First of – greetings all and thanks for the link Morgsie. I thought I might kill a thread by over-thinking things or being too literal – AS writ-large.
Multiple curiosities tonight – where the hell did the adoption thing come from for a start? The fiancé was drippy but nice who needed to grow some balls. No doubt the Jeff-Tamsin-Dixie domestic-triangle is a SNAFU in the making – why are they still living together?
Rita – slow-burning anger and sense of injustice that has finally come out into the open manifesting as depression perhaps? Self-medicating with alcohol is a bit unoriginal though. If it does result in a crisis event, a suicide attempt for example, an alcohol OD or major malpractice then that’s going to be plenty to feed-off for the winter. Tess will be pissed with everybody – Rita for being so stupid, Ash for not disclosing his suspicions, the staff for gossiping and being judgemental, Connie for giving Rita the bollocking that might just have given her the final shove off the reservation – despite the fact it was entirely justified – you don’t not disclose a relationship, you don’t mess with somebody’s notes and you don’t try to avoid somebody who is demanding to see you before they agree to a procedure which will save their life. The implied manner Connie delivered said telling-off stank but she was the Consultant, if the ex-husband had died it’s her legal responsibility, she’s gotta justify it to a Coroner and knows she can’t and of course she’s responsible as the Clinical Lead for everything that happens in the department, so I do get why she did it, if not the manner.
Rita shouldn’t be working at all, she’s not in the head-space, it’s irresponsible for her to try and wrong of Ash not to at least at least ask for Tess as her manager to have a sit-down with her informally and check-in. In any other workplace after something like the ex-husband happened, you’d want to you know, ‘how you doing?’ ‘It’s crappy’. ‘You talk to us, okay?’ ‘Sure boss.’ End of conversation. We get that sexual crimes and abuse of all sorts are Berserker-buttons for her, they’ve seen her around the villainous McKenna from the care-home weeks ago and they know about her ex, why is she even been put near these cases in the first place? It’s just insane. And the husband is just going to disappear in a taxi having tried to throttle the physical therapist right in-front of Connie (who was herself part-throttled by a bereaved son back in the day – Continuity Queen moment there) with the Police swanning about uselessly outside? Hello!
And the Rita-Eddi comparison, skteosk the thought never occurred, it was a phase of Holby City I missed. Interesting theory….
And Connie is half-assed by her usual scheming standards. No finesse at all. Why did nobody bother to check-in with Charlie either? Surely there must have been a more ingenious way to handle it than that? And how old is Charlie supposed to be anyway? Derek Thompson was born in 1948. The Charlie stuff bothers me a bit because I am not really sure I know what he’s for anymore. Please don’t throw rotten veg at me, but is it possible he’s outlived his best years and he’s just there because we expect him to be? I don’t want to say Ken Barlow in scrubs…. Speaking of scrubs, those have got to be the most tailored scrubs in the history of medicine….
Totally agree with everything you guys say about Max and Lofty. A HCA position would probably suit Max down to the ground and help embed the character into the story-lines better, I do wonder whether that's what TPTB have in-mind anyway, Zoe's solution was to take time out, his is to try to better his position there in the department.
Loved the crazy rocker dude though….
I didn’t realise that was the anniversary at all. I remember 23 November 1963 – Doctor Who, 8 September 1966 – Star Trek, but not this on the 6th. I would have been 3 and a half when it aired, I must have seen part of it (my mother is a fanatic), but I wouldn't remember any of it – too little, really must watch the Pilot again - just pity about its entirely too obvious title 'Gas', not really very exciting is it? And who knew Brenda Fricker would get an Oscar?
allthingsuk – I loathe and detest the teasers at the beginning of every episode as a norm – nothing but a game of guess the patient and ailment. The series-openers are a different thing entirely; I would be inclined to agree with your idea, make some sense of event out of the beginning of each new television year. At present, there is absolutely no sense that there is any change beyond the occasional change in personnel. Naturally that would require the introduction of proper season-enders as well, perhaps they get the red-phone call, they know they have an incident and then it cuts away leaving us to wait to see the mayhem later? Or perhaps a the vehicle that is just about to go off the side of something/smash into something? At least then there's a sense of connectedness but also that they are making an effort.
Switching days also has some merit. Sunday might work as well, this is as comfy as old slippers and that might work in their favour on a Sunday night. And I take your point about the title-sequence being very generic, they have just subtly changed the theme-tune in February and the titles in March (to allow for cast changes) so they ain’t gonna be doing any of it again soon.
Yes, the Nurses are going to have a totally different experience of change than the Doctors, especially Consultants – hence Doctors versus Nurses remark in my original post. They wasted the moonlighting plot on Fletch in a weak gambling story-line when it can be far better deployed here, particularly those at the lower end of the scale like Robyn, Lofty and Max for whom screen-time is either limited anyway or who they have to work harder at including in the story-lines due to the more tangential nature of his role in the department as Porter. You don’t want to be too heavy-handed, killing somebody off to make a political point unless it’s logic-bombed to death could be blatant and opportunistic.
They don’t have to have quirky patients all the time i.e. the vampire guy recently; they just have to have a nice variety spread reasonably evenly. Outbreaks, especially if it’s not obvious what’s wrong initially, do make for good event telly though so something obscure could no doubt be scrounged up by the researchers or advising team. About the gore, it does seem a little bloodless at time – a little projectile vomit goes a long way; complete with obvious victim, which would be hilarious!
I would agree about the night-shifts, it is always much more interesting on a weekend night when things are a bit mental. Trepidation – good word, Lily could be used well here; she doesn’t like unpredictability does she? And of course Connie but you need to be careful of overusing her, simply because she’s spent her life working in a very controlled, scheduled setting (although the number of people who died violently on Holby City over the years….)
The soapiness is the weak-link here – they go for romances or sibling rivalries which in better hands could be much more than the filler it is used as here. There must be some more workplace character-specific stuff they can do. The Ruth story is a good useful example. Forgive me for wrapping this but for the sake of staying on the right side of Moderators etc, I chose to be cautious. My predictions are as follows –
1. Grace is overdue an appearance so she will appear at some point in the autumn to winter; but Spawn of Beauchamp only normally appears for TPTB to try to kill her. Back in the day, she once fell down stairs, nearly died, TPTB got themselves tied in knots over working mother = bad mother implications (and her Dad collapses due to cancer in the same episode, and is saved, if I remember rightly, by Connie in SuperDoc mode too – my hero!) Grace also nearly died at birth and there’s more Connie to come in the winter so whose betting against something extreme like kidney failure?
