A tweet from Lee had us on high alert for news of his next career move... and a Google Alert delivered late on 9 February! A return for Lofty, but not to the Emergency Department... this time he'll be upstairs, bringing his "trademark warmth and kindness" (to quote Executive Producer, Simon Harper) to Keller Ward. You can read Simon Harper's full comments on the Holby casting news on BBC's Holby City mini-site.Look who I found. Ex Casualty boys back on set :) @WalkinshawAlex pic.twitter.com/OpxDzCBkRY
— Lee Mead (@leemeadofficial) February 21, 2017
Meanwhile, Lee is clearly happy to be returning, to both the character and the world of TV... and as Holby is filmed at Elstree studios, he will even be within commuting distance from home this time!
The press release also confirms the return of one of Holby's favourite nurses - Donna Jackson (played by Jaye Jacobs) - and the addition of two new characters played by Ayesha Dharker and Jason Adao. All four will start filming in the next couple of weeks and will be on screen across the Spring.Morning all, and thank you for the messages. Very excited to be coming back as Lofty and as a new part of the Holby team. The next chapter.
— Lee Mead (@leemeadofficial) February 10, 2017
The news has of course been picked up by various media outlets and you can catch up with their reactions in the Press Round-up, with new pieces added as they appear. More news as I get it... follow the Timeline on Twitter for the latest!
UPDATE 25 FEB: Lee started filming w/c 20 February, his first week tweets talking of colleagues old (see right) and new, long days and line learning, and has indicated that his first episode is likely to air around the end of May.
UPDATE 7 MAR: Holby's Spring trailer released, giving us our first glimpse of Lofty 'Holby City-style' - watch here.
UPDATE 5 MAY: Lee's first episode confirmed as S19-E32 : Project Aurous - BBC One, 8pm (11pm in Scotland), Tuesday 16 May.
Last updated: 5 May 2017