Casualty’s Most Famous Faces

It’s a good job the Holby staff have such great bedside manner, with all these VIPs who’ve turned up over the years…

Watch Casualty on weekdays starting from series 23 on Monday 18th September at 9am, or catch up on UKTV Play

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Kate Winslet

Just before getting her big break on the silver screen, a certain Kate Winslet showed her face around the Holby corridors. We don’t blame her for looking so down, though – her character was the girlfriend of a lad who turned out to be abusing his own younger sister.
Alfred Molina

Alfred Molina is one of Britain’s most renowned thesps, whether he’s turning up in serious art films or battling Spider-Man as the multi-tentacled Doctor Octopus. But one of his earliest roles wasn’t the most flattering – playing a journalist who was writing about the Holby nightshift, but ended up getting horribly drunk and throwing up at reception.
Daisy Ridley

Who’d have thought Daisy Ridley would go from a bit-part in Casualty to the lead role in Star Wars in just a few short years? She turned up as Fran, a supposed “pal” of nurse Robyn, who spent most of her time putting poor Robyn down. That is, until a catastrophe at a fairground gave Robyn all the opportunity she needed to show her worth. And never mind Star Wars, because Ridley has said “Casualty will always be my first ‘Oh my God’ moment as an actor.”
Danny Dyer

Yes, before EastEnders made him a titan of the small screen, Danny Dyer turned up in Casualty as a troubled paramedic. He gave us all his trademark Dyer-ish angst as a man who was traumatised after surviving a train crash. Danny himself seemed delighted by the part, saying “What attracted me really is the fact I get to dress up like this.”
David Walliams

Never mind the familiar funnyman – the David Walliams we saw in Casualty was on dour, serious form as a father who’d inadvertently put his child into a state of malnutrition.
Martin Freeman

Martin Freeman may be best known for playing sweet, quietly heroic types, but this early appearance saw him channelling his inner wideboy geezer. Playing a cocksure criminal trying to coerce his mates into a robbery, he was certainly a far from that nice lad from The Office. And he had no respect for the police either. (“You always was a loser, now you’re just a loser in a uniform.”)
Minnie Driver

A few decades ago, Minnie Driver gave a particularly memorable performance as a Holby patient. In a storyline that drew on the panicked zeitgeist of the time, she played an HIV positive woman whose boyfriend can’t cope with the news of her condition.
Orlando Bloom

Orlando Bloom still looks unfeasibly fresh-faced these days, but here he is looking positively pubescent in Casualty. He put his boyish charm to good use as a smiling labourer who was brought in after suffering a work accident. Except it turned out he had psychological issues and his grisly injuries were actually self-inflicted.
Tom Hiddleston

Yes, this cheerful, chubby-cheeked chap really is future Hollywood heartthrob Tom Hiddleston. He made a memorably shocking appearance on Casualty as a hapless abseiler. Descending the side of a tower block, he accidentally collided with a woman leaning out of her balcony, causing her to plummet to the ground. Ouch.

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Kate Winslet

Alfred Molina

Daisy Ridley

Danny Dyer

David Walliams

Martin Freeman

Minnie Driver

Orlando Bloom

Tom Hiddleston