2. Jeff will go out in a blaze of glory, but not before enduring an agonising domestic triad as Tamsin and Dixie are pitted off against each other for his time and attention.
3. The yet to appear Honey the Tea-girl will turn out to be the long-lost relative of somebody at the hospital, hence the big ‘secret’ – such a cliché but it would fit the tone. And on paper we can expect on 11th October, oh joy, oh rapture!
4. And does anybody else have a growing sense of dread over the Gary Lucy stuff – what relevance has it to Casualty? ‘Stylish’ and ‘noir’ according to whom Oliver? I get that they are trying to broaden the format to give it more life, but this only works when you are the top of your game and Holby City are far better at it with foreign jaunts and the atypical like ‘Past Imperfect’ (aka The One Where Connie Goes to Peckham) which got a BAFTA which spent a lot of time out of Holby.
Pity they couldn't stick it on Sunday night instead or even double it up with Holby City. They take their viewership for-granted now and thus feel okay with pre-empting the audience without warning.
How comes Cal & Ethan are a class apart ? They're meant to be brothers but Cal talks without the 'Plum' in his gob like Ethan.
They are half-brothers. The same mother, different fathers. I seem to remember that one grew up with the first husband of the mother (who died in Holby City when Ethan and Cal were introduced as characters). This would allow for different accents - and the fact they look nothing like each other!
They are half-brothers. The same mother, different fathers. I seem to remember that one grew up with the first husband of the mother (who died in Holby City when Ethan and Cal were introduced as characters). This would allow for different accents - and the fact they look nothing like each other!
Also, they have different surnames - Ethan's is Hardy, Cal's is Knight.
And NMdum1 - it was actually me who pointed out the Rita/Eddi comparisons, not skteosk.
The very second that the dreadful Chelseeeee Heeeley (or however it is spelt) appears on my screen, I will be turning it off and checking on here until she has gone again.
It's turning into Carry on Casualty without the skilled comedy acting or humour - plain awful
The very second that the dreadful Chelseeeee Heeeley (or however it is spelt) appears on my screen, I will be turning it off and checking on here until she has gone again.
It's turning into Carry on Casualty without the skilled comedy acting or humour - plain awful
I think it's fair to at least give her a chance. You never know, she may be surprisingly impressive. I remember that when Camilla Arfwedson joined the cast of Holby City (she'd mostly only done adverts and things before) people weren't very impressed by the casting decision, but she has actually proved herself to be extremely adept at playing a very complex character. From what I've heard I'm not going to like the character very much, but I have nothing against Healey as an actress.
Did anyone else notice a mistake with the order of the scenes at the start of the episode? Jeff and Dixie were called to a shout before the accident actually happened. For the sake of finding a solution, I'm going to assume that they were called to another patient before the one with the alleged assault, but I don't think that was meant to be the case.
Did anyone else notice a mistake with the order of the scenes at the start of the episode? Jeff and Dixie were called to a shout before the accident actually happened. For the sake of finding a solution, I'm going to assume that they were called to another patient before the one with the alleged assault, but I don't think that was meant to be the case.
Yes! I thought I was going mad! They binned their cappucinos before the guy had fallen down the stairs! And i would think the three of them were all caught up having a domestic and not phoning the paramedics until a genuine emergency would happen (as it then did!)
Also I second all of the ideas concerning Grace featuring in the Autumn with some kind of illness, or past illness that gives us more of an insight into why Connie is here...
Also I second all of the ideas concerning Grace featuring in the Autumn with some kind of illness, or past illness that gives us more of an insight into why Connie is here...
Who is Grace that posters are making reference to?
Not all Casualty viewers watch Holby if it is a character from there and the writers would do well to not assume that they do.
Who is Grace that posters are making reference to?
Not all Casualty viewers watch Holby if it is a character from there and the writers would do well to not assume that they do.
Yes! I thought I was going mad! They binned their cappucinos before the guy had fallen down the stairs! And i would think the three of them were all caught up having a domestic and not phoning the paramedics until a genuine emergency would happen (as it then did!)
IIRC, the radio mentioned an infant with a suspected fever, so I think it was a different patient they went to first.
I think it's fair to at least give her a chance. You never know, she may be surprisingly impressive. I remember that when Camilla Arfwedson joined the cast of Holby City (she'd mostly only done adverts and things before) people weren't very impressed by the casting decision, but she has actually proved herself to be extremely adept at playing a very complex character. From what I've heard I'm not going to like the character very much, but I have nothing against Healey as an actress.
Did anyone else notice a mistake with the order of the scenes at the start of the episode? Jeff and Dixie were called to a shout before the accident actually happened. For the sake of finding a solution, I'm going to assume that they were called to another patient before the one with the alleged assault, but I don't think that was meant to be the case.
It was a different 'shout' - 1 month old baby, not breathing. We didn't see them attending to that patient, but we saw a subsequent 'shout' (the man falling down the stairs), which carried on into the ED.
First, my apologies my dear george - that's what you get for drafting a response on Word to let me see more of my intended response - I find I can come up with something more coherent and can stay on-point better that way. 99% of the time it works well, this time it didn't so much.
Following on from from my last post - I realised only well after I’d posted that I forgot in my speculations to ask for answers on a postcard regarding what the consensus is about our mystery returnee? If they are trumpeting it, you would hope that it would be bloody good and yet, not so much, I’ll probably end up screaming at my telly – is that it? That’s who I’ve been waiting for? Are you crazy?
With regard to more recent posts/last episode - I also wondered about the timing of the first few scenes of this last episode, basic continuity doesn't appear to be a strong suit here. At first I thought I was just a little confused given that the BBC signal on my telly has been misbehaving for ages (I have tried re-tuning every which-way with limited success) and so I moved over to watching by live-streaming off iPlayer and so told it to start showing the episode from the beginning.
