Is Cunningham still Chairman of the Trust Board? If so then this is how I would play the Henrik's return, Cunnigham rings someone and speaks asking them to be CEO and then next clip Henrik says yes then the end credits roll. I would love it if Serena was Interim CEO again.

We know the downfall of Selfish is in full flow and do we know what is the final blow? I want to mention Margaret Thatcher here as a case, her downfall could be argued started when Hesletine left after Westland but the poll tax was the one but the final blow dealt was Geffrey Howe's resignation speech and then the Cabinet said no.

There was talk of services being moved and my Hospital UHNS now Royal Stoke is expanding services due to Stafford and services being downgraded there.

Jac and Johnny, Yay . I do hope Rosie comes back.

Part 5, well done

Cunningham hasn't been seen since Autumn 2012 but they've never stated he has left. Jamie Glover's character seems to be the main Board bigwig now.

I don't think it is the end for Self, just the beginning of the end. I think he has to step down as CEO but will remain working as the Head of Nuerosurgery. My gut instinct is that he will leave at the end of the season in October. That's when the final death knell (career wise) will occur, possibly leading into Jac's return.

Yes just saw James's twitter, can't wait. Hope they make his character a bit happier this time.

I can't really see Guy staying past the end of his contract either. He is clearly a character built up towards leadership and I really can't see the character working as a consultant under Hannsenn and also under Serena for very long. Weirdly it seems he will be on Keller as consultant nuerosurgeon with Zosia. Isn't there a separate neurosurgery ward??

I have to say I would actually like to see Serena being promoted to CEO at some point before Catherine leaves but obviously I am pleased to see Hannsen back at this point. I thought at one point they were going down the route of a Serena and Raf fling but I don't think that is the case now.

Could someone put up the Harry and MC spoilers from Whats on TV if they have a chance? I can't get hold of the magazine at the moment. I am still thinking it has to be a sunset ending for them now... Especially when Jules' final scenes have been held back to fit in with Niamh's.

I remember him being at a show we went to where he was advertising The Demon Headmaster on the stage. My son was only about eight and loved the show and went up to get his autograph and I took a photo of them. Afterwards my son said that he felt really scared of him!

A thought. People have been complaining for a while that Fletch's character seems very inconsistent, and that most weeks it seems to have been forgotten about that he's responsible for four bereaved children. Could it be that this is being done by the writers on purpose, as the start of a slow storyline? Could Fletch's method of dealing with grief be to go in the opposite direction, to appear thoroughly non-bereaved, distract himself with trivial things such as Harry and Mary-Claire's love life and portray himself as a fun-loving party boy, going drinking after work most nights and generally not fulfilling his duties to his children? Of course, this makes him quite a negligent parent, but it would be an interesting storyline if a few weeks or months down the line he was confronted about this kind of behaviour. It's also different from the usual reaction if someone has gone through a personal trauma - normally they insist that they're dealing with it, throw themselves into work and try to come across incredibly professional, which inevitably leads to them snapping and breaking down before the end of the episode. If Fletch is using distraction tactics, he actually seems to be doing it quite well as the others apparently don't suspect anything. Slow-burning storyline, or just sloppy writing?

Also, isn't it funny how since Amy left there don't seem to have been any situations with patients that have required the ward to have its own Consultant Pharmacist? When she was there, it seemed that they needed to send for her virtually every week.

Fletch has always been like this though - he hasn't changed since Casualty. I'd like to think he could have some depth, but I really don't think he has

Yep, also interesting that there wasn't a pharmacist in the pharmacy when Archie was sneaking in - just people seemingly helping themselves and walking out leaving it unattended. And I'm sure that in a highly sensitive area like the pharmacy, only pharmacy department staff would be able to access it (and that's even before we think about the unlikeliness of those flimsy ID cards actually working as swipe cards)

I thought Thomson’s performance was brilliant. You could really see his anger bubbling away beneath the surface.
The ‘I hate you’ speech was excellent and got me on the edge of my seat. True love and true hatred have never been so close. He blames Jac for everything that’s gone wrong but yet he always goes back for more. Like a drug. And, while he’s spinning out of control and lashing out at his best mates, it takes only one person, the one person, to calm him down with a few softly spoken words of truth.

A great exit for Jonny. A nice one for Jac too, finally choosing love over work. But I would like more from her. Hopefully they will keep them together but him off screen. She has plenty of potential storylines, like the long-lost sister, or getting to a happy place in her career…

I don’t think we’ll be seeing them next week, it seemed final to me. Their names on the credits are probably for the recap.

He has about as much depth as Groom Lake.

