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Hotel Babylon star Michael Obiora and new young actress Madeleine Mantock are joining the cast of Ö÷²¥´óÐã One's Casualty to play newly-qualified nurses Lloyd and Scarlett.

25-year-old Michael (Misfits, EastEnders, Grange Hill) will play cocky new nursing recruit Lloyd and Madeleine (21), who is fresh out of ArtsEd drama school, where she studied on a bursary from the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Performing Arts Fund, will play terrified ingénue nurse Scarlett. The two characters will first appear on screen in late August.

Series producer Oliver Kent says: "We are delighted to welcome Michael and Madeleine to Casualty. Michael is an established young star who brings a great swagger to the role of Lloyd and is sure to be a hit with our younger viewers and Madeleine is an exciting new talent who is already proving herself alongside the more experienced heavy-hitters in the Casualty cast."

Characters Lloyd and Scarlet will first be seen in Holby City hospital's overworked ED on their very first day as newly-trained nurses. Overconfident Lloyd is full of bravado but viewers soon find out that his heart is in the right place, even when his mouth isn't. And the more tentative Scarlett is horror struck when she sees her first cardiac arrest but soon proves her worth with a troubled teenage patient.

Casualty continues to entertain Saturday night audiences with a medicinal mixture of high-action drama, reflection of social and health issues and the everyday lives and loves of the staff at Holby City hospital's emergency department. Now in its 25th year, Casualty is the world's longest-running prime time medical drama.

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