General observation - I suspect they just don't want to deal with basic continuity questions or go into details that those who do not have a detailed knowledge of Casualty – the Classic Years and, more recently, Holby City – the Beauchamp Years won't be answered anyways – those who know, know, those who don't, don't, rather as conventional soaps do with characters all the time. It’s a typical tactic, just bring back somebody and wish away the difficult or complicated bits that require knowledge or insight. I suppose a good example here is Corrie . I know they brought back Dennis Tanner who was in the Pilot way back on 9 December 1960, after a gap of 40-odd years and just assumed people who know who he or indeed his legendary mother (Elsie/Pat Phoenix) was? I have come to think that watching Casualty and not being confounded by it on a weekly basis, relies all too heavily now-a-days on just sitting back and letting it wash over you and not asking too many questions of it, which bodes very badly indeed.
I figure they are deliberately avoiding using continuity very much at all for the perfectly reasonably logic that there’s a hell of a lot of it and thanks to a certain somebody, it's the continuity's gone cross-franchise now. Rather as JJ Abrams jettisoned continuity and common decency when he blew up the Planet Vulcan in Star Trek (for which I will never, ever forgive him….), they appear to be ignoring the past whenever it’s complicated or in-convenient or other-wise botching it just ‘cos they’ve got nearly 30 years to cover. I mean they haven’t really handled the details of Ash’s return sublimely have they? Instead of some ordinary teenage girl who just wanted to spend time with her Dad, we got the Demon Ella…. They avoid Charlie’s past like the plague – when was the last time you heard the word ‘Baz’? Do we think he still talks to many of the people he once worked with? I wonder how many people in the audience did remember Brenda Fricker without some kind of prompting (and it would, if you are like me, younger than forty, you probably did need prompting) when she reappeared? I take it he has reneged on his (was it a joke) promise to marry Duffy if they both got to a certain age and were both single? Tess’s son has disappeared off the face of the Earth despite having a major mental health problem and she’s been around for what ten years? Is Nick Jordan even still alive? Dixie of course essentially took over the mantle from the Blessed Josh the Tormented. ‘What would Harry Harper do?’ ought to be a refrain regularly heard around the department, at least by some of the veterans.
Of course the real continuity-nightmare is ‘Mrs Beauchamp’. I get that she was a stunt casting, but have TPTB thought this through? Firstly, she's been divorced for somewhere around 8 years and Sprog Grace, presumably packed off to boarding school so they didn’t need to cast a child actor straight-away! I always giggle every time she insists on being called by her official title given the way she conducted herself whilst she actually was married (committing adultery on her first day with Ric Griffin!). Come to think of it, probably best that Grace isn’t about, she’d just complicate things whilst actually making her mother come off as a human being which is clearly not TPTB's intention at the moment. Although, if you are getting technical, Grace also oddly appears to have Connie’s name (which she got from her cad of an ex-husband) rather than her father’s name – Grace is the product of a fling with a Registrar back in Connie’s phase of shagging Doctors in offices a lot. It’s also implied in ‘Past Imperfect’ that Connie got pregnant deliberately. Anyhow, the sight of Connie trying to proceed with a heart op (on Ric Griffin’s ex-wife) whilst in labour is priceless and then being wheeled down the corridor trying desperately to maintain dignity…. Pity they gave it the diabolical title ‘Deep Dark Truthful Mirror’, whatever the hell that means. Anybody impressed by my Continuity Queen credentials? Are we still following? This is precisely why they haven’t done it yet, how do you summarise six years and not baffle those that don't know and patronise those of us who do? I can’t wait until they see the name ‘Grace Beauchamp’ on something and the penny drops….
I’ll admit it, I’m not too proud to say I love our Constance like a hardcore Dynasty fan loves Joan Collins. She’s not particularly fabulous in this yet, but have no fear, she’ll be back to her old self in no time….
I’ll admit it, I’m not too proud to say I love our Constance like a hardcore Dynasty fan loves Joan Collins. She’s not particularly fabulous in this yet, but have no fear, she’ll be back to her old self in no time….
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment!
Re the continuity issue, Holby-Casualty crossovers do complicate this matter, though I remember in Holby when Irish Greg was compared to Strachan mark 2, and of course Greg had no idea what this meant, and one of the nurses took him to the staffroom, pointed out a picture of Sam and explained the situation - it may very well be Past Imperfect. I suppose a similar gossip-style situation could happen with Robyn informing other members of staff, with the assumption that even though they weren't there when such events happened, stories and rumours about staff just get passed down or become stuff of legend. Connie could be the perfect example of this, because of the need to familiarise her past with the non-Holby Casualty viewers, and her colossal reputation in the medical world.
First, my apologies my dear george - that's what you get for drafting a response on Word to let me see more of my intended response - I find I can come up with something more coherent and can stay on-point better that way. 99% of the time it works well, this time it didn't so much.
Following on from from my last post - I realised only well after I’d posted that I forgot in my speculations to ask for answers on a postcard regarding what the consensus is about our mystery returnee? If they are trumpeting it, you would hope that it would be bloody good and yet, not so much, I’ll probably end up screaming at my telly – is that it? That’s who I’ve been waiting for? Are you crazy?
With regard to more recent posts/last episode - I also wondered about the timing of the first few scenes of this last episode, basic continuity doesn't appear to be a strong suit here. At first I thought I was just a little confused given that the BBC signal on my telly has been misbehaving for ages (I have tried re-tuning every which-way with limited success) and so I moved over to watching by live-streaming off iPlayer and so told it to start showing the episode from the beginning.
General observation - I suspect they just don't want to deal with basic continuity questions or go into details that those who do not have a detailed knowledge of Casualty – the Classic Years and, more recently, Holby City – the Beauchamp Years won't be answered anyways – those who know, know, those who don't, don't, rather as conventional soaps do with characters all the time. It’s a typical tactic, just bring back somebody and wish away the difficult or complicated bits that require knowledge or insight. I suppose a good example here is Corrie . I know they brought back Dennis Tanner who was in the Pilot way back on 9 December 1960, after a gap of 40-odd years and just assumed people who know who he or indeed his legendary mother (Elsie/Pat Phoenix) was? I have come to think that watching Casualty and not being confounded by it on a weekly basis, relies all too heavily now-a-days on just sitting back and letting it wash over you and not asking too many questions of it, which bodes very badly indeed.
