Casualty: Nasty, nasty man

(Series 33, ep. 31 by Jeff Povey 13.4.19) Pop over to Metro to read my review of this episode. But first…

– Bill was a nasty man, wasn’t he? Even allowing for the fact that he was grieving for his wife he was horrible to Maureen, and when you remember the brutality of the way he attacked Connie – well, he deserves all he gets.

– It seems like it’s going to take more than knowing her attacker is off the streets to make Connie feel comfortable again, though.

– But I was glad that Connie was more friendly towards Elle this week.

– I loved seeing Fletch in Casualty again. He adds something that Casualty is a little bit lacking at the moment, and that’s someone with proper authority and presence. With Connie floundering and Charlie behaving in all sorts of un-Charlie-like ways, it’s like nobody is in charge.

– The Dani story is interesting. It’s still just about possible that her ‘stalking’ of Ruby is just a lonely girl getting too attached to someone who was kind to her, but there are hints that it’s going to get quite a bit darker.

– It doesn’t look as though messing up with Angeline has taught Will anything at all. He’s going to be one of those doctors who needs several life lessons before he catches on and settles down, by the look of things.

– Robyn was excellently angry with him. She’s so smiley and nice, but when she’s angry she gets really angry.

 

(Picture: BBC)

Casualty: The one before the one-shot

(Series 31, ep. 43 ‘Somewhere Between Silences Part 2’ by Jeff Povey) Okay Casualty, you’ve lured me back with your gimmicky promise of an exciting “one shot” episode next week. Which means I needed a bit of context. You can’t just turn up cold for a one-shot, you know.

First thing to say about this week’s episode is – George Rainsford. Blimey. Acting on a Shakespearean level there, all suppressed grief and rage and ethical conflict. Pitched against this was the dwindling family of racist thugs, the Ellissons. Papa Ellisson has expired previously. One of his sons (the nasty one, Scott) spent this week’s episode in a “will he ever walk again?” situation after falling from the Casualty mezzanine, which should surely have had some kind of mesh fitted after lovely nurse Sam Colloby tumbled off it years ago. The good news (for Scott) was there was no reason why he wouldn’t walk again, but the bad news (for Scott) was that now he almost certainly won’t walk again, because he’s dead. 

Holby City: Morven on the case

(Series 19, ep. 39 ‘Keeping the Faith’ by Jeff Povey 4.7.17) There was no need for the services of Lexi, the Holby Vicar, this week as Jasmine’s funeral had already taken place before the episode started. Jac Naylor didn’t shed a single tear, let alone fling herself on the coffin screaming “Why? WHY???” This will not surprise those of us who’ve known Jac for some time. I can’t imagine a person less likely to emote in public.

You’d think that Morven, who went through it all with Arthur, would know that there’s more than one way to grieve, and just because it doesn’t show doesn’t mean it isn’t so (I made that up – I think – but if you want to borrow it for any self-help book you may be writing, please feel free). Morven decided that Jac’s apparent lack of remorse was hiding a guilty conscience. When she confronted Jac about this, it made me realise how rarely we see Jac properly angry. We see snappy, sarcastic and irked quite a lot, but this was proper white-hot fury. You can tell that Jac’s mental defences are pretty fragile and having Morven poking a little stick at them was almost too much. 

Holby City: Love is all around

(Series 19, ep. 7) Holby City has proved in the last few weeks that it can go to some very dark places indeed. Selfie’s back story of abuse, highlighted by the dreadful actions of Tristan, was intense and dramatic.

By contrast, we got this lovely episode, where there was humour and lightness in every story.

I’m going to have to start with Keller, and Sacha’s attempts to recapture his lost youth – or Tom Jones’s lost youth, if the new hairdo was anything to go by. “No one’s commented on my hair,” he moaned to Dominic. “Not to your face,” said Dominic. Well, someone had to. This wasn’t even the funniest bit of hair-related Dom/Sacha dialogue. Dominic realised (because he is sensitive, deep down. And he was also relying on Sacha’s sofa as a bed for the night) that Sacha was upset, and tried to make amends. “Can I say I’m sorry in a cuddly, let’s-be-friends again kind of way?” he said. “Stop talking to my hair!” Sacha replied. “I’m not,” said Dominic. “I’m looking at your physicality, your stance, your manliness.” “I look absolutely ridiculous, don’t I?” Sacha said. The reply was absolute genius: “Only from the scalp up. The rest of you is 100% to die for.” 

Casualty: Connie behind the camera

(Series 31, ep. 9) This episode was directed by Amanda Mealing, though I don’t know how much that had to do with me enjoying it more than I’ve enjoyed Casualty for a while.

The focus was on the characters I like – Dylan was once again rather marvellous as he found himself drawn in to supporting Robyn while she pondered life-altering choices, and Robyn is just so sweet and sad. David and Max added some excellent comedy value as they bombed around in a bizarre little vehicle (is that Robyn’s?) trying to find Glen.

