An episode of BBC’s long running medical drama Casualty wouldn’t be complete without lashings of fake blood as the staff of the fictional Holby ED deal with all sorts of gruesome cases. On a recent set visit Express.co.uk saw first hand the aftermath of a scene as one of the sets was covered in blood following a birth scene. As realistic as it looks on screen it is actually even more convincing close up, and one person on the visit even had to step away as they found it so overwhelming.

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Once a scene is in full flow, it literally goes everywhere so to ensure no one gets ill if they ingest it, they use an edible mix. While no one would necessarily willingly eat it, the mix is flavoured so as not to offend anyone’s taste buds should it get in their mouth and, obviously it is formulated to allow for people’s allergies and dietary needs.

Along with clever prosthetics the blood helps create the illusion of serious injuries and surgical procedures.

The on set prosthetic room contains all manner of body parts including hollow torsos which they can add fake organs in to as needed.

To ensure it looks as if the blood is actually flowing, as it would in real life, pumps are added to the prothesis in order to allow the blood to flood into the body part.

Blood is such an integral part of the show the 2025 Christmas special revolved around it. The special episode of the drama highlighted the importance of blood donation.

In a twist for the show real people were featured telling their blood donation stories in between the scripted action, which saw Iain Dean (Michael Stevenson) crash an ambulance as he was carrying a much needed supply of blood back to Holby ED. The heart wrenching stories illustrated just how important it is to give blood.

While the BBC didn’t comment on the response to the episode the NHS said it led to a huge uplift in bookings.

The NHS Blood and Tansplant website reported in England alone they had seen 5,000 new donors registered and 10,000 extra appointments were booked over the weekend after the Christmas special aired on Saturday 21 December.

They said 1,200 of these appointments were booked in the hour immediately after the episode aired.