Just finished. I love these types of eps - so much going on everywhere

The Dixie/Fletch stuff was really good to see and nice to see Holby remember Fletch's gambling addiction from Casualty.

It was great to have Oliver back and have him be different. He seems more cautious with himself but still self-assured which is going to be interesting to see play out. Can anyone remember what happened with him and Hanssen?

I loved Dominic hiding from Hanssen

Henrik back and Holby comes to life, I'd like to see more of Jesse though.

Amazing how one character can breathe life back into Holby.

Welcome back Hanssen.

All I need now is Freida, Spence, Chantelle and the Malick and it will be Holby Heaven.

Hanssen!!!!!
Dom hiding from him and then being told to come out was hilarious.
It was nice to see Texas, it's a shame her character was so annoying and clearly a crap friend. At least she was as beautiful as ever.

Nope, I think I'd rather have any of them back. Elizabeth was okay until they gave her that annoying storyline with her annoying grandmother. Never had a problem with Sahira, although she was another one whose storyline self-combusted towards the end. Chrissie got a bit stale but a short-term return could be interesting. Only ones I can think of off-hand who I'd like to see back less are Tom Campbell-Gore, Connie Beauchamp (ironically), Sam Kennedy, maybe Faye Whatever Her Surname Is Now and a couple of short-lived "baddie" CEOs. And Alistair Taylor but he's dead thankfully.

I can't remember quite how it was phrased but I think that was the point, that Oliver was being a hypocrite, see also the way he sneers at the medical student as if she's a posh spoiled brat when he's the one who bought his way into his career with handouts from his dad and the minimum effort.

I actually liked Guy is this episode, I think him and Hansen work well together. Look forward to see what happens with them

No Holby Heaven is complete without Joseph Byrne

But Hanssen's return has certainly livened things up. Because the CEO has license to pop up in any ward and interact with the entire cast, it makes a huge difference when the character is someone like Hanssen, who is charisma on castors (he glides too beautifully for wheels).

I'm also glad Oliver Valentine is back, because he was always one of my favourite characters. I always thought James Anderson was very good at the comedy stuff and delivering one liners, so I hope that part of him is seen soon - he's been too serious for too long.

This week's episode review is here.

Great to see him back.

I'm struggling to remember his relationship with existing characters though.

Dominic was worried because of the Malick thing I'm assuming.
Hansen knows Oli's secret?
Hansen quite liked Digby from what I recall.

Having a brain tumour seems to have become obligatory with HC doctors. First Tara, then Elliot, and now Annabelle.

Also NIck Jordan in Casualty.

Hansenn is the only person at the Hospital (Malick also knewy that knows that Oliver swapped his and Penny's papers so he was not properly qualified. Also, that he was on the point of passing Tara's research off as his own before quitting 2 years ago.

Oh different strokes for different folks - i couldn't stand Elisabeth or Sahira from the off, in fact the 2 of them combined pretty much spoilt the second half of season 13 for me. I never had a problems with Oliver (as an interesting character, not morally) until Tara bounced along (who I found very irritating at the time but have warmed to with hindsight) and then he got tireseom. I actually think this new incarnation could be good - he's changed (as anyone would) but the 'core' of him$ still seems the same.

I'm not entirely sure it is fair to say he bought his way into his career - from memory his Dad disn't want him to be a Doctor but to follow him into business. Yes, he will have gone to the 'right' schools and his living expenses were being subsidized (which is a big help re not having to take on jobs to survive etc) but I don't think he 'bought' his way into medical school.

I always got the impression Oliver was very bright and passed exams easily until he got to a certain point in his finals when it went wrong at which point he stole Penny's paper. Whereas Penny had always had to work hard to get the exam results so was already in the 'study' zone by University.

That's just how i made sense of it from the fact that Ollie was initially presented as the more naturally gifted of the two and it wasn't as though he was constantly presenting her work as his own. He did used to diagnose correctly etc.

You must have loved season 13 and 14!

I agree with Clover. Holby Heaven can not exist without Joseph and Jac - and controversially i think i'd include Jonny and Anton Meyer too.

Yes pretty much.
Hansenn knew that Dominic lied about Malick and i assume was instrumental in getting him put back a year and moved to another hospital
Hansenn nominated Digby for Young Doctor of the Year award.
Hansenn is the only one that knows Valentine cheated in his exams

He had a good working relationship with everybody by the time he left i think. After difficult starts with elliot, Ric and Serena they'd all come to a position of mutual respect, even liking
Zosia had started there before he left and he seemed to think she showed great promise
He hired Mo in the first place and invested in the transplant Team so he likes her.
He also rated Sacha

Connie over in Casualty is the one that parted on bad terms so that will be interesting.

Raf, Fletch, Jesse, Essie, Adele are the ones he doesn't have history with.

As you say, different ideas. I found Elizabeth a fun, chirpy likable character until she was given a traumatic back story out of nowhere and her personality did a 180. Shahira was an odd one: I'm not saying this was all there was to it but before a single episode had aired people seemed to be going "Oh, she'll be a bitch, that's all Laila Rouass ever plays", because apparently they'd only ever seen her in Footballers' Wives, but I'd never seen that so my experience of her was in Family Affairs and Primeval when her characters were perfectly pleasant (I even liked her character in Sarah Jane Adventures when I wasn't supposed to) so I was kind of approaching her from a different angle.

