Holby City: Excellent! Onwards!

(Series 15, ep.6) Looming is not a technique that suits everybody. It’s best left to the tall, dark and enigmatic. The new CEO of Holby City, Imelda Cousins (Tessa Peake-Jones) doesn’t have the stature to pull off a loom, so her technique is apparently to be everywhere at once, like the administrative equivalent of a flea infestation. Imelda comes across as a bit dotty and eccentric (she says things like “Lordy!” and her exclamation of “Onwards!” has already become a catchphrase at PLA Towers), but she’s actually acute and tough.

Naturally, this was difficult for the other staff members to cope with. Ric said the last person they needed in charge was a “jumped-up nurse manager,” particularly when she had strong views about staff deployment. She wanted Lilah back on AAU, so Ric decided to keep her on Keller, just to show who was in charge, come what may. “Come what may” turned out to be a near-disaster in theatre, after Lilah gave the patient Heparin and he bled all over the place. It wasn’t Lilah’s best day at the office – she got punched by the patient’s wife as well. Imelda neatly pulled the rug out from under Ric by putting Lilah under Malick’s supervision.

I felt sorry for Lilah, but not as sorry as I felt for Jonny Mac. I admit I didn’t like him when he first appeared. He seemed like a bit of an idiot and I didn’t think he was any match for the glorious Jac. I have now done a complete reversal and I think he’s lovely – he’s kind, funny, sweet, tries too hard, messes up. He’s human, in other words, but “human” isn’t quite enough for Jac, whose standards in all things are impossibly high. She really does like him, but whenever he questions her clinical judgement that’s it – he’s out. And then she went off on a date with paediatrician Prof Gleeson – on Jonny’s birthday as well! And Mo was nowhere to be seen, either. Probably off with that creepy man from the bar. Poor Jonny.  

In the department that we know fondly as AAU, Imelda had made her presence felt by ejecting Luc from the post-Eddi comfort zone of his lab to do some actual doctoring. Luc’s bedside manner is my guilty pleasure – he’s got no time for niceness and is pragmatic to the point of ruthlessness. Sacha’s phrase, “Majestically up himself” covers it nicely. I also like it when he takes the piss out of himself. “If I went in for the human contact stuff, I honestly could hug you,” he told the aforementioned Sacha (the world’s most huggable man, admittedly). He’s even going to let Sacha help with his research project. This has pleased Sacha, because Chrissie has told him he needs to push himself forward more. Poor man.

Next time: Jac and Serena both try to impress Imelda; Ramona’s back; and – ooh! Lilah and Ric!

Posted by PLA More Holby City here