- Jean Westerley comes to the Royal, suffering from burns, and Gordon is anxious that she be admitted but she refuses, saying that she cannot leave home, causing him and Jill to discover her reason. Frankie goes after a man trying to steal his motor-bike and injures him, causing the thief to crash the bike and ultimately to die. Alun becomes obsessed with an expensive hi-fi system.—don @ minifie-1
- The episode crams an amazing number of story threads into the first 15 minutes or so. A woman arrives by bus with severe scalding to her lower legs; Ken is as usual trying to earn some extra cash, this time by selling a new 'stereo' system that Alan wants to buy as he can't believe how good 'Cream' sounds in full twin speaker glory; and Frankie is asked by Dr Goodwin to go out and have a look at his car which would not start at the begininning of the episode.
On top of all that, the good Doctors Ormerod and Weatherill seem to have made up after the big reveal in the last epsiode about his reliance on self prescribed anti-depressants, and her announcement that she was expecting.
So, its all set up as we move into the second quarter. Frankie is out on the streets of Elsinby repairing the MGB of Dr Goodwin, when someone tries to steal his motorbike. In fact, he is successful but unfortunately Frankie had a screwdriver in his hand and as we will see stabbed the miscreant. Meanwhile, Dr Weatherill pays a house visit to the scald victim, but can't get in her home. Alan is in the zone deep in the bowels of The Royal, listening to the new stereo. The new nurse nips to reception to phone her daughters school (this is a bit of a running theme) and while her back is turned (and everyone else's in the hospital) the scald victim walks out. We next see her walking home (and it took a bus ride to go the other way remember).
We then see Dr Ormerod and Dr Weatherill back at the scald victims home. After some pursuading, she lets them in and eventually they discover her dark secret - she has a son who we will see has Tourettes syndrome. The Doctors think there may be a case of mistreatment, but come to realise that the mother is really quite genuine and has a real fear of her son being taken away to some institution.
One fill story while all this is happening involves Dr Goodwin and the treatment of a clown from the pier show. The actor playing the clown (alias Norman) is not creadited in IMDB, but his co-clown (aka Cyril) is. It appears he has been falling down on the job too often as a result of being hit on the head with a clown hammer as part of the routine.
Back at the hospital, a 'shout' means that the motorcycle thief (remeber that part of the story?) has crashed and is admitted to the A&E. After some emergency surgery, even Mr Rose can't save him when it appears that his aorta was 'nicked' and there was too much blood loss. Of course, Frankie overhears this and thinks it was his stab action that killed the bloke. His is distraught, and eventually confides in Sister Bridget who convinces him to call the police.
Cue some aggressive questioning, only for Mr Rose to save the day when he advises the sergeant that the puncture wound was not deep enough nor anywhere near the aorta to have caused the death of the motorcycle thief - it was his sudden close encounter with a road sign that put paid to him.
Meanwhile - the scald victim is treated in hospital and Dr Ormerod manages to get through to the son when he sees he loves listening to music.
The story closes with the scald victim and her son at home with Dr Weatherill; enter stage left Dr Ormerod with the stereo system (Alan was upset) and a copy of 'Disrali Gears' by 'Cream' for the son.
It seems that the Drs are on the same wavelength again (at last), and that the hospital can look forward to some new crises soon.
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