It’s Patrick’s first day back at work after his attack. His first patient is Teri Douglas, who has been brought in by ambulance after collapsing, but she asks to see a female doctor. Philippa takes Patrick’s place, and examines her. Teri tells her she had a sex change operation done a few days ago in South Africa – she used to be Terry. She has an infection, however. As Philippa is examining her, Patrick comes in, and she says he might as well stay. Philippa says she’ll call one of the surgeons in, and suggests they take Teri back to resusc as she is losing a lot of blood. Patrick asks Dillon to move her, and Teri thanks him for calling her ‘her’. The surgeon comes to examine Teri, and says the infection is widespread in the constructed tissue. It seems unlikely they can remove the infection without removing all the reconstruction work done, leaving Teri a eunuch. Teri can’t bear this, and refuses to give her consent for surgery, despite Philippa and the surgeon’s warnings that she will die. They leave, and Patrick sits and talks to her. Teri asks Patrick about his loves, and he tells her so she will tell him about hers. Lara, on the other side of resusc, listens as Teri asks about his last love, and Patrick’s reaction tells Teri that he’s not over her. He explains about Rachel, and that he was lying where she was a couple of weeks ago. As Teri’s condition deteriorates, Patrick tells her that he’s just glad to be here, and couldn’t care if he didn’t need anyone else for the rest of his life – there’s more to life than sex. Teri agrees to have the surgery, but tells Patrick, ‘If you ever have sex again, I’ll kill you!’ Later, Lara asks if he really wouldn’t care if he never met anyone else; Patrick says he didn’t mean it. Lara says he made an impression on Teri, and she won’t forget him in a hurry. Patrick tells her Teri won’t forget any of what happened in resusc – he remembers everything. Lara doesn’t believe this. She mentions what she said on ITU, and Patrick says she’s right – he doesn’t remember anything.
Emily is on a farm, about to shoot a pig. Inside, her son Andy is chopping meat with a cleaver. The gunshot goes off and makes him jump, and the cleaver goes through his finger. He goes outside to where Emily is just realising she missed the pig, and shows her his severed finger. She calls an ambulance, and when Josh and Fin arrive, she gives them a box, telling them she put Andy’s finger on ice. They reach A&E, and Josh tells Colette that there seems to be something wrong with Emily’s eyesight. Emily comes into the cubicle with Andy, and is about to start eating some sandwiches she brought, but Colette asks her to go and eat them elsewhere. When Emily has gone, Colette opens the box of ice, but instead of a finger she finds a sausage. Andy is disappointed but asks her not to tell his mother. Colette finds Josh and asks him if he can think where the finger can be. Josh remembers that Emily was carrying two boxes, and Colette realises that Emily was about to eat sandwiches from the other box. They both go racing to the refreshment area, and just in time they stop Emily from biting into a sandwich. Josh takes her to see Andy, and Colette looks inside the sandwich and finds Andy’s finger. It is too late to sew it back on by now, so Lara tells him they’ll just have to patch up his hand at the knuckle. She then examines Emily’s eyes, and finds she has cataracts. She tells Emily they can restore her sight with a simple operation. Emily, who now knows it was her fault they couldn’t save Andy’s finger, is full of remorse, but Andy doesn’t blame her. He says he can get by with one less finger, but she couldn’t get by without her sight.
Max has his hearing, and Jan, after telling him he will have a written warning on his record for the next two years, and driving home the point that what he did was wrong, tells him he will be reinstated. Max says he’ll consider it. He goes outside and bumps into Patrick. Patrick asks him what he’d do if he’d been landed with a really crap locum consultant. Max tells Patrick he’s the whistle-blower and should do what he thinks is right – he didn’t have a problem doing that with him. Patrick asks how Max’s hearing went, and Max asks him if he’s having regrets. Patrick asks when he’s coming back, but Max says he’s not sure he wants to.
