Holby City: Hello, series 19

(Series 19, ep. 1) There was another glimpse of Digby in the pre-titles ‘previously’ section. We aren’t being allowed to forget his sweet face, and I love it that his death is still affecting the characters into this new series.

The return of Michael Malone (Andy Lucas), who was the person who was going to get the experimental stent before Zosia manoeuvred to let Digby have it, was always going to be tough for Zosia. Every week I’m growing to admire Camilla Arfwedson more and more as an actress. Her face is like a landscape over which you see patterns of sunshine and clouds moving constantly. When she spoke about Digby to Michael Malone (“He was my best friend and I wasn’t there when he needed me”) it was such a sad scene. Then, in Michael’s dying moments, she wheeled his bed out to the Linden Cullen Memorial Shrubbery, and I doubt whether the Shrubbery has ever seen anything more poignant in its varied life. Zosia’s face as she sat under the tree, and the way she tucked the blankets around Michael after he died, made me cry. Again. How many tears can Digby’s death wring out of me? As for poor Zosia, I’m very worried for her. I just hope Ollie comes good and looks after her, because I rather love the way he says her name, like it tastes delicious in his mouth. 

Jasmine started her shift on Keller with a nasty hangover – not helped by “Auntie Dom” and his hangover advice. Props to the makeup department for making the usually radiant Lucinda Dryzek look rough as anything for most of the episode. There was another returning character in the form of Sol (Marko Leht), who had various issues, including an injury he’d got at work. Jasmine went all “InjuryCompo4U” on him, advising him to sue his workplace. Jasmine is a bit of a loose cannon at the moment. She has all the makings of a top Holby doctor (good medical skills plus an unnatural interest in the problems of strangers and a natural interest in other attractive members of staff). What she tends to do is to try and cope on her own without asking for help. This got her in trouble with Jac, and it also got her in trouble with Ric this week. Jasmine had a little whinge about him to the ever-so-friendly Tristan Wood – ignoring Sacha’s maxim that “you can never trust a Tristan.” This all led to Ric being suspended – again. Ric gets suspended so often he should put his little box of personal effects on wheels so he doesn’t have to carry it about everywhere. He did not look like a happy man when we last saw him in the lift. Hanssen was unable to do anything to intervene in what was clearly a case of handbags at dawn, and that’s not a situation Hanssen likes to be in, either. Expect this situation to get worse before it gets better.

On AAU, Raf found a patient to flirt with. “You know, you’ve got beautiful eyes,” she told him, literally three seconds after I thought to myself, “Raf has really beautiful eyes.” This makes me think those dastardly manipulators at Holby had specially lit his lovely eyes so we would all fall in love with their limpid beauty.

Serena’s thoughts, meanwhile, were all of the still-absent Dr Bernie Wolfe. “I love her,” she told Raf, but then worried that maybe she was just having a mid-life-lesbian-phase-crisis-thing. Raf said there was a sure way to find out, and they went in for a kiss. No kiss happened, though, which prompted Twitter user @livabuff to give Raf the title of “the lesbian litmus test.” Form an orderly queue there, people.

Line of the week – Raf: “Serena, can I have a word, please?” Serena: “Only if it’s to say you intend to hurl me fully clothed into a vat of Shiraz.”