Cannot wait for his character to go, hopefully very soon.

Not interested in the upcoming Smithy storyline either, sounds utterly dull.

Great review Clover.😃

I didn't mind Fletch when he was in Casualty (pre the whole Tess thing) but I really can't understand why they bothered to take him over to Holby when they've done absolutely nothing with him in the past six months.

I suppose with the build up to quite a few characters exiting coming around the same time they have been focussing more on them over recent months and we may see more of him in future months.

I think Jesse is another example of a character they've brought in as a main character and then done absolutely nothing with thus far. We've seen no depth to him at all. That is not to in any way criticise the actor in either case, as I think they are doing fine with the limited amount they have been given so far.

I hope that Fletch and Jesse aren't another example of characters that are finally given a big storyline and only really developed just before they leave the show, as this has happened quite a lot. For example I think they completely underused Mary Claire for a large part of her tenure on the show. They finally made her a main character after years as a recurring one and then had her in the background of all that Harry and Gemma nonsense for most of the first year of her contract. When she was finally given her own main storylines in her final six months she's been absolutely brillant and stolen the show as far as I'm concerned. I think that once he was finally given a decent storyline in his last few months, Jules Knight has also shown himself to be a very capable actor.

Also, I agree with the person that said earlier that Michael Thompson played a blinder on Tuesday night. I thought he was brilliant too. Even though I thought Jonny was unfairly lashing out at Mo, the acting was great.

I agree about Fletch - a complete non-character since he joined Holby. What has been seen of him has been dismal - laughing and acting the fool around AAU, especially in the aftermath of his 4 children being left motherless.

Jesse too has been completely wasted. The death knoll for him was putting him with St Adele and making him her doormat. Destroyed the character completely.

Personally I am delighted Jonny is gone and can't wait for Harry to join him. I am looking forward to seeing Ollie back and hope that he has done his grieving (and whining) over Tara and is back stronger than ever. I literally cannot wait for Hanssen's return and hope he wipes the floor with Self-git.

Yes, in essence this is what has annoyed me about Fletch. Two weeks after Natalie's death he was playing pranks and acting like his only concern in life was MC's lovelife. Even if it was a plot they were planning to return to later in terms of him not dealing with grief etc there can be no adequate explanation over his lack of concern for his kids and his constant post work trips to Albies. I would like to think they will at some point also reference Raf's grief but I can't really see that either at this point. I wonder if part of this could be down to the constant changing in writers?

Also agreed re Jesse and Adele. Putting them together was a mistake imo. They would have been better off pairing him with Mo, as originally seemed to be the case, or even examining his relationship with Zosia in more depth. Jesse and Adele have been a fairly pointless combination in my opinion. It's added nothing to either character (in fact probably taken away from Jesse's) and can't even be excused for having added drama. I'm wondering whether Jesse could possibly start spending a bit more time on other wards rather than constantly being on Darwin. I just don't think he is working there He is an aneathetist, so potentially could be on AAU or Keller more often. I know Edward was always on AAU. Mind you AAU will be fairly full up with Digby there now and the new nurse.

I also have a feeling this upcoming storyline re Mo's father will be quite tedious but I will let them off with it if it means we get to see more Mr T!!

I wonder who the next 'will they won't they' romantic plot will be now that Janny and Harry and MC are going. I know the Sasha and Essie plot is underway - but find it hard to be overly interested in that. I am guessing that the new AAU nurse will be a love interest for Digby given that they conveniently broke him and Maria up just before he moved to AAU. No doubt they will also have to have some love interest for Ollie on Darwin although I can't think who that would be.

Totally agree with the above.

Jesse could potentially have been something much more compelling, his whole style - the hat, the music as well as the slightly odd interest for an urbanite in surfing, you can do something with that. The Zosia-stuff might have worked a little better if he was not such a natural lady's man, the concept of sleeping with your best-friend's daughter is complex enough that should have generated more internal-conflict than it did, whether she was sick or not. I realise that might be going into Zubin-Jess territory - oh the good old days! But that seemed so much more real and I do think he probably had more chemistry with Mo than he did with Adele anyway - even if I felt so sad for poor Mr T in the car with 'Last Christmas' playing away. (Speaking of HEAs - if Mo and Mr T are not a HEA, I will actually scream Big Style! They have over the 16 years I have watched this, in the round, I don't think any of the couples I wanted to stick it out or sort it out really worked and that lot in Cardiff have even managed to make one more damaged with one half off-screen....

