Thanks for that, I'll try and dig those episodes out.

Yes, that is possible about Zosia having taken time out when Anya was first diagnosed.

I did say it was very rare for somebody to make Consultant in their early 30s, just that it was possible to have passed the exams to have qualified to be able to apply for consultant positions which was the case with Jac and diane 10 years ago. It's worth noting that neither of them were actually successful, they kept being passed over in favour of older candidates such as Nick Jordan, Dan Clifford and Michael Spence. Despite it being established that jac was qualified as a consultant on arrival in 2005, she didn't actually get a post until 2011 when she was nearly 40 - at least by her original birthdate - they aged her down subsequently during the endometriosis storyline.

You could be right, it just seems to me that if he was actually going to be a character they’d have cast an actor to play him in this episode, even if all he had to do was lie there. I can see it being a case of Mo thinking she’s just taken on William temporarily until other people are better or can be located, only for it to slowly become clear that she’s all he’s got.

I think it could go either way but actually think it is more likely that he wil take some time to recover, during which time Mo will completely bond with William and so not want (of feel able) to give him up and see him move back to Canada with Brett so possible custody case. After all, neither have a biological claim to him but could both argue that they are the person with the greatest bond to him and that Sorcha would want to be his Guardian.

I did find the 'child friendly flat' comment interesting. Whatever happened to her promise to Jonny that she would help him with Emma (her god daughter remember) re having her for sleep overs and baby sitting? Fair enough that was when Jac was away, there won't be as much need now but you'd still think she'd be over sometimes meaning it had to be reasonably safe.

I am guessing they just didn't want to cast another guest patient for Tuesday's episode and also that it adds a bit of drama in that the audience have never seen Brett and that he seemed to be somewhat irrelevant to the storyline until it dramatically changes when he recovers from his coma and wants William back. I think Mo will definitely bond with William. There was a comment made by Sorcia on Tuesday that William was very fussy about who he allowed to read to him and she noted that he allowed Mo to but didn't allow Brett to do it. I was wondering whether that might be a subtle preview of what is to come...

As the surrogate who gave birth to him, Mo's name would have been on his birth certificate even though they are not genetically related. Sorcia would have obtained a parental order thereafter. Given that Brett was not married to Sorcia his right to claim residence would be questionable but I would say tptb will overlook that in the interests of the storyline!

As an aside I thought the scene where Ollie was telling little William about his feelings for Zosia was very sweet. I'm actually enjoying Ollie's character a lot more second time around. I think James is doing a great job of portraying the layers to his character and the conflict he is feeling over the loss of Penny and Tara and moving on with his life. I am glad they haven't followed the path of having him completely recover from his grief instantly.

Step parents can apply for Parental Responsibility can't they? It is possible that Brett might have done but it probably would be something planned for after they'd married but he might well argue that he has had 'de facto' responsibility for however long they've been together - William was calling him Daddy wasn't he but yes, his having 'taken' to Mo so quickly will become important I'm sure.

Isn't the child usually privately adopted in surrogacy cases as the means of transferring all legal rights.

Private adoption takes place if it is a surrogacy where neither of the intended parents are genetically related to the child and donors were used or the surrogates own genetics. In this case Sorcia is William's genetic child in that her egg was used so it would generally be a parental order which effectively transfers the rights and obligations of parentage to her.

Yes step parents can apply to the Court for Parental Responsibility but Brett and Sorcia weren't married so he's not William's step father legally even if considered himself to be so.
As an unmarried partner of the child's legal mother he could technically have applied to adopt William with Sorcia's consent but it would be more likely they would just have waited given they were intending to marry anyway.

I think now we are seeing that he didn't really ever recover from Penny's death. That the last four years since she died, and then the double whammy of losing Tara has just basically changed him in every way possible. I think he fell for Tara because she reminded him of Penny and then found out she was sick. I don't actually think had she lived that it would have worked but that isn't the point. He was never the same after Penny died and now he has become so grown up but also more closed, responsible and actually less socially and emotionally secure.

I'd agree with that.

I remember when Tara first came in and people were saying 'romance', I didn't see it. I thought his interest in her was brotherly, seeing Penny in her and doing his best to look after, guide and protect her almost as penance for letting Penny down kind of, i stopped PENNY being a Doctor as early as she should have been, caused her doubt herself so i will do everything for this young Doctor - including taking the blame for her when she messes up as Penny took the blame for me - even thought she didn't know it.

