Now all we need is that irritating bore Mo to disappear up her own limited potential as well. 😄

Sad news about the though.

Mo is wearing smart civvies in the new cast photo so I guess that means she makes Consultant and won't be going anywhere for a while.

Yes NMdum1, i was thinking of the period between seasons 5 and 9 when I think we we had Ben, Steve Waring, Kelly Yorke, Nick Yorke, Alastair, Will, Gina, Tricia, Harvey, Diane, Charles Byrne, Faye's husband (though he only appeared once to be fair), even babies like Amanda and Paris and I think I've forgoTten a few.

There certainly have been times when the only way to leave was in a box and the few that escaped death left with their professional career in tatters.

They've calmed down a lot over the last couple of years.

Thank God. It was well...ridiculous. I like, etc they make Ollie slightlyrics tortured. That mush grief isn't that normal.

It really was ridiculous - i utterly despaired of the death rate for that 4 years or so. Aside from anything else, it dramatically lessens the impact if they are doing it all the time.

What really grated is that they always had to do it as a shock, accident or murder rather than natural causes. Even Tricia who had an ongoing battle with Cancer and had been told it had come back and was terminal a few months before. They have her undergo a 'miracle cure' operation and then be killed in a car crash the following episode! And of course Gina had an assisted suicide rather than the MND taking its natural course but i'll let that one go more as it did trigger 18 months worth of good drama as Elliot and his children dealt with that decision.

Can't say I have ever noticed it either , Cara and Raf yes, but I would say Raf and Fletch were closer than Fletch and Cara, theirs seems to be a very work relationship only.

Someone mentioned earlier that one of Rob Ostlere's online biographies states that So in that case he would probably still have been there a few weeks ago.

We'd said earlier that whilst that wouldn't entirely fit in with the trailer, some scenes are shot out of sequence etc, so it's possible that some of the scenes on the trailer, which were filmed very recently, related to that exit and perhaps actual exit scenes were shot several weeks later.

I still think they've filmed and banked Jesse's exit some months in advance to coincide with Adele's too.

I doubt there will be too many offers for the actress after this. She doesn't have a huge list of professional credits and probably got this role off the back of her EastEnders stint. I was surprised to read she trained at Anna Scher's as the standard there used to be high, producing great improvisational actors who are pretty much on home turf in EastEnders. Unfortunately her lack of range has been exposed here and I'm guessing casting directors will look elsewhere in future.

I would feel very sorry for Petra Letang if this is the case. I really don't think that the problem with this character has been her acting at all. It has been the writing. She really has never been given anything to work with. I honestly think that it would be difficult for any actress to make the Adele character engaging, given that she has been written in the most unbelievable and incredulous way possible.

They have constantly pushed the character at the audience as being almost super human and deserving of the admiration and respect of everyone, despite showing us nothing on screen to merit that. It seems we are meant to think that she should be on an equal footing as former CEOs and Consultants and there has never been any indication that this is tongue in cheek! Rather that the audience should accept it as a given.

I think at the outset when she was brought in as the first HCA, what they seemed to be aiming for, was to demonstrate how important HCA's are in the hospital set up. I think most of us who have any knowledge of the NHS would have been fully aware of that and would have great respect for HCAs, but what they ended up doing was having her involved in matters which HCAs simply would never be involved with in real life and questioning the opinions of consultants and senior staff. This was extremely irritating and even moreso when she became a student nurse and clearly felt she should be treated as an equal to Ric and Guy!

It's actually become even worse lately. I think initially we were supposed to like the character and think she was great. Now that they've seen that that has not worked, it almost seems as though they are deliberately making her as annoying and unbelievable as possible.

I agree with everything you've said Little Star. I find it hard to believe that any actress could have made Adele work - it is pretty much asking the impossible due to the way she's been written. Why couldn't they just have a nice HCA who did the work HCA's do (which Wards would grind to a halt without) which includes probably more interaction with the Patients than anybody else. From that, it would be fair enough if she sometimes provided the 'clue' to diagnosis or talking the Patient round as she'd have had more time and therefore built up more trust to be confided in. But not have her be superwoman who can do everything, thinks she's equal (professionally and personally) to senior staff and always have them agreeing by the end of the episode, plus doing things like going through Patients personal belongings and being applauded, rather than disciplined for it.

