My Mum has been quite sad over the past 24 hours. The reason? There are only 10 episodes of Holby City left. Holby City is Mum's favourite ever show.
There was a moment when she was upset earlier, and she said to me "this is silly, I shouldn't be upset. It's just a TV show". I instantly told her that no, it's not just a TV show. If it's something you really love, then it's never just a TV show.
It's a show Mum has watched since 1998, not missing an episode - Wikipedia lists that at 1,091 episodes. Every Tuesday. For 24 years. If you're a fan of the series, that's a huge part of your life you have spent with those characters, and now? You have to come to terms with the fact that all those characters you loved - characters who were there as part of your life while your children grew up, as you started and left jobs, as you gained and lost family members - will soon all be gone. It would be like if there was an episode of Eastenders where a nuke hit the square, or as some people call it, an Eastenders Christmas Special.
It's not just the loss of the characters you have to contend with: it's also the world you have spent weeks of your life engrossed in that you will lose. It's that little hour in that world that, each week for 20+ years, gave you an hour of escapism from your reality. It distracted you on the bad days, and it made you even happier on the good days. It was something you bonded with colleagues over, to such an extend that you still text a former colleague every Tuesday, and we know her in our household as your "Holby Friend".
You are losing not just a TV show, but a coping mechanism. You are losing characters who felt like friends, such is the time you have spent in their company. You are losing that bit of routine that you always looked forward to.
More than anything, I am annoyed that we are losing something that put a smile on my Mum's face for years. That's a horrible feeling.
Lots of people might sneer at fans of long-running shows like Holby, Eastenders, Coronation Street or any of the others, but the reality for those people is that these shows are more than long-running fiction; they are a very real part of people's lives. And, yes, they may have to mourn them. That's a natural reaction to losing something you love.
Stay safe and take care,
Tom
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