Then it did turn romantic and we were told, by Ollie in their wedding episode, that he loved her more than she loved him.

So i thought maybe I was wrong about the psychology of it all.

But maybe it was a mixture of it all.

I do think that 2 years is not long enough to get over the death of a sibling and his grief (and meltdown) for Tara was equally about Penny.

I agree with this and also what Shya said above.

I think Ollie is a character that they have really succeeded in developing. Particularly recently. When he first came back I wasn't sure what to think, but now I can see that they are telling the story of someone who has been very hurt and is wary of life in general. Even the fuss he made over going for the drink was telling. I'm not entirely sure he was refusing to go to avoid leading Zosia on, I think it was more that he was holding back again to protect himself, although not in a deliberately selfish way. The will/they won't they has been dragged out a bit, but in fairness to the writers, Ollie's reticence to become involved in a relationship after what he's been through is fairly understandable.

I do think he really loved Tara, but I think that the difficulty for viewers was that there was (in my opinion) absolutely no chemistry between them. You just couldn't believe in it. I think his character was actually dampened when they were together. I think this was more a Tara thing though as he's had plenty of chemistry and rapport with other characters, Zosia obviously but also Jac, Frieda and Elliott.

Penny.

He was still grieving when be met Tara. When you think about it... It is really mixed up for him. The past 4 years. It makes sense he wasn't going to straight into a relationship. He needs time and she needs to be friends with him first. It was all omay when she was a safe with someone else. Hencould flirt all he wanted

James Anderson is in Ch5's afternoon film thing. Confusingly the heroine's first name is Valentine so every time it's said, i expect him to answer!

It's a dreadful film by the way - very 'paint by numbers' but the cast is good - Rupert Graves, Zoe Tapper, eileen Atkins, John Hannah, Kush from EE!

Jac has been spied spying on people in the locker room

Good to see that Guy's near death experience has not been forgotten. Could this be the start of a PTSD storyline?

Damn European Working Time Directive allowing Mr T to have a day off

Wasn't Jed's cast on the other arm earlier?

Poor Guy

I actually felt sorry for Self tonight. Odd that the hostage situation has been referenced tonight when it has apparently been forgotten for weeks...
I hope they are going to wind up this Jed storyline soon. It has gone on for long enough already. I do like Cara though.

BBC website putup Jesse and Ollie's bio and called the Valentines twins. An never twins.

I watched the second part of that today not realising to start with that a first part had been on yesterday! Didn't see Kush though but was nice to see John Hannah (brilliant actor) and James Anderson.

The 'saint' now has knowledge of childrens social services

Who did James play in the film?

I'm glad they referenced the hostage situation too.

Hey at least they updated it! It's taken them long enough. so the content is wrong baby steps

Well...that episode seemed like it had some good ideas in but didn't really know what to do with them. I get the impression we were meant to be more interested in Jed and Nicole than many people seem to be: It hardly seems like the most important thing at the moment, yet I get the feeling we're going to see the storyline revived again at some point since he's now potentially got Sean after him. Cara was mostly left doing subtle reaction shots, which Niamh Walsh actually handled quite well, and it seems Raf now knows everything? (The only thing he might not know is that Jed's a police officer, but if not, what does he think he is?!)

What happened to the patient who thought he was going to die? The storyline didn't seem to have an ending, getting dropped once the "Guy's breakdown" story got moved centre stage, with the result that he's last seen lying cut open in theatre. As for Guy, why now? A couple of episodes ago he was trying to push ahead with risky surgery, now he doesn't want to go in theatre at all?

No progression of Mo's storyline at all: Unless I missed something, William's stepfather wasn't mentioned once, presumably he's still lying in a coma somewhere. Oliver and Zosia's schoolchild antics weren't particularly entertaining and the storyline with the old man wasn't particularly developed, although at least it gave me a chance to go "It's TV John from Hamish Macbeth!" No mistaking those eyes.

So...when Cara was writing a text message, why was "Holby" highlighted as a spelling mistake? I mean, it would if it was real life because there's no such place, but in universe it's a common place name so you'd think the spell checker would have it listed, like places like Taunton, Yeovil and Bristol are in real life.

The tray crashing in theatre seemed to bring on the main PTSD symptom. I think John's portraying it really well so far. I'd like to see a scene with him and Fletch though.