MC is a doll. She feels so much more rounded as a character who seems a lot more Nurse-like than say IdiotBoyFletch and feels a lot more authentic. Its possible that George maybe right with his theory, other-wise he's just a bit of an unfeeling prick isn't he? I was dreading her departure even if it is The Fall she's going to. I also thought that she was maybe just a little bit good for Harry, whether or not she claims to be a good-time-gal, she does want love and to be happy in her life and whether or not he was ever going to be able to settle-down without something enormous in the 'would never happen in Real Life' kind of way that so often happens in Holby, I doubted it. His behaviour towards Amy just sealed it. It doesn't matter how much more sympathetic and rounded he has become since Amy and Baby Callum disappeared off into the distance, he still screwed another man's wife just to prove that he could and I just find that incredibly distasteful.

I have enjoyed Diggers these last few weeks, although if he really is interested in emergency medicine then why is he on AAU? Unless they don't want complicate matters further given the upcoming stuff this spring and into summer....Mrs B would eat Diggers alive, if he couldn't stand-up to Fleur Fanshawe (was I in a minority, I rather liked Fleur?), he certainly can't stand-up to Connie Beauchamp in full-flight - the comedic value would be worth the price of admission alone. Hell, send the Three Muskateers down, she'll scare them into shape! Although, maybe not, Zosia would probably just sleep with Cal, yikes!

I do believe that this franchise doesn't believe in letting ball-busting female heart-surgeons have nice, fulfilling lives with straightforward relations with their BabyDaddies. She always has to be the FrostyBitch and he always has to turn into an Ass who must have Custody of the said Baby and the FrostyBitch suddenly becomes a piss-poor parent. It would be difficult to buy a Jac-Jonny romantic reunion given the Bonnie-stuff, probably too difficult now, especially because its just never been quite as compelling as the Jac-Joseph stuff, which is the High Altar of Doomed Holby Romances. In a lot of ways, its good that they left it half-unresolved. We shall see what happens when Holby's Ice Princess returns (hopefully).

Please, please, please let Sacha be happy! I don't care how you do it, but that lovely man will not be messed around by anymore women so help me God!

As great as it is that Hanssen and BoyValentine are returning, Darwin will be a much less interesting place now. I fear there will be nothing to stop Adele from sucking out the fun left in the ward. And forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the first-time since April 2004 that they haven't had a resident IceQueen of some description for more than a couple of weeks at a time - a sad day indeed....

You are so right about the lack of an 'ice queen.' It's been ages since they haven't had one on Holby. In hindsight Jac's departure would have been the perfect time to have had Connie return to Holby. I feel the character is totally unsuited to Casualty and was so much more well rounded in Holby. Also, the whole power complex of the general hospital suited her so much better than A and E. I personally think Zoe worked much better as clinical lead down there. If I had my way I would send Fletch back to Casualty and also send Digby there and take Connie and Cal up to Holby.

Also, completely agreed re MC. Great, well rounded character who will be very missed. We've seen her go from good time girl, seeking Mr Right to a really caring, all round good nurse. Also, she has the rare trait of working well and developing a chemistry with most other characters she is paired with, Fletch, Raf, Harry and even Sasha and Chrissie back in their AAU days. I do think Jac is compelling to watch and a brilliant character, but I find MC easier to relate to. I don't want to see her go either but I am happy it looks like she is getting the HEA as it seems the logical character arc for her given that she's been consistently unlucky in love throughout her time at Holby.

I disagree re Harry in that I actually do really like him now and think he is actually a good match for her character. I think that they've sufficiently moved past the initial one dimensional aspect to his character now and explained some of his issues having apparently never been in love before etc. Looking back at his time in the show, I think there have been consistent hints to their relationship being being a lot more complex than it appeared at the outset; their friendship post the first fling and the witty banter, the episode re her sister's wedding, when he went out of his way to change her opinion of him post Edward the first time Norman and Pat arrived and how it was MC who had to point out the situation re Amy and the baby to him when she came back. I think it's a good ending for him too as it is a natural arc for his character - going from commitment phobic playboy to finally falling in love with the character he's had his most interaction with throughout his time on the show.

Also agreed re Mo and Mr T. That should be a sunset ending and it has to be resolved if Mo ever leaves. It's been hinted at for years now and not even subtly! I feel like banging their heads together. Why Adele, Jonny or anyone else in close proximity hasn't pointed out the obvious I do not know! This would be a perfect example of a coupling that could be carried on off screen if one of them left as Mr T is recurring anyway.