Going against the flow, i don't actually think Petra is that bad. She's not great, definitely one of the weaker members of the cast but she's not that bad. If the skill of an actress is to portray characters in different ways without having to adopt different accents, excessive make up etc, she has that as Adele is markedly different to Naomie (her character in EE) and the role she had in The Bill which was repeated on 'Drama' fairly recently.

It's just that Adele is insufferable and to be fair, i think she was meant to be annoying and in your face in the first few months - Mo certainly found her so, Harry too when she asked him out and her pretending to be a Doctor was portrayed as the wrong thing to do and that she was out of her depth - even if she wasn't sanctioned for it when she should have been. It was only a few months in, when she moved to Darwin that they really started portraying her as perfect.

As an aside, it is hard for most people to see as Season 7 hasn't been repeated for so long, but Maxine Price in Casualty (1992/1993 season) was a HCA who just did what an HCA would and was shown to be constantly learning (and grateful to be learning from those older and with more experience) although very bright, engaging, chatty and sometimes more in tune with the Patients than the Doctors because she was often more on their 'level'. She 'banterred' with the staff of her sort of age, whether they be doctors or Nurses but wouldn't dream of speaking to a Consultant the way Adele always has.

So, it can be done. Max remains one of my favourite ever characters in either show.

If anone's interested on Chizzys instragram page there's a vid of Rosie shacking her ar*e.

I've been doing some digging...

Here's the clip of Chizzy on This Morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_2KisS4tUY

Nothing about Mr T though.

[quote=
I've also just spotted that Adele and Jesse are both missing from the new official BBC cast photo...[/QUOTE]
I hope so this is her cringeworthy rubbish from the BBC website with added smilies from me!!

Easily underestimated, Adele can be seen as a commitment shy good-time girl, and though she plays up to this stereotype, in truth she’s one of life’s grafters. Rarely demanding the credit she deserves, Adele has a sharp intuition that a lot of her colleagues could use – behind the ready laugh and big smile, Adele has hidden depths confused.



What a load of tosh!!!

Yes absolutely, Kitkat. Maxine is a perfect example of an excellent HCA. Respectful of her colleagues and excellent at her job.

If anyone remembers the kid's hospital programme 'The Ward' on CITV, there was also a HCA on it called Mags, who was a wonderful character. She was wise, thoughtful, helpful and quite often able to deduce clues from the patients due to her engaging with them. She was one of the central characters on that show too.

I also agree that Petra has portrayed entirely different characters on the various shows I have seen her on, and I have never thought of her as a bad actress. She may not be in the same league as Rosie Marcel or Catherine Russell, but I really don't think there is anything wrong with her acting. It is simply the character who has been made to be insufferable.

Now you see I do have a problem with Petra. I was prepared to grant her the benefit of the doubt for a long time for the reasons that have been mentioned, but she hasn't displayed any kind of depth to her performance. I realise that the material that has been written for her has been awful, but to me she doesn't look like she's even trying. She rattles off her lines in a very flat, dull voice - there are hardly any inflections in her speech, she sounds quite robotic to me. She has had opportunities where she could have shown a bit more emotion - some of the scenes with Jesse, even if we disagreed with her she could have made herself come across a little more vulnerable.

There have always been unpleasant characters. On Casualty, I seriously dislike Louis Fairhead - he's just unpleasant, without any redeeming qualities at all, and though I realise that he's supposed to be controversial in a way that Adele isn't, I think he has been intended to be more three-dimensional than he has actually turned out to be. However, I think that Gregory Foreman does the best job he can under the circumstances. It was the same with the awful nurse Jessica - she was probably one of the most disliked Casualty characters of all time, but Gillian Kearney to her credit brought something to the role that made you feel something for her at times. You could say the same for some of the Holby City actors - Patsy Kensit, La Charne Jolly, Laila Rouass, Tina Hobley and Jules Knight all played characters who were quite disliked, but I have no issue with any of them as actors. Petra Letang just doesn't have that. Bad material can let an actor have the benefit of the doubt a few times, but it isn't an excuse to be totally wooden all the time. You might not be able to save the character, but you should have a bloody good go at it.

Incidentally, did anyone realise Petra Letang is 36 years old? I may not like her acting style, but I'll say one thing for her, she looks good for her age. I thought she was late twenties if not younger.

Well! I actually kind of liked Ric here, even if he did have more than his share of arsey moments. It was interesting that he felt guilty about not doing more to help Dominic, even though it's hard to see what more he could have done. I haven't entirely warmed to Bernie yet, who seems a bit too eager to prove a point rather than just doing her job.

