Kuba Trzcinski (Christopher Rozycki) - the hospital porter - is in love with Miss Clements from Radiography. Unfortunately, when he returns to the porter's lodge to collect the flowers he's brought for her, they have been pinched. Ewart Plimmer (Bernard Gallagher) - doctor and manager of the night shift - is warned that he has only 6 months to prove that the permanent night shift is worth fighting for. He is also reprimanded for his staff 'borrowing' equipment from other departments.
Lisa 'Duffy' Duffin (Catherine Shipton) seems to be the only nurse in early - she uses the spare five minutes to quiz Charge Nurse Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson) on his sign of the zodiac! A man arrives with a badly burned hand but there is no doctor available to treat him - Dr Baz Samuels (Julia Watson) is late for work. When she does arrive, she almost runs down Ewart - who's too busy listening to his classical music on his Walkman. She makes it clear that she does not want to spend another 6 months on Ewart's night shift.
Duffy forces little Sophie Jones to drink milk after swallowing brake fluid. Charlie gets a little impatient with stubborn Mr Cartwright who's been hit on the head by a golf ball. Meanwhile, Ewart has constant trouble from a regular drunk.
At East Holby docks, a drum of toxic chemicals falls on top of two dockers. Ambulance drivers Andrew Ponting (Robert Pugh) and Sandra Mute (Lisa Bowerman) bring them in. One arrests in casualty and can not be revived, the other suffers a badly burned leg. The man with the badly burned hand is also a docker. Kuba thinks he knows what the chemical might be from its smell of garlic - he remembers a case from 1979. He and Susie Mercier (Debbie Roza - the department's receptionist) search the files and discover that it's an illegal toxin called Parathion.
Dannie Bennett is an old friend of Baz's and recognises her when she visits the department claiming to be a journalist. However, it transpires that it is her that had organised the moonlighting of the Parathion and Baz has the police arrest her.
Nurse Megan Roach (Brenda Fricker) warns fellow nurse Clive King (George Harris) about his drinking habits - not knowing that Ewart has already been informed by the police that Clive has been caught drink-driving. Ewart disappears - he's been in the maternity ward where the ceiling is falling in. His solution is to put up a sign reading 'Beware - Falling Masonry'!
At the end of the shift, Charlie congratulates Kuba for recognising the toxin and presents him with a bunch of flowers to replace the stolen ones - although these are also stolen - from a bed on Lawson's Ward!
| Brenner | Colin Fisher |
| Norman Parker | Roger Ostime |
| Starchy Harris | Phil McCall |
| Dannie Bennett | Emma Watson |
| Ralph | Trevor Cooper |
| Robert Palmer | Al Ashton |
| Mrs. Jones | Juliette Grassby |
| Sophie Jones | Madeleine Nash |
| Mr. Cartwright | Brian Haines |
| Mrs. Price | Nancy Herrod |
| Relative | Roy Evans |
| TV Journalist | Helen Gwyn |