(Series 19, ep. 50 ‘Veil of Tears, Part One’ by Joe Ainsworth 19.9.17) Ollie was delighted to see pocket-sized, Herzig-hearted God botherer Lexy, who had turned up to officiate at the Zollie wedding. Frankly I wouldn’t have been so pleased – have we ever seen Lexy preside over something that ended happily?
But surely nothing could go wrong this time. The wedding was in a magnificent location (Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire, which looked like it deserved a BBC drama all to itself). The bride looked incredibly beautiful and the groom was adorable. The guest list had been whittled down to a bare minimum – Ollie’s marvellously sarcastic mother (Diana Kent), his old pal Nick (Christopher Goh), Dominic and boyfriend Freddie and – because nobody had remembered to un-invite him – Lofty. Curly Watts and his David Bowie tribute act had also been cancelled, somewhat frustratingly for those of us who were eager to experience his ‘Space Oddity.’ Continue reading
(Series 19, ep. 49 ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ by Joe Ainsworth 12.5.17) Zosia was really out of her depth in this episode, trying to cover for her father’s increasingly worrying behaviour. In that sense she’s more like him than she would probably want to admit – it’s the Self family way to try to cover for shortcomings and push through problems as if they don’t exist. It’s exactly how he treated her bipolar until it reached crisis point.
Crisis point in Guy’s case came during a neuro operation, when Zosia was already knuckles deep in the brain of Darwin patient o’ the week, Christian Pinnington (Jamie Maclachlan). Selfie was supposed to be doing the op himself, but he’d been drinking earlier, and was definitely not himSelf. Zosia had seen warning signs earlier and had tried to emphasise the risks of the procedure to Christian in the hopes that he would decide not to go ahead. If she’d added, “and I think the surgeon might not be entirely stable,” I think she’d have succeeded. 
(Series 19, ep. 48 ‘How Loud It Is’ by Andy Bayliss 5.9.17) My goodness, Holby City is getting more like Shakespeare every week. The sheer amount of detail in this episode – in the writing, the performances and the way it was directed – was just breathtaking. 
As if this wasn’t stress enough for Hanssen, his son, Fredrik, was back. Last time we saw him, he’d been responsible for a very dodgy drugs trial, and there was a huge moral face-off in which Hanssen risked never seeing his grandson again by informing the Swedish medical authorities about it. It seems that Fredrik was acquitted in Sweden, but his “reputation is compromised.” So he’s now working at Holby City, where a compromised reputation and a frosty relationship with the CEO/your father won’t hold you back. 
(Series 19, ep. 47 ‘Keep On Running’ by Michelle Lipton 29.8.17) It was the Holby Half Marathon (in aid of skin cancer charities in honour of Arthur Digby) and Lofty was wearing a chicken suit. He fully expected Dominic to be wearing an egg costume because they were supposed to see what would come first, the chicken or the egg. That would have been hilarious (and educational), but Dominic hadn’t taken the plan seriously and had come dressed as a Proper Athlete, and accompanied by his new boyfriend Freddie (Aaron Fontaine). Poor Lofty. Luckily he had a man dressed as Where’s Wally for company.
(Series 19, ep. 46 ‘Wildest Dreams’ by Angela Holden 22.8.17) It’s breathless post-holiday catch-up time, and apologies in advance if this review is more brief/even more befuddled than usual – I watched it through a happy fog of jet-lag.
(Series 19, ep. 44 ‘Go Ugly Early’ by Nick Fisher 8.8.17) So that’s the end of the Trauma Unit. The little room with the plastic flaps instead of doors, that has been the site of so much pioneering traumatic excellence over the months, is now a little empty room, the flaps flapping plastically in the breeze of trolleys whizzing by. Most importantly, the Trauma Unit was the queendom of the utterly marvellous Berenice Wolfe, and her queendom is now gone and so is Bernie. 
(Series 19, ep. 43 ‘The Evolution of Woman’ by Simon Norman 1.8.17) Nina has been Queen of Medicine (or whatever her job is) for all of five minutes, and she’s already circumvented the mythical HR department and the CEO by bringing a familiar face back to Holby. “Guy Self, darkening my doorstep,” muttered Hanssen, nicely marking his own territory with that use of “my doorstep.” 
