Following the death of Laura Sadler who played Sandy Harper, the scriptwriters consulted her mother, Sonja Sadler, to find the most fitting way to write out the much-loved character and actress from the series. Mrs Sadler devised the storyline in which Sandy wins the lottery and secretly leaves the hospital to make a new life for herself in Australia, leaving money for her friends.
Holby City is filmed in what used to be a BBC office at Elstree Studios: Top of the Pops staff were moved out and hospital wards were brought in.