I figure they are deliberately avoiding using continuity very much at all for the perfectly reasonably logic that there’s a hell of a lot of it and thanks to a certain somebody, it's the continuity's gone cross-franchise now. Rather as JJ Abrams jettisoned continuity and common decency when he blew up the Planet Vulcan in Star Trek (for which I will never, ever forgive him….), they appear to be ignoring the past whenever it’s complicated or in-convenient or other-wise botching it just ‘cos they’ve got nearly 30 years to cover. I mean they haven’t really handled the details of Ash’s return sublimely have they? Instead of some ordinary teenage girl who just wanted to spend time with her Dad, we got the Demon Ella…. They avoid Charlie’s past like the plague – when was the last time you heard the word ‘Baz’? Do we think he still talks to many of the people he once worked with? I wonder how many people in the audience did remember Brenda Fricker without some kind of prompting (and it would, if you are like me, younger than forty, you probably did need prompting) when she reappeared? I take it he has reneged on his (was it a joke) promise to marry Duffy if they both got to a certain age and were both single? Tess’s son has disappeared off the face of the Earth despite having a major mental health problem and she’s been around for what ten years? Is Nick Jordan even still alive? Dixie of course essentially took over the mantle from the Blessed Josh the Tormented. ‘What would Harry Harper do?’ ought to be a refrain regularly heard around the department, at least by some of the veterans.
Of course the real continuity-nightmare is ‘Mrs Beauchamp’. I get that she was a stunt casting, but have TPTB thought this through? Firstly, she's been divorced for somewhere around 8 years and Sprog Grace, presumably packed off to boarding school so they didn’t need to cast a child actor straight-away! I always giggle every time she insists on being called by her official title given the way she conducted herself whilst she actually was married (committing adultery on her first day with Ric Griffin!). Come to think of it, probably best that Grace isn’t about, she’d just complicate things whilst actually making her mother come off as a human being which is clearly not TPTB's intention at the moment. Although, if you are getting technical, Grace also oddly appears to have Connie’s name (which she got from her cad of an ex-husband) rather than her father’s name – Grace is the product of a fling with a Registrar back in Connie’s phase of shagging Doctors in offices a lot. It’s also implied in ‘Past Imperfect’ that Connie got pregnant deliberately. Anyhow, the sight of Connie trying to proceed with a heart op (on Ric Griffin’s ex-wife) whilst in labour is priceless and then being wheeled down the corridor trying desperately to maintain dignity…. Pity they gave it the diabolical title ‘Deep Dark Truthful Mirror’, whatever the hell that means. Anybody impressed by my Continuity Queen credentials? Are we still following? This is precisely why they haven’t done it yet, how do you summarise six years and not baffle those that don't know and patronise those of us who do? I can’t wait until they see the name ‘Grace Beauchamp’ on something and the penny drops….
I’ll admit it, I’m not too proud to say I love our Constance like a hardcore Dynasty fan loves Joan Collins. She’s not particularly fabulous in this yet, but have no fear, she’ll be back to her old self in no time….
I think I can answer a few of your questions:
-I remember the last time that Baz was referenced, although they didn't use her name. I think it was around the time when Louis got Shona pregnant, but it may have been a bit before that - it was one of the times when they had a storyline around Charlie's turbulent relationship with his son anyway. I remember an episode ended with Charlie staring at a photo of Baz and muttering, 'What would you do?' or something (although I might have made up that last bit, he may have just looked at the photo without saying anything.)
-Brenda Fricker isn't a very good example really, because she was brought back only about four years ago for quite a big storyline, and a couple of years prior to that she returned as a one-episode appearance for Comic Relief. Charlie's granddaughter is also named Megan after her. There are other past characters though - I like to imagine that Charlie is in touch with a few of them, but there have been so many over the years that it's hard to keep track. Personally, if I was Charlie I'd have run from that hospital long before now, given how many of his past colleagues have died horribly - what are the odds of that?
-Sam is presumably married now. A few years after he left, Tess was disillusioned when he told her that he was engaged to a girl that she had never even met, so unless that fell through I presume that they're settled down somewhere - without any children, because I think it would have been mentioned if Tess became a grandma. He's not mentioned much anymore, but there have been a few times she's mentioned going to visit him. Interestingly, there were a few episodes a couple of years ago when Tess mentioned her daughter Saskia, which surprised me because I don't remember it ever being mentioned that she had any more children besides Sam. Also, I wouldn't have thought Saskia would be the name Tess would choose for her daughter - she strikes me as being more of a Jane sort of person. But, it's part of her continuity, so I accept it.
-Nick Jordan is still alive, and in contact with Zoe. There was an episode just a few months ago when Zoe read an email from him, which was in response to her contacting him to tell him about Connie coming. I hope that we never see him again, because he's supposed to only have a few years left, and I'd hate that to be retconned.
As for Grace, there haven't really been any references to her since Connie came to Casualty. The only possible reference is the occasion when she was asked out to the pub and she said, 'No thanks, I don't like to drink on a school night' - and a regular forum member pointed out that that is a slang term often used within the workplace without necessarily having any reference to children (which I have never heard myself, but I'm possibly a little too young - I'll be 21 in October), so that may not have been a reference to Grace at all. However, Connie recently made a guest appearance on Holby City, and Grace was mentioned then.
There was actually an opposite problem to this that occurred on Holby City. I remember a scene when Jonny and Mo were discussing Jac's affair with Lord Byrne. Now that happened so long before either of them joined the show that I'm surprised that they even know about it. The only way I can think of is that they learned it from Elliot, who is really the only common factor besides Jac herself, but I really can't visualise how that conversation started. He's not usually the type to gossip about people.
I mentioned the stairs thing to my mum, and she said she thinks that was a back entrance - and thinking about it I think that was right. It wasn't the same door that he went out of to go to work, although I may have to iPlayer it.
Fourth'd - a home with stairs seems like the least practical place to live in the world if you have been in a wheelchair for a bit - wouldn't you just either sell up or give up your lease and go into a bungalow or ground-floor flat?
