S21 E15 (23 Dec 06) : Killing me Softly by Barbara Machin
Episode Summary
Part One of a special Christmas episode which tells a day in the perspective of three characters; Josh, Ellen and guest character Laura.
It’s Christmas Eve and tensions are running high on the busiest day of the year at Holby.
Ellen is terrified that her cancer has returned. She goes for a scan and is on tenterhooks while she waits for the result whilst also confiding in Harry that she is worried she won’t be able to have children.
A woman, Merlene, gives birth to a baby girl but wants nothing more to do with the father, Robbie. Upset he steals the baby and Ellen persuades him to hand her over. However she is shocked when he then jumps through a top floor hospital window.
Elsewhere, Laura brings in her daughter, Rosie, who is suffering with stomach pains. Josh is first to suspect all may not be as it seems but is not until her condition worsens that the rest of the staff realise it is infact Laura who is deliberately making her daughter ill. But before they do realise – Laura has already left the department with Rosie
Meanwhile, Josh’s world is crumbling around him and, feeling that he has nothing to lose, he puts his life, and that of his colleagues, in danger when he attempts to rescue a mother, Marsha, who has fallen into a frozen lake.
Later he spies Laura leaving the department and chases after her. In an ambulance, Laura stabs Josh and leaves him for dead.
Patients
* Rosie Merriman – stomach pains & fitting.
* Marsha – fallen through frozen lake.
* Merlene Jackson – gives birth to baby girl.
* Man in elf costume – faulty pacemaker.
Notable Facts
* Holly Aird plays Laura Merriman.
* Jack Dedman plays Louis Fairhead.
* Focal music in the episode is ‘Miserere’ by ‘Allegri-Mundy-Palestrina.
* ‘I haven’t got a home Charlie or don’t you remember?’ says Josh, when Charlie suggests he takes some leave. ‘My job is all I have left’.
* For the first time in many years, viewers noted a number of characters using minor swear language; Josh says ‘tough shit’, Nathan says ‘pissed off’ and Harry says ‘bloody Christmas’.
UK Viewing Figures
7.85m