Greetings Little Star - I don't know whether I tend to be more forgiving of women because I am a women and because I know how much harder we often have to work to get anywhere in-life. I therefore don't mind an Ice Queen as much as a lot of people and always rather enjoyed trying to work-out the motivations for why Jac or Connie did the sometimes distasteful things that that they do - maybe because they are both rather complicated and screwed-up. Part of me too (along with many, many others no-doubt) wishes they had waited a year and brought Connie in upstairs. The renuion of the Elliot-Connie double-act would have been proper Brill and she'd knock Adele down-to-size for sure! Then again, she has kicked Casualty in the goolies, and it definitely needed some kind of shake-up and although I personally wish they had done a few things differently, i.e. treated Grace as a character not a problem to be solved, especially given the melodrama surrounding her from conception until Sam left and how determined Connie was to have her in the first place. Sometimes it is interesting to see a well-established character out of their comfort-zone and how they cope with that and it is a really interesting idea even if the execution isn't always first-class. Then again they could have just left her alone rather than spending her tour-of-duty in the ED making her steadily more miserable and thrown-in a little on-screen remark about Elliot asking Jac for some money for a flower and card order because DaddyChase had just died and saying that she's planning on heading-off to NYC soon and most long-term fans would have probably been happy with that.

With Harry there are moments when you can definitely see what they were aiming for and why people like him, and then he acts like an ass and he looses all his Brownie points. I think maybe its my own wariness of womanisers and its almost as if he's half-finished, that he's about to finally become the man he could be if he wanted to be and he's a good foil for Raf, so in that sense, its a real a shame that he's leaving. I also suspect that it might just be that the young, handsome, lothario Doctor has been done so many times before - not least Holby's very own Patron Saint of Putting It Where You Shouldn't, Mr Samuel Strachan, that its a cliche.

Ironic isn't it? That we are now in a period of such change, that somethings don't stay the same. Something weird and wonderful and a bit extraordinary actually would work with Mo and Mr T, to get those two seeing sense and they are just cuter than a sack full of kittens anyway. I am not saying akin to those Christmas episodes, I am not a fan of 'Elliot's Wonderful Life' and 'Maria's Christmas Carol' - they were too weird for Holby, but something very atypical. (Actually in 'Maria's' case, I still think it should have been Sam having the weird experience, deciding his fate, since it's his leaving episode and I never really bought him and Maria anyway, nice girl but maybe not stimulating enough in the long-run after the honeymoon period has ended and possibly a response to the cancer and him seeking something safe, domestic and reliable in the aftermath of Connie and Chrissie. Can you imagine Maria having to go toe-to-toe with Connie on anything? I can't. Mrs B would always be the elephant in the room via Grace, in the end the whole arrangement would have ended disastrously because Grace would likely loose out in time and attention to the the inevitable Sam-Maria sprogs and Mrs B no-doubt would see this as proof that she was right about him being an unreliable sod after-all, but that's just me.)

On a slightly different subject, I didn't understand why we were apparently supposed to think that Zosia's supposed messages from her mother last Christmas were so unbelievable and must be caused by her mental illness. Given that in previous years we've seen things such as Linden dancing around his living room with his dead wife, the idea of Anja having inhabited patient Betty Stern doesn't seem that incredible. Strange things happen in Holby at Christmas.

Very true George, best maybe to reserve judgement....

Weirdness in any show, never-mind medical dramas, is a very finely balanced thing where weird can quickly become too weird, it's all to do with setting and whether events are presented as really believable, logical, organic and character-driven regardless of whether its a dream, a coma, a symptom of mental illness, a fantasy, etc. The single worst example I've ever seen of this is admittedly Star Trek, a second season Voyager abomination called 'The Thaw' which somehow managed to waste Michael McKean of Spinal Tap fame - though he is also in one of the best out-of-format X-Files editions 'Dreamland' which involved Men in Black, Area 51 and body-swapping to comedic effect. Also Farscape was excellent at its weird episodes, well, I say weird, but it was pretty weird to start with. 'Crackers Don't Matter', 'Eat Me', 'Scratch'n'Sniff' (which had to be heavily edited for its first UK broadcast because the BBC insisted on putting it out in early evening though it was obviously intended for adults in its later seasons), 'Dog with Two Bones' and 'Revenging Angel' are amongst the strangest hours I have seen on TV, but completely consistent with the show and that made the difference. Usually, it's got to be focused on a character or a scenario where the oddness somehow makes sense, or where their perception is legitimately skewed somehow - whether it be accidental, medical, psychological or misadventure, in the Holby City case that poor Linden or Elliot weren't in the best frame of mind at the time and Zosia definitely wasn't.

