went to school in Cheltenham and later studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford, where he was president of the African Society, and co-director of the Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company. After graduating, he worked as a journalist, becoming a sub-editor at West Africa Magazine.

Career: Made his small-screen debut in 1979 TV movie The Knowledge, and later featured in TV series Angels, Surgical Spirit and Medics. Appeared as Julius Caesar and Macbeth for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starred in a string of movies including Highlander and Nightbreed. While filming Star Wars: Episode One _ The Phantom Menace in Italy, he drew more autograph hunters than co-star Liam Neeson because of his role as a priest in Italian horror film La Chiesa. He was asked to reprise his role of Captain Panaka in Attack of the Clones but turned it down. Over the past few years he has appeared in Conspiracy of Silence, The Afternoon Play, Doctor Who and Holby City.

Quote: 'My attitude to acting is if you take it too seriously then you're not taking your life seriously enough.'

Trivia: In 2010, he traced his Ghanaian and Dutch origins in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

Rakie Ayola (Actor) .. Kyla Tyson

Thor Guichard (Actor) .. Max Tyson

Paul Bradley (Actor) .. Elliot Hope

Born: May 28, 1955 in Nuneaton

Best Known For: EastEnders and Holby City.

Early-life: Bradley was born on May 28, 1955, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. He attended the University of Manchester before joining the Royal Exchange, Manchester repertory company.

Career: Bradley landed his first major role in 1982 in The Young Ones. He's since cropped up in The Bill, Red Dwarf and Bottom but is most noted for his role in EastEnders, where he spent six years as Nigel Bates, and in Holby City, where he has played Elliot Hope since 2005.

Quote: Speaking about getting the role of Elliot in Holby: 'I was delighted and celebrated by going to New Zealand to watch rugby!'

Trivia: He has worked as a guitarist for John Otway.

Sharon D Clarke (Actor) .. Lola Griffin

Jaye Jacobs (Actor) .. Donna Jackson

Adam Best (Actor) .. Matt Parker

Ben Richards (Actor) .. Justin Fuller

Rachael Hayden (Actor) .. Sandra Wilson

Julia Laudano (Actor) .. Gloria Wilson

Skye Bennett (Actor) .. Heather Wilson

Rebekah Fortune (Actor) .. Dawn Loader

Roger Frost (Actor) .. Danny Jessop

Duncan Preston (Actor) .. Gerald Payne

Best Known For: His association with Victoria Wood, and playing Doug Potts in Emmerdale.

Early-life: Duncan was born in Bradford in 1946. He attended drama classes at the Bradford Civic in Little Germany and went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his TV debut in a 1964 episode of Crossroads. He began his association with Victoria Wood by playing various characters in the 1982 sketch comedy series Wood and Walters.

Career: Preston went on to work with Victoria Wood on a number of other projects, including Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, Victoria Wood, Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast, Pat and Margaret, dinnerladies, and the stage version of Acorn Antiques: The Musical. Preston has also made guest appearances in a number of TV shows, with notable performances in Coronation Street, Harry Enfield and Chums, and Surgical Spirit. Since 2007, he has played Doug Potts in Emmerdale. He is also a renowned Shakespearean actor, having performed in a number of productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Quote: 'I've done a soap and seen actors on their first day say, ‘My character wouldn't say that'. I'm sorry, but it's not your place to say that. Writers spend a lot more time writing scripts than we do acting them.'

Trivia: Preston was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Bradford in 2002.

Patrick Toomey (Actor) .. Mr Sutherland

Guy Flanagan (Actor) .. Trey Stone

Di Sherlock (Actor) .. Angela Bryan

Johann Knobel (Producer)

Colin Teague (Director)

Pete Hambly (Writer)

Holby City: Passing on

10:25 am - 11:45 am, Thursday, July 30 on U&Drama +1 (60)

About this Broadcast

Passing on
Episode 25

Cast & Crew

More Information

Did You Know..

Before / After