While I'm pretty cynical about soaps, Holby is one that has, especially for a medical drama, somehow managed to keep up a fairly good standard of quality after all these years. Yes, there's been troughs (quite deep troughs), but the current peaks, I'd say, are actually worth checking in on every once in a while.
The writing is tightened and individual episodes are more thematically consistent. Considering how the med-soap subgenre is infamous for exploiting real life conditions and social trends (kind of comes with the territory), Holby usually handles things fairly tactfully. The cast always does a good job with the characters, who are all generally written consistently compared to other British soaps, though there are some sleepers. Even the boring ones have at least been involved in one good storyline, however.
The one thing that is a bit of a problem is that the formula of episodes does get tiring. There's almost always a serious patient who is in someway intricately tied to a main character's arc, and a silly gimmick patient who's basically just there to waste time and give some artificial "human" moments with the doctors. But I suppose it's like any intensely serialised media -- the repetition can be seen as both a draw and a downside.
The writing is tightened and individual episodes are more thematically consistent. Considering how the med-soap subgenre is infamous for exploiting real life conditions and social trends (kind of comes with the territory), Holby usually handles things fairly tactfully. The cast always does a good job with the characters, who are all generally written consistently compared to other British soaps, though there are some sleepers. Even the boring ones have at least been involved in one good storyline, however.
The one thing that is a bit of a problem is that the formula of episodes does get tiring. There's almost always a serious patient who is in someway intricately tied to a main character's arc, and a silly gimmick patient who's basically just there to waste time and give some artificial "human" moments with the doctors. But I suppose it's like any intensely serialised media -- the repetition can be seen as both a draw and a downside.