Neil is with his granddad Len, outside someone’s house, holding a bike. Len is telling Neil to stand his ground, that he can fight with his head, not with his fists. Neil is worried that his dad will be angry when he finds out, but Len tells him to stand up to him as well. Tom and his son Richard arrive home to find Neil and Len waiting for them. Len introduces himself to Tom, and says that Neil has something to say to them. Neil says he stole Richard’s bike, and is sorry. Tom, angry asks if he thought he could make everything all right by coming and saying sorry. He grabs Neil, and Len tries to stop him. Tom says Neil needs to be taught a lesson, and goes to hit Neil again. Len gets in the way, and Tom punches him in the face. Len asks him what sort of example he’s setting to his son, then gets up to leave. Tom, remorseful, offers Len a lift to the hospital. Shortly after they arrive, Len’s wife Jane, and their son Simon, turn up. Simon is angry with Neil, but Len tells him to leave it. Jane tells Tom that it took Len years to get a grip on his own temper. Len is taken through to a cubicle, where Anna, who has been picked on all day by Philippa, starts to examine him. However, she is interrupted by Philippa, who calls her away to do something else. When Philippa goes to examine Len, she finds him a little short of breath, and he tells her he has heart problems. Philippa looks at his notes and finds that Anna hasn’t written down what medication he was on. She asks him, and he says he can’t remember, but he thinks it begins with M. Philippa suggests some drugs for angina beginning with M, and when she names one drug, Len says that’s it. His condition worsens and he is taken to resusc. Meanwhile, Anna is with his relatives, and Jane gives her the pills he is taking for high blood pressure. Anna finds Len in resusc, and Philippa has a go at her for not writing down his medication. Anna tells her Len couldn’t remember but she found out from his wife that he was taking. She names the drug to Philippa, who says Anna can’t even read, but as Anna shows her the bottle she gets a shock – it’s not what she thought he was on, and the drugs she has given Len will react with his medication. Len deteriorates and they start resuscitation. They are getting nowhere but Philippa is reluctant to stop. Anna has a go at her, saying Philippa made the mistake, not her, and that she can’t bring him back. Philippa stops, and then blames Anna for Len’s death. She goes with Duffy to break the news to Len’s family, and after briefly telling them, she goes, leaving Duffy to pick up the pieces. Later, she and Duffy argue over whose fault it was – Philippa is still blaming Anna. Anna says that if it had been her fault at least she would have admitted it; she says the family have a right to know. Philippa says she has no idea what it’s like to have so much responsibility; not everyone can choose what they are – for some of them it’s decided at an early age.
Lara and Patrick discuss Philippa’s conduct. Lara wants to go straight to Jan, but Patrick tells her to play it by the book and go to another consultant first. Lara says she will, then she’ll go to Jan. Later, Lara approaches Jan as she is talking to Patrick. Patrick is trying to retract what he said about Max, but Jan says it’s too late. Patrick says they need Max back, as the department’s falling to pieces with Philippa at the helm. He complains about Philippa’s actions today, and Lara joins in. Jan later asks to see Philippa. She comes down to the department, and Philippa tells her she’s quitting. Jan says she’ll be in touch if Len’s relatives complain. Meanwhile, as they leave, Patrick asks Lara if she wants to go for a meal. He says there are worse people to be stuck with – for a meal. Lara agrees to go.
The CID are interviewing everyone in the department about the escape of the prisoner last week. Chloe tells Anna that it was Jason’s brother, and that she helped him get away. Anna is shocked, and doesn’t want to know. Chloe keeps trying to phone Jason, but there is no answer. She tells Anna, who says that Jason’s gone, and that she’ll know for sure if she goes to his warehouse and finds it empty, as he wouldn’t have gone without it. When CID speak to her, she denies knowing Jason. Tony is checking all the security tapes, and sees Chloe helping Jason’s brother to escape. He puts the video in his pocket. CID ask him if he knows anything, and say they know he’s got a criminal record, which he didn’t declare when he got the job. Tony says he doesn’t know anything about it. Later he tells Anna about Chloe, and that he’s been in prison. He says that if he doesn’t turn her in, he’ll be under suspicion himself, and could lose his job. Anna asks what he did to end up inside, and Tony says he got involved when a mate was the victim of some queer-bashing – he broke a few bones. Anna says she should pick her friends more carefully, talking about trouble that friends get you into. Tony asks what she knows about it, and she explains what happened to her with Jason’s friend. She says she’s no intention of blowing the whistle on Chloe, and she doesn’t expect him to either. CID keep putting pressure on Tony, and eventually he tells them that Chloe was seeing Jason. They realise there must be more to it. Later he tells Anna he’s told them what he knows, but he’s still got the tape. He says they won’t let it go, and she should tell Chloe to run for it. Meanwhile Chloe, who has left work early, goes round to Jason’s warehouse. Opening the door, she finds it empty, and bursts into tears.
Episode first broadcast 12th January 2002
Additional Cast
Emily
Pat Keen
Andy
Peter Rylands
Teri Douglas
Holly Atkins
DC Newby
Jonathan Linsley
WDS Bridgeman
Jo Martin
Mr Dunning
Mike Hayward
Neil
Jordan Calvert
Len
Andrew Neil
Tom
David MacCreedy
Richard
Jonathan Apple
Jane
Anna Barry
Simon
Max Gold
SERIES 16
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