This episode seems to highlight some of the more mentally unstable members of society. The main storyline of the episode centres around a Malaysian imigrant lady called Maria who is seen escaping from the roof of a house clutching a handbag in her hand. Then she flees the area as quickly as she can but bumps in to a praking meter and is admitted to Casualty. On arrival at Holby A&E staff begin to ask her questions but she won't tell them anything about herself. Then a lady turns up claiming that the handbag that Maria had was in fact hers. The woman, who's name is Yvonne (played by Anna Calder-Marshall) says she doesn't want to press charges and says she wants to help the girl. She says Maria can come and live with her. 'We've got loads of empty rooms in our house' she boasts. But Maria doesn't want to and seems very scared. Yvonne returns to her seat in reception waiting to speak to Charlie and in the process finds an old acquaintance in nurse Rachel Longworth. Yvonne invites her to her next get together at her house and Rachel says she might come. Meanwhile Maria takes off her shirt and reveals a back covered in marks. They are cigarette burns, which according to Mike Barratt can not be self inflicted. She finally opens up about her life, explaining that she came over from Malaysia looking for work and is a slave. She says she is a 'piece of meat' and that the reason she stayed as long as she did was because she feared her torturers would tell the authorities and she'd be deported. Yvonne waits for Charlie to become available and persists with her offer of looking after the girl. Then she visits Maria's cubicle once more and it transpires that Yvonne is the woman that Maria ran away from. Then Rachel escorts her out of the cubicle and tells her that she won't be attending her next get together. Yvonne grabs Rachel's hand and appeals for her sympathy, saying she was very lonely and that her husband never payed her any attention. 'In many ways me and Maria are very close' she says but Rachel isn't taken in by any of it and tells her to speak to the duty psychiatrist. Social services find Maria a place to stay in London with a Malaysian family.
Meanwhile a mentally ill man, Bill Trueman, who has not been taking his medication attacks a woman by stabbing her in the stomach with a knife while she is in town with her sister. The man runs off and the woman is rushed to hospital. Bill turns up in Casualty with a self inflicted cut on the side of his face and is seen by Charlie. When Bill tells Charlie that his name is William Trueman. Charlie asks if he's 'any relation to Freddie?' but Bill doesn't know who Freddie is (obviously not a cricket fan)! It transpires that the woman he attacked is pregnant and before long the woman's boyfriend arrives. He spies Bill in a cubicle and guesses who it is. He walks in to the cubicle with a baseball bat in his hand and tells Martin Ashford to get out. Ash refuses and the man ends up going beserk and Ash sustains minor injuries. He is eventually restrained by Charlie who says 'now this won't do anyone any good will it ?' and manages to calm the situation. Then he goes in and visits his girlfriend but her sister says it was about time he was honest with her sister about wanting to end the relationship. She is very angry on hearing the news and tells him to get out.
Meanwhile at the shopping precinct an old lady is knocked over by a shop assistant as he tries to chase after a thief. The woman makes a fuss and on admittance to Holby Casualty starts saying things like 'a woman's not safe in her own haberdashery shop' and 'if only they hadn't stabbed Maggie in the back'. The shop assistant grovels to the woman and apologies for knocking her over but she makes him sweat. She seems to be so self righteous but as she is in a wheelchair being pushed back to the ambulance which is about to run her home Frankie the porter mentions that someone had stolen some surgical gloves. He explains they are in very short supply. Then the old woman says 'I have a confession to make' and pulls out the missing surgical gloves from her handbag. Frankie frowns at her but all she can say in her defence is 'I very much wish I could stop' !
Episode first broadcast Saturday 29th January 1994
Written by Christopher Watson
SERIES 8
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