I bow to your superior knowledge and expertise george. I picked up on the "school-night" reference and was all like 'yeah, a Grace reference' and then figured that it was perhaps a little subtle. I giggled at the 'Connie = dangerous' email upon her arrival, but shouldn't Nick be on his way out? I might be wrong, I didn't watch at all regularly in that era, but wasn't it about five years he was given or something? Should he not be pretty far along even with the stay of execution he got thanks to the operation he got? I don't know. Also, it was a little curious because of the timing of his departure from Holby City (season 8), between Nick and Connie, it's more a rivalry thing than the usual political scheming we are used to from her which is usually that between a CEO and Director of Surgery or coveting the DoS job. As to the other characters, the Casualty specific people, I used some hypothetical examples that I could pull out from the old memory, in that surely it cuts both ways and demonstrates why I suppose TPTB might be nervous about referencing backwards too much.
I'll be the first to admit I am weak on the details of this show because I didn't have a good reason to watch it - I did however have a flatmate who was a fanatical fan of Holby City in its glory days - it's not a patch on what it was at the minute, although I did see 'One Small Step' that included a delightfully catty Beauchamp-Naylor bitch-fest/continuity-fest. "Autumn shades" indeed. Said flatmate wasn't a huge Casualty fan though which seemed interesting to me at the time so I didn't really watch it much - HC was our one weekly fluff TV allowance, which is why I became so acquainted by it and then it slumped when Connie left mid-way through Season 13 when everyone and his dog was leaving. Indeed, my ex-flatmate remains a devoted Connie-fan, and this was the only reason we deliberately tuned-in to see Connie's first Casualty appearance, which is pretty memorable, way back in episode 2 of Season 22, (before either Adam Trueman - I just checked the episode list on Holby.tv and Zoe showed up) and imaginatively entitled 'Charlie's Anniversary' which had Charlie celebrate 35 years in Nursing and has her rolling in like the cavalry to take over when there is a sudden shortage of Consultants, calling time on a patient in Resus without much warning. It was fab! And odd because it suggests a degree of interchangability between Surgeons and ED docs I don't suppose is remotely realistic - my money is on her having done a six to twelve month turn in an ED as a 1st year. Anyway, I checked the air-dates, it slots in around episode 47 or 48 of season 9 in HC continuity - by which time Grace already exists. Presumably it is to that episode that long-term fans are referred by way of Charlie's response to her appearance in 'Valves to Vagrants' - I presume he was thinking as he watched her appear from the taxi "well here we go again!" I also assume there was a small internal sigh and thinking he had to behave himself, they do after-all share a mutual friend in the form of the delightful Elliot Hope and I assume he doesn't want to put Elliot in an awkward situation. Or am I presuming too much of TPTB?
I was entirely forgetting about Tess's daughter and didn't Charlie and Baz have a tortured romance? Its no wonder that father and son maybe don't see eye to eye, never-mind the accidental grand-baby thing. The Brenda Fricker thing, as I said, I was too young to remember her properly when she was in this properly - my Nana caught me up to speed one Saturday evening when I watched it with her as you do....
And I would have run kicking and screaming from Holby too long ago, (there was a time on HC it seemed like loads of characters were dying violently hence why some people refer to the shrub area they sometimes take a seat in as the Linden Cullen Memorial Shrubbery).... if only to avoid being personal acquaintances with another contestant on Strictly - the guy who played Grace's Dad Sam (Tom Chambers) has won it (in 2008). And of course that's before we even get to Chelsee Healey (2nd place, 2011).
I bow to your superior knowledge and expertise george. I picked up on the "school-night" reference and was all like 'yeah, a Grace reference' and then figured that it was perhaps a little subtle. I giggled at the 'Connie = dangerous' email upon her arrival, but shouldn't Nick be on his way out? I might be wrong, I didn't watch at all regularly in that era, but wasn't it about five years he was given or something? Should he not be pretty far along even with the stay of execution he got thanks to the operation he got? I don't know. Also, it was a little curious because of the timing of his departure from Holby City (season 8), between Nick and Connie, it's more a rivalry thing than the usual political scheming we are used to from her which is usually that between a CEO and Director of Surgery or coveting the DoS job. As to the other characters, the Casualty specific people, I used some hypothetical examples that I could pull out from the old memory, in that surely it cuts both ways and demonstrates why I suppose TPTB might be nervous about referencing backwards too much.
Yeah, Nick should be on his way out as he's had about the time he was given, but lots of people live longer than their diagnoses. The American TV writer Sam Simon (probably best known for being one of the original team working on The Simpsons) has terminal cancer, and was given three to six months to live in late 2012. As of yet, he is still going. It's not too hard to believe that Nick Jordan is doing okay and at least has the capacity to compose emails and think coherently, so long as he isn't brought back as a staff member.
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Multiple curiosities tonight – where the hell did the adoption thing come from for a start? The fiancé was drippy but nice who needed to grow some balls. No doubt the Jeff-Tamsin-Dixie domestic-triangle is a SNAFU in the making – why are they still living together?
Rita – slow-burning anger and sense of injustice that has finally come out into the open manifesting as depression perhaps? Self-medicating with alcohol is a bit unoriginal though. If it does result in a crisis event, a suicide attempt for example, an alcohol OD or major malpractice then that’s going to be plenty to feed-off for the winter. Tess will be pissed with everybody – Rita for being so stupid, Ash for not disclosing his suspicions, the staff for gossiping and being judgemental, Connie for giving Rita the bollocking that might just have given her the final shove off the reservation – despite the fact it was entirely justified – you don’t not disclose a relationship, you don’t mess with somebody’s notes and you don’t try to avoid somebody who is demanding to see you before they agree to a procedure which will save their life. The implied manner Connie delivered said telling-off stank but she was the Consultant, if the ex-husband had died it’s her legal responsibility, she’s gotta justify it to a Coroner and knows she can’t and of course she’s responsible as the Clinical Lead for everything that happens in the department, so I do get why she did it, if not the manner.
Rita shouldn’t be working at all, she’s not in the head-space, it’s irresponsible for her to try and wrong of Ash not to at least at least ask for Tess as her manager to have a sit-down with her informally and check-in. In any other workplace after something like the ex-husband happened, you’d want to you know, ‘how you doing?’ ‘It’s crappy’. ‘You talk to us, okay?’ ‘Sure boss.’ End of conversation. We get that sexual crimes and abuse of all sorts are Berserker-buttons for her, they’ve seen her around the villainous McKenna from the care-home weeks ago and they know about her ex, why is she even been put near these cases in the first place? It’s just insane. And the husband is just going to disappear in a taxi having tried to throttle the physical therapist right in-front of Connie (who was herself part-throttled by a bereaved son back in the day – Continuity Queen moment there) with the Police swanning about uselessly outside? Hello!