It might well come down to something as basic as whether you can believe that the characters buy-in to what's happening and even the actors believe it or not and if the actor can sell the atypical concept with conviction, it works - if they can't, it really won't work (which is why I am half-dreading, half-chomping at the bit about the promised Charlie Fairhead spotlight two-parter for Casualty's Season 30 celebrations promised for September). Elliot was in a crazy place being newly widowed and suffering from self-inflicted and false guilt about the Crossbow incident and so maybe you can get away with 'Elliot's Wonderful Life' and Richard Briers, well he's Richard Briers, I'd sit through most things he was in. Maria - absolutely not, she didn't interest me that much as a character in a drama show (though she's so nice that she's the sort of person who would be nice to have in your life). I do have the sneaking suspicion they wrote 'Maria's Christmas Carol' that way because the diehard C&S shippers were going to be pissed-off by Sam going anyway and maybe ending-up with Maria, TPTB wanted to keep their options open just in-case they could entice Tom Chambers back a few years down the road (and those of us watching Casualty might well wish they had been able to pull that off) and Maria wasn't the strongest character anyway.

I'm very for trying new things, especially on long-running shows that need to continue to bring new things to the table to keep things fresh and interesting, but its got to be a strong concept and a strong script behind it, no amount of hard-graft and effective script and film-editing can make-up for an iffy basic idea. I also believe the character you choose to do it with is so key, Jac Naylor wouldn't work, she's too straight-down-the-middle and you might have the same problem with Connie, say a "what-if" scenario. Somebody who has an inherently more emotional core or is more imaginative, quite possibly. So tricky....

The best version of Holby-weirdness that ever happened was Maddy's coma-dream, 'Just a Perfect Day' by a long way. It's well written as the recurring motifs start to come together into a complete picture and Maddy begins to realise that she's actually dying. Played dead-straight and all the more potent and affecting for it. And contained Dan Clifford which made it even more brilliant!

Sorry for droning on, I really didn't mean to....

BTW - I would just love to see old episodes again and watch arcs develop with the benefit of hindsight, they never seemed to get to the Beauchamp Years when they did repeat them on Sky and I just can't afford to spend a fortune tracking-down old episodes (and I don't really want something if I can't get a full season-run). They really need to get in-touch with the Americans about how they put out good sci-fi box-set releases because that's the best model you'll ever get for how to handle a show that's 17+ years old properly....

Apparently Jules Knight is on Lorraine tomorrow morning talking about tomorrow night's show for anyone who's interested.

I see that Clover has tweeted that tonight's episode of Holby is 'rather wonderful' and that everyone should watch right until the very end...
Really hoping this means that any twists are happy ones. Unless, of course, the ultimate twist ends up being that MC doesn't end up leaving at all and the only one to leave Holby is Harry.
It does look as though Niamh has finished filming though, so if that is the case, I have my fingers crossed for a full on, sunset, HEA ending!!!

I'm the opposite, Little Star. For me a happy ending for Mary-Claire would be her realising she does not love Harry and leaving (if she must) to make a new life for herself.

I would love the very end bit to be someone making a phonecall to Sweden to beg a certain Mr Henrik Hanssen to come back and save the day.....

You could be right Collins in that the very last scene is Janny shown telephoning Hanssen or something along those lines. Hanssen himself is not listed in the credits for tonight's episode though, so we wouldn't actually see him, but it's possible they could formulate it in some way.

Looks like we are agreed in that we both want a happy ending for MC, but disagreed as to how we would like to see that come about . If she doesn't end up leaving happily with Harry, I would really hope she would choose to stay at Holby with a job promotion, but if they both leave tonight I would say it will be together. Jules Knight has already confirmed that

I actually thought that there was a bit of chemistry between Mary-Claire and Raf in the last scene at Albies last week. He might be a good match for her if she was staying put or if she left for a bit and came back again.

She has been a great addition to the cast. Good luck to the actress if she IS leaving. I hope we get confirmation on that, one way or the other....

I think that could well be it and i wouldn't be entirely surprised if the person making the call is Jac. Or even we see Jac and Jonny arrive in Sweden to start new jobs (they do,'t have to go to America re Herzig after all) to be met by Hansenn who then says "tell me everything" or similar. They are the last 2 on the cast list.

I'd be surprised if Harry and MC don't leave together now.

ETA: i see Little Star has said something similar.

Also, i think Raf has good chemistry with quite a few people actually. Not necessarily romantic but a 'spark'. I have high hopes for him now he isn't going to be primarily interacting with Harry and Amy. I'm sorry Harry fans but that storyline never worked and really dragged Raf down I think who i thought had potential when he arrived.

I'd like them to have a happy ending where they leave together