S18 E14 (6 Dec 03) : Christmas Spirit by Emma Frost
Episode Summary
Charlie invites Baz to join him and Louis on their day out bowling. They are having fun, even though Charlie gets quite shocked when Baz asks if there is anyone ‘special’ in his life. Suddenly Louis takes a turn for the worse; he falls over and is feeling sick and hot and he’s got a rash. They decide to take him into hospital to get him checked, but no one can discover the cause of his illness, even though the symptoms remind of meningitis. Eventually they get hold of Jim, who has been flying, and after finding a spot on Louis’ leg he diagnoses a rare Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever that Louis must have caught while hiking in Canada and they can finally start giving him the correct treatment. A panicking Charlie struggles to remain strong, but cannot hide how worried he is. Dan arrives at the hospital and annoys them by suggesting they should take Louis to a private hospital. Dan feels superfluous, though Louis turns to him when he wakes up. When the ordeal is finally over, it is obvious that something has been reignited between Charlie and Baz, especially when Baz thanks Charlie for being so wonderful when Louis was poorly.
Bex arrives late, looking pale and lank. Tally tries to have a word with her, telling Bex that she has been late every day and looks horrible, so obviously something is wrong with her. Bex, however, does not want to talk about it and when Luke overhears the conversation she shouts at both of them before storming off. She is scared of what might be wrong with her but Luke follows her and persuades her to get checked out. She is horrified when the results show she has diabetes and rushes out of the department in a state of panic. Luke tries to talk some sense into her, explaining that she has to stay in hospital to get the right medication, but she jumps into her car and drives off, not wanting to admit to herself that she is ill.
Andy comes to the hospital to ask Jim for some money. At the same time he gets a chance to apologise to Nikki for his earlier behaviour but then makes a play for her. The attraction appears to be mutual and they kiss until she pulls away, thinking he is trying to prove a point and ruin things.
A man robs a shop and takes a young girl, Cassie, hostage. Another woman, Sue, tries to save her, but instead she gets pushed through a table made of glass. When the robber runs out of the shop together with Cassie someone phones an ambulance and Sue is taken to hospital with small cuts all over her face and body. The robber speeds off in his car, but after a bend he does not notice a car coming in the opposite direction and the two cars crash into each other. The robber, Patrick, runs away and leaves Cassie in the car. The driver of the other car, who happens to be called David Beckham, phones an ambulance and soon they are both taken into hospital; Cassie with a cut in her face and a sprained arm and David with a seatbelt bruise. Cassie ends up in the cubicle next to Sue and Sue blames her for being part of the robbery, asking why she did not run away when she had the chance. Roxy is shocked that she can blame the poor girl for that, but is even more shocked when Patrick comes into the cubicle, with a disclocated finger, and she realises that the girl really was involved. Cassie explains that they did not mean to hurt anyone and that they only did it because they think the shop works in a morally questionable way and that they will use the money for helping with charity. Roxy decides to help them because she agrees with their principles, but when they offer her some of the money as a thank you, she refuses to be bribed and shops them to the police. Sue, who is upset about her face being ruined for the sake of nothing, turns out to have had good luck after all – when Simon checks her x-rays he sees early signs of osteoporosis and she can be reffered to treatment at an early stage.
Claire realises that there is both a David Beckham and a woman called Victoria in the department. She decides to put Victoria into the cubicle next to David Beckham and suggests that they should introduce themselves to each other. They start talking with each other while Victoria is getting stitched up and realise that both of them are lonely and neither of them knows who to spend Christmas with. In the end they agree to spend Christmas together.
Comfort and Fin get a real challenge – they are trying to find a patient in the middle of a busy market place. Eventually they find Bruce, one of the shopkeepers. He seems to be suffering from angina and when Lara checks him she realises that he has got gangrene all over his feet. Bruce says that he thought he was going to go to Sydney to visit his relatives over Christmas and then come to get it checked out, but Lara explains that there is no way he can do that and that they might have to amputate parts of his feet.
Patients
Louis – Charlie and Baz’s son, diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Victoria – a 42-year-old, needs to be stitched up after falling off a cupboard
David Beckham – a car salesman that crashes his car
Cassie – a young woman who gets slightly injured after being in a car crash
Patrick – Cassie’s boyfriend who has just robbed a shop, dislocated finger
Sue – small cuts after falling through a glass table
Bruce – a shopkeeper that has angina and gangrene
First Scene/words
[A man is standing in a car park. He opens the boot of his car and takes out a toy gun, before putting on a mask and running towards a shop.]
Last Scene/words
[Jim walks into the staff room, where Nikki and Andy are having a chat.]
Jim: Hey guys, how are you? Hi gorgeous. Andy, right, the cheque. Are you cool?
Andy: Yeah, yeah, why wouldn’t we be? Thank you.
[Nikki looks away, deep in thought, while Jim writes a cheque.]
Guide by Karin