And the Rita-Eddi comparison, skteosk the thought never occurred, it was a phase of Holby City I missed. Interesting theory….
And Connie is half-assed by her usual scheming standards. No finesse at all. Why did nobody bother to check-in with Charlie either? Surely there must have been a more ingenious way to handle it than that? And how old is Charlie supposed to be anyway? Derek Thompson was born in 1948. The Charlie stuff bothers me a bit because I am not really sure I know what he’s for anymore. Please don’t throw rotten veg at me, but is it possible he’s outlived his best years and he’s just there because we expect him to be? I don’t want to say Ken Barlow in scrubs…. Speaking of scrubs, those have got to be the most tailored scrubs in the history of medicine….
Totally agree with everything you guys say about Max and Lofty. A HCA position would probably suit Max down to the ground and help embed the character into the story-lines better, I do wonder whether that's what TPTB have in-mind anyway, Zoe's solution was to take time out, his is to try to better his position there in the department.
Loved the crazy rocker dude though….
I didn’t realise that was the anniversary at all. I remember 23 November 1963 – Doctor Who, 8 September 1966 – Star Trek, but not this on the 6th. I would have been 3 and a half when it aired, I must have seen part of it (my mother is a fanatic), but I wouldn't remember any of it – too little, really must watch the Pilot again - just pity about its entirely too obvious title 'Gas', not really very exciting is it? And who knew Brenda Fricker would get an Oscar?
allthingsuk – I loathe and detest the teasers at the beginning of every episode as a norm – nothing but a game of guess the patient and ailment. The series-openers are a different thing entirely; I would be inclined to agree with your idea, make some sense of event out of the beginning of each new television year. At present, there is absolutely no sense that there is any change beyond the occasional change in personnel. Naturally that would require the introduction of proper season-enders as well, perhaps they get the red-phone call, they know they have an incident and then it cuts away leaving us to wait to see the mayhem later? Or perhaps a the vehicle that is just about to go off the side of something/smash into something? At least then there's a sense of connectedness but also that they are making an effort.
Switching days also has some merit. Sunday might work as well, this is as comfy as old slippers and that might work in their favour on a Sunday night. And I take your point about the title-sequence being very generic, they have just subtly changed the theme-tune in February and the titles in March (to allow for cast changes) so they ain’t gonna be doing any of it again soon.
Yes, the Nurses are going to have a totally different experience of change than the Doctors, especially Consultants – hence Doctors versus Nurses remark in my original post. They wasted the moonlighting plot on Fletch in a weak gambling story-line when it can be far better deployed here, particularly those at the lower end of the scale like Robyn, Lofty and Max for whom screen-time is either limited anyway or who they have to work harder at including in the story-lines due to the more tangential nature of his role in the department as Porter. You don’t want to be too heavy-handed, killing somebody off to make a political point unless it’s logic-bombed to death could be blatant and opportunistic.
They don’t have to have quirky patients all the time i.e. the vampire guy recently; they just have to have a nice variety spread reasonably evenly. Outbreaks, especially if it’s not obvious what’s wrong initially, do make for good event telly though so something obscure could no doubt be scrounged up by the researchers or advising team. About the gore, it does seem a little bloodless at time – a little projectile vomit goes a long way; complete with obvious victim, which would be hilarious!
I would agree about the night-shifts, it is always much more interesting on a weekend night when things are a bit mental. Trepidation – good word, Lily could be used well here; she doesn’t like unpredictability does she? And of course Connie but you need to be careful of overusing her, simply because she’s spent her life working in a very controlled, scheduled setting (although the number of people who died violently on Holby City over the years….)
The soapiness is the weak-link here – they go for romances or sibling rivalries which in better hands could be much more than the filler it is used as here. There must be some more workplace character-specific stuff they can do. The Ruth story is a good useful example. Forgive me for wrapping this but for the sake of staying on the right side of Moderators etc, I chose to be cautious. My predictions are as follows –
2. Jeff will go out in a blaze of glory, but not before enduring an agonising domestic triad as Tamsin and Dixie are pitted off against each other for his time and attention.
3. The yet to appear Honey the Tea-girl will turn out to be the long-lost relative of somebody at the hospital, hence the big ‘secret’ – such a cliché but it would fit the tone. And on paper we can expect on 11th October, oh joy, oh rapture!
4. And does anybody else have a growing sense of dread over the Gary Lucy stuff – what relevance has it to Casualty? ‘Stylish’ and ‘noir’ according to whom Oliver? I get that they are trying to broaden the format to give it more life, but this only works when you are the top of your game and Holby City are far better at it with foreign jaunts and the atypical like ‘Past Imperfect’ (aka The One Where Connie Goes to Peckham) which got a BAFTA which spent a lot of time out of Holby.
Pity they couldn't stick it on Sunday night instead or even double it up with Holby City. They take their viewership for-granted now and thus feel okay with pre-empting the audience without warning.
Then again, maybe I am talking nonsense....
Actually, I'm thinking, what on earth does Jeff see in Tamsin? She's just a bimbo who plays men. Jeff otoh is a sensitive, caring guy.
/just my opinion.
They are half-brothers. The same mother, different fathers. I seem to remember that one grew up with the first husband of the mother (who died in Holby City when Ethan and Cal were introduced as characters). This would allow for different accents - and the fact they look nothing like each other!
Also, they have different surnames - Ethan's is Hardy, Cal's is Knight.
And NMdum1 - it was actually me who pointed out the Rita/Eddi comparisons, not skteosk.
Then, within minutes of giving birth, she went back to work!:o:D
It's turning into Carry on Casualty without the skilled comedy acting or humour - plain awful
I think it's fair to at least give her a chance. You never know, she may be surprisingly impressive. I remember that when Camilla Arfwedson joined the cast of Holby City (she'd mostly only done adverts and things before) people weren't very impressed by the casting decision, but she has actually proved herself to be extremely adept at playing a very complex character. From what I've heard I'm not going to like the character very much, but I have nothing against Healey as an actress.
Did anyone else notice a mistake with the order of the scenes at the start of the episode? Jeff and Dixie were called to a shout before the accident actually happened. For the sake of finding a solution, I'm going to assume that they were called to another patient before the one with the alleged assault, but I don't think that was meant to be the case.