The patient stories were also interesting – I liked the man who was a friend of Glen, and that he was able to reassure Robyn that Glen really did love her. The other patient was a pretend zombie, whose chief purpose seemed to be so that the girl he liked, who was a total miserable whinge-bag, would be able to persuade Ethan that he wasn’t worth the affections of the radiant Alicia. This almost made me throw the remote control at the TV, because it’s obvious Alicia likes him and he likes her, but he keeps letting Cal get in the way and it’s getting tedious.

Because Connie was behind the camera, she was too busy to appear on screen and instead sent a text to everyone to let them know that Grace is awake. But did I hear a hint from Elle that Jacob may have strayed a bit while Connie has been keeping vigil at the bedside? I don’t actually care, to be honest, though “Jonnie” fans may well have spent a sleepless night on Saturday.

Holby: The beep wobbles

(Series 18, ep. 43) I’m not sure who commissioned the Digby memorial plaque that was unveiled by Ric in the Linden Cullen Memorial Shrubbery, but I’d be asking for a refund (it was rubbish) and also having serious words with the handy-person who made such a hash of nailing it up above the Pondering Pond.

It raised the question – what would be a fitting memorial for the late and much-loved doctor? I assume that those pesky Germans have rebadged the Digby Stent now, so that’s out.

It fell to Ric to solve this puzzle, and eventually he came up with the idea of an academy called the Arthur Digby Foundation, to seek out new medical talent wherever it might manifest itself (starting with Ric’s former boxing sparring partner, who was back again with a leaking aneurysm and a new interest in medicine). I don’t know who’s going to pay for all this, but let’s not worry our pretty heads about that because it’s a lovely idea.

It was a difficult day for Ric. He’s perhaps been worried that he didn’t do everything humanly possible for Digby (though of course he did), and this was made worse when Morven asked him about that very thing. Morven’s sadness breaks my heart, btw. This all led to Ric having a fit of what I shall call the “beep wobbles” – when you’re in the middle of some delicate surgery, the machines are going beep, there’s blood everywhere and you go a bit funny and someone has to take over. I really hope it doesn’t happen in real life as often as it happens in Holby. 

Casualty: Guilty of being dim

(Series 30, ep. 37) The evidence against Charlie Fairhead is mounting. Confiscating the pills Big Mac stole is one thing – he deals with things his own way, he’s very into giving people second chances and supporting his team. So far so sensible. But don’t go and hide the bloody things in your locker, especially when the press is piling the heat on to the extent that Hanssen has to do a press conference about it (and Hanssen hates doing that – it makes him look like an undertaker, apparently). Especially not sensible to leave the pills in your locker, and not lock your locker, and leave your unlocked locker to the prying eyes of new doctor/friend of Hanssen/unknown quantity Elle Gardner. Elle found the pills, and because she doesn’t know Charlie is Special and Unique and The Beating Heart of Holby, she instantly thought he was the pill thief. 

Casualty: The unforgettable Dr Zoe Hanna

(Series 30, ep. 34) I can’t even start to describe how much I’m going to miss Dr Zoe Hanna. She’s been my favourite Casualty character for as long as I remember, and not usually because of her medical skills (though she was brilliant at her job).

It’s Zoe’s sometimes questionable life choices that we’ll remember her for – staying up all night partying and getting involved with unsuitable men, waking up with a hangover and sucking the life out of a ciggie in the hospital car park while she suffered flashbacks of what might have happened the night before. It was her default setting and one she reverted to whenever life threatened to get too settled and sensible. 

Casualty: The money-saving romance episode

(Series 30, ep.14) Christmas has arrived in Holby, ushered in by some fairy lights, a patient who looked like a perfect picture-book Santa, and new receptionist Jack Diamond.

There’s someone sitting in the fictional HR department of the nation’s favourite fictional hospital who clearly believes that a regular shot of humour is what’s needed in the A&E department. The happiness gap left by Honey and Dr Perky Pinky Hair has now been filled by Jack, who squeals at the sight of blood (an ideal qualification for the role) and calls Noel “Noelle.” I like him.

I’m expecting a huge, big-budget Christmas disaster in Casualty, because this week they were obviously saving money. We didn’t get to see an accident in which Iain skidded the ambulance on some ice outside the hospital (we didn’t get to see Hanssen either, but you’d think such a health and safety nightmare wouldn’t go unnoticed by The Man Upstairs). What we saw was an impaled woman in the back of the ambulance, which was on its side and precariously balanced. This gave Connie and Jacob the opportunity to spend a great deal of time at close quarters, in a dangerous situation. Throw in the fact that Connie was wearing her foxy leather jacket and it all ramped up the libido no end, and eventually resulted in the pair of them having a pre-Christmas canoodle in Connie’s office. This is good news for Connie because she wanted to spend Christmas in front of a roaring log fire, and Jacob will come in very handy to carry the logs.