Lily Chao

Lily Chao
Casualty character
Crystal Yu as Lily Chao
First appearance	"Bedside Manners" 3 August 2013
Portrayed by	Crystal Yu
Duration	2013-
Information
Occupation	Specialty registrar (2015-) CT 1/2 Doctor (2014-15) F2 (2013-14)
Relatives	Feng Chao (father) Li Na Chao (mother)

Lily Chao is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Casualty, played by actress Crystal Yu. She first appeared in the series twenty-eight episode "Bedside Manners", broadcast on 3 August 2013. Lily arrives at Holby City hospital to resume her second year of the Foundation Programme. Yu had previously appeared in the show as a separate guest character. She also decided to learn certain medical procedures to make her character believable. Lily is characterised as an ambitious junior doctor and intelligent high-achiever. Lily is good at her job but lacks any "bedside manner" and her no-nonsense attitude causes problems with colleagues and patients alike. The character was originally working towards a career in dermatology but becomes accustomed to the variety of work the Holby City's Emergency Department has to offer.

The character's storylines have focused on themes of bullying at different points of her tenure. Lily is subjected to harsh treatment from her mentor Consultant Martin Ashford (Patrick Robinson). She takes him to a tribunal from which she emerges victorious. Two years later the show switched the roles playing Lily as the bully when she is designated to mentor to junior doctor Alicia Munroe (Chelsea Halfpenny), who resigns from the hospital to escape Lily. The show have also centered a standalone episode around the character, which played her turning into a detective roll to solve two murders and endangering her life confronting the culprit. The character has been generally well received by critics favouring her sound medical skills and poor bedside manner. But Duncan Lindsay writing for newspaper Metro accused the character of being one-dimensional.

Lily was first introduced to viewers via the official Casualty website through a trailer. Three days later the BBC formerly announced her casting and released a series of promotional pictures of Yu on-set and in character. She was billed as a junior doctor with a bad bedside manner who would annoy all of her colleagues. Yu had previously appeared in the show as a guest character Mingmei Ducheng for one episode in 2010. Of her casting Yu stated: "It’s such a privilege to be joining the cast of BBC One’s Casualty. [...] I am really enjoying all of the medical jargon and being taught the various techniques." Executive producer Oliver Kent said that Lily and fellow new character Rita Freeman (Chloe Howman) "hit the ground running and are set to create a stir in the ED". The character is introduced during the series twenty-eight episode "Bedside Manners", broadcast on 3 August 2013.