Yes! I thought I was going mad! They binned their cappucinos before the guy had fallen down the stairs! And i would think the three of them were all caught up having a domestic and not phoning the paramedics until a genuine emergency would happen (as it then did!)
Who is Grace that posters are making reference to?
Not all Casualty viewers watch Holby if it is a character from there and the writers would do well to not assume that they do.
Grace is Connie's daughter
IIRC, the radio mentioned an infant with a suspected fever, so I think it was a different patient they went to first.
Thanks.
I hope that they don't just bring her in assuming that viewers will know this?
It was a different 'shout' - 1 month old baby, not breathing. We didn't see them attending to that patient, but we saw a subsequent 'shout' (the man falling down the stairs), which carried on into the ED.
Following on from from my last post - I realised only well after I’d posted that I forgot in my speculations to ask for answers on a postcard regarding what the consensus is about our mystery returnee? If they are trumpeting it, you would hope that it would be bloody good and yet, not so much, I’ll probably end up screaming at my telly – is that it? That’s who I’ve been waiting for? Are you crazy?
With regard to more recent posts/last episode - I also wondered about the timing of the first few scenes of this last episode, basic continuity doesn't appear to be a strong suit here. At first I thought I was just a little confused given that the BBC signal on my telly has been misbehaving for ages (I have tried re-tuning every which-way with limited success) and so I moved over to watching by live-streaming off iPlayer and so told it to start showing the episode from the beginning.
General observation - I suspect they just don't want to deal with basic continuity questions or go into details that those who do not have a detailed knowledge of Casualty – the Classic Years and, more recently, Holby City – the Beauchamp Years won't be answered anyways – those who know, know, those who don't, don't, rather as conventional soaps do with characters all the time. It’s a typical tactic, just bring back somebody and wish away the difficult or complicated bits that require knowledge or insight. I suppose a good example here is Corrie . I know they brought back Dennis Tanner who was in the Pilot way back on 9 December 1960, after a gap of 40-odd years and just assumed people who know who he or indeed his legendary mother (Elsie/Pat Phoenix) was? I have come to think that watching Casualty and not being confounded by it on a weekly basis, relies all too heavily now-a-days on just sitting back and letting it wash over you and not asking too many questions of it, which bodes very badly indeed.
I figure they are deliberately avoiding using continuity very much at all for the perfectly reasonably logic that there’s a hell of a lot of it and thanks to a certain somebody, it's the continuity's gone cross-franchise now. Rather as JJ Abrams jettisoned continuity and common decency when he blew up the Planet Vulcan in Star Trek (for which I will never, ever forgive him….), they appear to be ignoring the past whenever it’s complicated or in-convenient or other-wise botching it just ‘cos they’ve got nearly 30 years to cover. I mean they haven’t really handled the details of Ash’s return sublimely have they? Instead of some ordinary teenage girl who just wanted to spend time with her Dad, we got the Demon Ella…. They avoid Charlie’s past like the plague – when was the last time you heard the word ‘Baz’? Do we think he still talks to many of the people he once worked with? I wonder how many people in the audience did remember Brenda Fricker without some kind of prompting (and it would, if you are like me, younger than forty, you probably did need prompting) when she reappeared? I take it he has reneged on his (was it a joke) promise to marry Duffy if they both got to a certain age and were both single? Tess’s son has disappeared off the face of the Earth despite having a major mental health problem and she’s been around for what ten years? Is Nick Jordan even still alive? Dixie of course essentially took over the mantle from the Blessed Josh the Tormented. ‘What would Harry Harper do?’ ought to be a refrain regularly heard around the department, at least by some of the veterans.
Of course the real continuity-nightmare is ‘Mrs Beauchamp’. I get that she was a stunt casting, but have TPTB thought this through? Firstly, she's been divorced for somewhere around 8 years and Sprog Grace, presumably packed off to boarding school so they didn’t need to cast a child actor straight-away! I always giggle every time she insists on being called by her official title given the way she conducted herself whilst she actually was married (committing adultery on her first day with Ric Griffin!). Come to think of it, probably best that Grace isn’t about, she’d just complicate things whilst actually making her mother come off as a human being which is clearly not TPTB's intention at the moment. Although, if you are getting technical, Grace also oddly appears to have Connie’s name (which she got from her cad of an ex-husband) rather than her father’s name – Grace is the product of a fling with a Registrar back in Connie’s phase of shagging Doctors in offices a lot. It’s also implied in ‘Past Imperfect’ that Connie got pregnant deliberately. Anyhow, the sight of Connie trying to proceed with a heart op (on Ric Griffin’s ex-wife) whilst in labour is priceless and then being wheeled down the corridor trying desperately to maintain dignity…. Pity they gave it the diabolical title ‘Deep Dark Truthful Mirror’, whatever the hell that means. Anybody impressed by my Continuity Queen credentials? Are we still following? This is precisely why they haven’t done it yet, how do you summarise six years and not baffle those that don't know and patronise those of us who do? I can’t wait until they see the name ‘Grace Beauchamp’ on something and the penny drops….
I’ll admit it, I’m not too proud to say I love our Constance like a hardcore Dynasty fan loves Joan Collins. She’s not particularly fabulous in this yet, but have no fear, she’ll be back to her old self in no time….
I had the same thought. Why would they choose to live there?
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment!
Re the continuity issue, Holby-Casualty crossovers do complicate this matter, though I remember in Holby when Irish Greg was compared to Strachan mark 2, and of course Greg had no idea what this meant, and one of the nurses took him to the staffroom, pointed out a picture of Sam and explained the situation - it may very well be Past Imperfect. I suppose a similar gossip-style situation could happen with Robyn informing other members of staff, with the assumption that even though they weren't there when such events happened, stories and rumours about staff just get passed down or become stuff of legend. Connie could be the perfect example of this, because of the need to familiarise her past with the non-Holby Casualty viewers, and her colossal reputation in the medical world.
I think I can answer a few of your questions:
-I remember the last time that Baz was referenced, although they didn't use her name. I think it was around the time when Louis got Shona pregnant, but it may have been a bit before that - it was one of the times when they had a storyline around Charlie's turbulent relationship with his son anyway. I remember an episode ended with Charlie staring at a photo of Baz and muttering, 'What would you do?' or something (although I might have made up that last bit, he may have just looked at the photo without saying anything.)
