Soap Stars Off To Everest

It's Holby City meets Hillary and Tenzing as two of the trashy hospital soap's stars aim to clean up for charity on a three-week sponsored trek to Everest Base Camp.

Bear with us here as we don't actually watch Holby City, rating it marginally below Hollyoaks in the soapy cred' rankings and a very poor man's Casualty, which is in turn a pale imitation of ER, so we don't actually know who these people are.

Clive Mantle, 44 and George Irvine, 47 - no relation, we think - play surgeon Anton Meyer and consultant Mike Barrett respectively and do look mildly familiar, though presumably not to Nepalis. The pair hope to raise around £90,000 for the charity Hope and Homes For Children.

Apparently Clive, a refugee from Casualty, has a lifelong obsession with Everest and persuaded George to accompany him on the trek - 'This is no picnic' he says. 'It's a real endurance test.'

Particularly for George who was recently gunned down during a road rage incident and has barely got back on his feet. Waddya mean that was just television?