Holby City: A-hole averse

(Series 16, ep.10)  My gosh but Keller was a mixed experience this week. On one hand there was a patient’s relative (who became an actual patient, as they so often do on Holby) played by Gary Cargill, a man with a speaking voice that makes me come over all unnecessary. It’s the Scouse accent. But on the other hand, we had the loss (maybe temporary, but who knows?) of the snake-hipped wonder that is Michael Spence.

Cargill played a man whose son needed a liver transplant. Dr Honey messed up by sourcing a liver that was from a donor of the wrong blood group (but I’ll return to Honey later). The patient’s dad had a liver, obviously, and he was super-keen to part with a bit of it to help his son. Michael went ahead with the operation despite discovering the father also had angina. When he suffered a heart attack after the surgery and it looked like he wouldn’t have long to live, he didn’t mind too much because he’d saved his son’s life. That’s the kind of selfless, devoted father he was.  

Michael Spence has been guilty of being a tad less than devoted and selfless where his own kids are concerned, but he may be able to spend more time with them now. He was Summoned by Selfie (actually, Selfie sends Serena to do his summoning, which I can’t help thinking is a bit of a waste of Serena’s manifold talents and doesn’t do anything for Selfie’s credibility – Hanssen would have staged an Über-Loom), who suspended him for three months for swerving all kinds of protocols in his liver transplant case. “I’m not risk-averse,” said Selfie. “I’m A-hole averse.” In which case, he must find himself very hard to live with.

Michael left Holby with a souvenir in the form of a busted nose, courtesy of Sacha, who got all cross about Michael’s fling with beloved Chrissie. Hopefully that’s got Chrissie out of Sacha’s system now and he’ll be ready to move on with storylines that involve less sighing.

Michael wasn’t the only one who left. Dr Honey, upset by her liver mistake and worrying that she hardly gets to see her son Finn, decided to quit. Holby City is the only hospital in the NHS which apparently doesn’t require its staff to work a notice period. Indeed some of them aren’t even required to give “soap notice” by packing the traditional box with three lever-arch files and a houseplant and giving the hospital an over-the-shoulder glance as they unlock their car. It’s all very casual.

The big excitement on Darwin was the revelation that Saucer is Selfie’s daughter, but she has wisely decided she doesn’t want to be known as “Zosia Self,” because that would sound extraordinarily silly. There was a touching scene where Zosia told Elliot why she wrote down his (Elliot’s) words of wisdom in a little book. It was because her late mother had a “beautiful way with words” but Zosia hadn’t written any of them down at the time, and now found that her memories were fading. It was a really well-written bit of dialogue and Camilla Arfwedson acted it perfectly – it actually made me feel a bit tearful. So Saucer’s relationship with her father is complicated – she maybe blames him a bit, but she also wants to have a relationship with him if only he wasn’t too busy with Colette.

Elliot Hope, meanwhile, was wracked with guilt about the mess he made last week with/of Steven Parker and the fact that his patients seem to die more than most people’s (it’s because he takes on more high-risk patients). He went all paranoid thinking Selfie was trying to sack him and had sent Zosia to spy on him. Jac gave him a pep talk and amusingly tricked him back into the operating theatre by pretending she felt sick.

It was fairly quiet on AAU, and events there focused mainly on Edward being a tit to Mary-Claire and Colette supporting her. I’m still not quite sure what to make of Colette. I like her no-nonsense, capable approach – she reminds me of Eve Montgomery in Casualty. I also like the way she sticks up for the nurses. I don’t like her relationship with Selfie, because I don’t like Selfie. I’m A-hole averse.

Next time: Mr T in an elf outfit. My Christmas will be complete.

(More Holby reviews here – and have you read my Jac/Joseph Christmas story yet? Niamh McGrady and Rosie Marcel have!)

Holby reviews from June 2009 to May 2013 available from Amazon in e-book or paperback here