-Brenda Fricker isn't a very good example really, because she was brought back only about four years ago for quite a big storyline, and a couple of years prior to that she returned as a one-episode appearance for Comic Relief. Charlie's granddaughter is also named Megan after her. There are other past characters though - I like to imagine that Charlie is in touch with a few of them, but there have been so many over the years that it's hard to keep track. Personally, if I was Charlie I'd have run from that hospital long before now, given how many of his past colleagues have died horribly - what are the odds of that?
-Sam is presumably married now. A few years after he left, Tess was disillusioned when he told her that he was engaged to a girl that she had never even met, so unless that fell through I presume that they're settled down somewhere - without any children, because I think it would have been mentioned if Tess became a grandma. He's not mentioned much anymore, but there have been a few times she's mentioned going to visit him. Interestingly, there were a few episodes a couple of years ago when Tess mentioned her daughter Saskia, which surprised me because I don't remember it ever being mentioned that she had any more children besides Sam. Also, I wouldn't have thought Saskia would be the name Tess would choose for her daughter - she strikes me as being more of a Jane sort of person. But, it's part of her continuity, so I accept it.
-Nick Jordan is still alive, and in contact with Zoe. There was an episode just a few months ago when Zoe read an email from him, which was in response to her contacting him to tell him about Connie coming. I hope that we never see him again, because he's supposed to only have a few years left, and I'd hate that to be retconned.
As for Grace, there haven't really been any references to her since Connie came to Casualty. The only possible reference is the occasion when she was asked out to the pub and she said, 'No thanks, I don't like to drink on a school night' - and a regular forum member pointed out that that is a slang term often used within the workplace without necessarily having any reference to children (which I have never heard myself, but I'm possibly a little too young - I'll be 21 in October), so that may not have been a reference to Grace at all. However, Connie recently made a guest appearance on Holby City, and Grace was mentioned then.
There was actually an opposite problem to this that occurred on Holby City. I remember a scene when Jonny and Mo were discussing Jac's affair with Lord Byrne. Now that happened so long before either of them joined the show that I'm surprised that they even know about it. The only way I can think of is that they learned it from Elliot, who is really the only common factor besides Jac herself, but I really can't visualise how that conversation started. He's not usually the type to gossip about people.
Thirded. Do you think she'd just been indoors ever since her accident?
I bow to your superior knowledge and expertise george. I picked up on the "school-night" reference and was all like 'yeah, a Grace reference' and then figured that it was perhaps a little subtle. I giggled at the 'Connie = dangerous' email upon her arrival, but shouldn't Nick be on his way out? I might be wrong, I didn't watch at all regularly in that era, but wasn't it about five years he was given or something? Should he not be pretty far along even with the stay of execution he got thanks to the operation he got? I don't know. Also, it was a little curious because of the timing of his departure from Holby City (season 8), between Nick and Connie, it's more a rivalry thing than the usual political scheming we are used to from her which is usually that between a CEO and Director of Surgery or coveting the DoS job. As to the other characters, the Casualty specific people, I used some hypothetical examples that I could pull out from the old memory, in that surely it cuts both ways and demonstrates why I suppose TPTB might be nervous about referencing backwards too much.
I'll be the first to admit I am weak on the details of this show because I didn't have a good reason to watch it - I did however have a flatmate who was a fanatical fan of Holby City in its glory days - it's not a patch on what it was at the minute, although I did see 'One Small Step' that included a delightfully catty Beauchamp-Naylor bitch-fest/continuity-fest. "Autumn shades" indeed. Said flatmate wasn't a huge Casualty fan though which seemed interesting to me at the time so I didn't really watch it much - HC was our one weekly fluff TV allowance, which is why I became so acquainted by it and then it slumped when Connie left mid-way through Season 13 when everyone and his dog was leaving. Indeed, my ex-flatmate remains a devoted Connie-fan, and this was the only reason we deliberately tuned-in to see Connie's first Casualty appearance, which is pretty memorable, way back in episode 2 of Season 22, (before either Adam Trueman - I just checked the episode list on Holby.tv and Zoe showed up) and imaginatively entitled 'Charlie's Anniversary' which had Charlie celebrate 35 years in Nursing and has her rolling in like the cavalry to take over when there is a sudden shortage of Consultants, calling time on a patient in Resus without much warning. It was fab! And odd because it suggests a degree of interchangability between Surgeons and ED docs I don't suppose is remotely realistic - my money is on her having done a six to twelve month turn in an ED as a 1st year. Anyway, I checked the air-dates, it slots in around episode 47 or 48 of season 9 in HC continuity - by which time Grace already exists. Presumably it is to that episode that long-term fans are referred by way of Charlie's response to her appearance in 'Valves to Vagrants' - I presume he was thinking as he watched her appear from the taxi "well here we go again!" I also assume there was a small internal sigh and thinking he had to behave himself, they do after-all share a mutual friend in the form of the delightful Elliot Hope and I assume he doesn't want to put Elliot in an awkward situation. Or am I presuming too much of TPTB?
I was entirely forgetting about Tess's daughter and didn't Charlie and Baz have a tortured romance? Its no wonder that father and son maybe don't see eye to eye, never-mind the accidental grand-baby thing. The Brenda Fricker thing, as I said, I was too young to remember her properly when she was in this properly - my Nana caught me up to speed one Saturday evening when I watched it with her as you do....
And I would have run kicking and screaming from Holby too long ago, (there was a time on HC it seemed like loads of characters were dying violently hence why some people refer to the shrub area they sometimes take a seat in as the Linden Cullen Memorial Shrubbery).... if only to avoid being personal acquaintances with another contestant on Strictly - the guy who played Grace's Dad Sam (Tom Chambers) has won it (in 2008). And of course that's before we even get to Chelsee Healey (2nd place, 2011).
Yeah, Nick should be on his way out as he's had about the time he was given, but lots of people live longer than their diagnoses. The American TV writer Sam Simon (probably best known for being one of the original team working on The Simpsons) has terminal cancer, and was given three to six months to live in late 2012. As of yet, he is still going. It's not too hard to believe that Nick Jordan is doing okay and at least has the capacity to compose emails and think coherently, so long as he isn't brought back as a staff member.