I'm not saying Oliver's dad bribed anyone, but while he didn't particularly want him to be a doctor he didn't seem to not want him to be one either: I got the impression he basically went "You want to be a doctor? Really? Oh, okay then" and paid to put him through medical school, whereas Penny, like the medical student here, had to work hard for everything. It was interesting that James Anderson noted recently that Oliver was originally written as a super-doctor, then when they saw he wasn't playing it that way the writers made him more bumbling. The result was it turning out that Oliver had been riding along on Penny's coat tails without any real talent, and just as people were starting to realise that she was the talented one and he was a cheating back-stabber, she pretty much literally gets a bridge dropped on her, everyone else that finds out (Henrik, Antoine and Penny's flatmate) just shrugs their shoulders and covers for him, and the audience are apparently meant to accept Henrik's distasteful moral of "You've been working as a doctor for a long while and saved a patient's life today so it doesn't matter that you're not a real doctor." Having to spend years watching him get praised for every tiny bit of basic competence made my blood boil and now we have to watch it all again.


Okay, I might be remembering this completely wrong and should probably look it up first but: Wasn't Henrik the one operating on Tara when she died? I thought that was the source of Oliver's discomfort, same as being back on Darwin, where they met and spent most of their time together, is clearly bringing back memories.

Hanssen's return did not disappoint, I especially loved Dom's reaction and Hanssen telling him he could stand up now.

Lovely to see Shelfish put back in his box, too.

I had to laugh at Elliot telling Oliver that Darwin had a good team - he was referring to an anesthetist and a HCA at the time. I agree that Oliver has been serious for too long and needs lightening up. I think I read somewhere that his new love interest will be Not sure how I feel about that!

Really enjoyed it though, and hope it's a sign of better things to come.

I missed most of the episode last night as I had visitors so I just caught up.
Why did Serena got the legend back?
Henrik owned Guy in the final scene, made an interesting point regarding the hospital's organisation. And I liked the moral compass line. The Henrik/Guy dynamic is interesting
Ollie, I am not sure about

No it was an external Nuerosurgeon that operated on Tara. Henrik just waited for news with Elliot. Hansenn did have to operate on Chantelle after the car accident at the end of Season 15 so perhaps that is what you are remembering.

I think oliver was discomforted being back where Tara had worked (and died) and because Hansenn knows he cheated with his exams.

I saw that interview with Anderson as well and thought he was more meaning Ollie being anladies man in the first few months and them changing it when they saw him on screen but the two kind of go together.

It's been a while since I saw the episode with The Valentines Dad but i always thought that poenny was very much the 'inferior' child who the Dad was okay with going into Medicine rather than Business whereas he wanted 'more' for Oliver and kept waiting for him to change his mind. He felt Ollie only went into Medicine because Penny had. There is no reason to believe Penny didn't have the same good, private education and help with fees during University. I know she was paying her own way with her flat rather than living in luxury courtesy of Daddy like Oliver but I still imagine she didn't have to scrimp and save to get through medical school.

I'd seen Rouass in loads of things, Hollyoaks, FW, Primeval, spooks and always rated her as an actress. My problem was how 'perfect' Sahira was presented as being - mother, brilliant surgeon, kind and friendly who everybody in the department loves and wants as the new consultant rather than wicked Jac, witty, cupcake baking and then she was so over exposed. I remember doing an episode count for each actor that season and she only missed 3 out of 52 and had the major plot rather than only being in a couple of scenes and it was all just too much for me.

I actually think if they had not shoved her down our throats so much she'd have been more popular, Rouass wouldn't have got so tired she quit after 18 months and she could have been a successful long term character.

Yep, i speculated about that possibility. She does seem to be the only woman of the right sort of age except for Adele. I've only seen that they will have contact, a combative relationship and that Ollie will underestimate her officially so far.

It would be really interesting actually to have a storyline where one of the members of staff has some sort of romantic attachment to a work colleague. Have they ever done a storyline like that before? I'm not sure... you've been watching longer than me.

Ha!

It would be interesting to see a cross departmental one. They used to do it quite often but everything is so boxed in now re characters only interacting with other people working on their ward.

Ah, knew I should have looked it up. I'll be surprised if Oliver's cheating gets referenced although I suppose it might be there as subtext. Henrik did know about Tara's tumour and keep it to himself for a long time, could there still be some resentment there?

Oh yes, there was that as well wasn't there. Oliver was resentful of people keeping it quiet from him so he couldn't persuade her to have an operation earlier and then he resented people for having 'talked her into it' when she died.

He wasn't exactly rational or reasonable on the subject as to blaming others as I recall.

I do like Serena is being utilised more as Deputy CEO under Henrik than Guy Selfish

Oh right, thanks I had completely forgotten about all of that.


I wish Ollie's past was explained a bit more this week, at least his professional past. I thought it was strange that Hanssen got 2 episodes given to his arrival and Ollie just turned up. I know we saw him at Christmas, but it all seems a bit odd.

However, I love having him back, and Hanssen too!