I was very surprised that Mo didn't get the job because it seemed like a done deal. Unfortunately, that means we then get treated to an episode of her throwing tantrums and insisting it's because she's a woman and not part of the old boys' network (which she seems to think Jac is..?), while Oliver and Zosia sulk that their friend didn't get the job and they don't want to work with this new boy. I cheered when Henrik took her down a peg or several, but I can't shake the feeling that sooner or later Dennis will retire and Mo will get the promotion anyway. And not for the first time, I can't help wondering if a female patient requesting a female doctor would have been dismissed as arbitrarily as the male patient requesting a male doctor was here. (Even when there's a male doctor standing right there who's perfectly qualified. Well, as qualified as he is to be a doctor anyway.)

I enjoyed Jason: It is reaching the point where his constant turning up is stretching credibility but it's in character and he tends to be good value. Fletch refers to Robbie as Bergerac. He knows Bergerac was an alcoholic, right?

The last scene felt like it came from a different episode entirely.

Yes, I thought so too. It seemed to come from nowhere, with no connection to the rest of the episode, save for Zosia having been at Albies and that could happen in any episode! It was a just a random obvious opportunity to show the trio's affection for each other. It's randomness made me even more convinced that there is Even though I very much hope that this is not the case.

The writing seems to be all over the place. Glad that Mo finally got pulled up on her attitude which has been unprofessional for several years even though it's an about turn in the writing which has previously been completely supportive of Mo's disrespect for Jac.
What an odd episode for Ric, it seemed the writers were trying to suddenly destroy the character's self esteem in one episode, negating the previous several years of solid character development.

How did Mo think getting a consultancy post would put her and Jac on a level playing field, even as a consultant surely Jac as head of Cardio-thoracic would still be her boss

Well i found lots o's people annyoing for various reasons but it was a good reason.

Ric was annoying but as i think i said a couple of weeks ago, i get why. He is a man who used to be strong (physically, mentally, emotionally) that now feels weak and is striking out. It's the most interesting, understandable and believable Ric has been iin several years (exception to him wanting to kill the man hitting his daughter a couple of years ago) - at least now we know why he is grumpy!

Bernie. She is aggravating and if she doesn't draw back soon she'll be heading up my hate list but again there is a reason for her behaviour - adjusting to a different field of medicine and resenting being there, not on the field.

Onto Darwin

I was grinding my teeth as Mo's presumption she would get the Consultants position on, it would seem, first time applying. How many times did Jac, Diane, Joseph have to apply befre getting a job? Sometimes there is just. Better candidate - for qualifications, experience, references, contacts. "Face fitting" - whatever.

Unless Mo is referring to her race, does she really thinl Jac had an easier ride than her? A girl that was brought up in care? With no money, contacts, who must have had to qualify for every scholarship going and then worked secondary jobs to eat? Mo's parents might not have been her parents or that loving but at least she had a roof over her head whilst studying to be a Doctor.

Jac's attempt to get in with the right people is haunting her even now - note Ollie (who wasn't even around at the time) mentioned Lord Byrne? And she didn't get a consultants position for 4 years after that despite being qualified.

So what that she knows this guy? Does that mean that in 15 years time, if Oliver is a Consultant Mo shouldn't apply for a consultants position in the same Ward because she trained him? Or she shouldn't go for a consultants job where Jonny is now working on his tip off?

The petition was infantile as they had no idea about the other candidates merits

Hopefully, she might have learnt something from this but I doubt it.

Oh and re Adele, no' i'm not surprised she is med 30s rather than late 20s.

Firstly she was portraying an early twenties character in EE 10 years ago so....

Secondlandy, as mentioned previously, Mo and Adele don't seem that far apart in age. 5 or 6 years maybe but not 10 years+. Mo appear to be mid 30s on first appearance in 12 so late 30s now - her little sister is early 30s.

Also mayne it is a personal thing but as a 44 year old woman, who has some very long looking friends i guess i find judging age a little offensive.

I think Petra looks mid 30s. A pretty mid 30s.

Perhaps she's been sent to take some lessons in acting.

Clearly, in that they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Apologies if that came across as offensive, it wasn't meant to be. If anything, I wanted to say something nice about Petra, because I felt she'd taken a bit of a battering from me.