S3 E24 (24 Apr 01) : Release by Dan Sefton
Episode Summary
The episode begins with nightmarish images of a house burning down. A girl cries for her mother, who is trapped on a burning balcony. The image fades to Alison Campbell, a young girl, screaming in her bed, having a nightmare. Victoria runs to comfort her.
Steve is walking in with Jasmine. She asks if he is coming on the pub crawl – he has a late shift.
Liam tells Danny there is a free room at his flat if he wants to take him up on it. Danny says he doesn’t need it since he is taking up a flat with a pair of girls – “moving up.” Danny then takes the mick out of Liam’s flat.
Mike arrives (“Morning, troops!”) and comments Jazz is absent, before beginning the ward round – she arrives just as he leaves. Kath tells Danny to take a piece of equipment down to Otter ward, but Jazz offers to do it for him.
Guy arrives on Otter, looking somewhat bedraggled – he blames a late night. He says he wants to speak to Victoria and takes her into a side-room to present her with an engagement ring with a vast diamond on it. She accepts and they kiss. Steve interrupts inadvertently.
Jazz gives Steve the piece of equipment. He asks what she is doing for lunch – he wants to straighten things out between them. Victoria shows Jazz the ring and she congratulates her. Victoria inadvertently reveals that Steve isn’t actually working the late shift. Jazz leaves and they begin a ward round.
Guy walks along the corridor, closing a bottle of pills. He grabs a glass of water from a machine and downs it quickly. Jazz mumbles her congratulations as she passes.
Celia Owen asks her daughter, Anne for her cigarettes – Anne tells her they won’t allow her to smoke in here. Mike arrives one his ward round. Celia says Anne lives with her to look after her – “For her own good.” Mike asks her to sign the consent form for the surgery.
Celia’s other daughter – Nancy Hunt arrives. She says Anne didn’t bother to tell her Celia was in hospital.
Victoria and Guy come to see Alison Campbell – he is due to perform a final skin graft on her burns.
Anne and Nancy fuss over Celia and start arguing about her care. Kath asks them to turn it down. Gavin, Nancy’s husband arrives and greets Celia and Kath. He presents Celia with some flowers from his business.
Alison is chatting with Victoria – she apologises for her nightmare and says she has them fairly often – about losing her mother in the fire. She begins to get emotional about being unable to save her. Changing the subject, she asks Victoria if she will be there in the operation – she wants her there. Alison’s dad, James, arrives and asks a few questions about the operation. Victoria asks him to sit down and talk about his wife, but he suddenly excuses himself and leaves. Alison says she hasn’t talked to him about the nightmares – “He’d only worry.”
Danny is telephoned to say that he’s lost his prospective flat. Kath offers that he can come back home, to which he rolls his eyes. Julie asks why he doesn’t ask Liam again, but Danny seems reluctant after insulting it – “There is such a thing as pride.” Danny asks about Julie and Jazz’s place – but they both say no.
Mrs Paterson, another patient on Celia’s ward compliments Celia on her flowers from Gavin – she says he’s very kind and a fantastic businessman. She apparently helped him set up his business – remarking that it’s a good investment.
Jazz comes to see Mrs Paterson to check her. She seem incredulous that a nurse rather than a doctor is examining her.
Jazz does as she is told, and tells Mrs Paterson that she would be better off with a different cushion. Mrs Paterson says she was a ward sister for 25 years and believes she knows better. She asks if the examination is really necessary.
James meets Victoria and asks how soon Alison will be out. Victoria asks if he’ll be getting back to work.
Victoria offers to send a social worker to Alison’s school to talk to the other children about what’s happened to Alison. F thanks her for the time she’s spent with Alison. He leaves to see Alison.
Jazz is listening to Mrs Paterson’s heart – whilst she makes sarcastic comments. Jazz says she can hear a murmur. Mrs Paterson is incredulous and demands to see “A proper doctor, not some nurse with a stethoscope!”
Kath compliments Celia on all her flowers. She says it’s all down to Gavin, who was the “Best thing that ever happened to Nancy.” She says Anne doesn’t like him, which causes friction and wishes they could all have a happy family life again. She complains that Anne stays in with her when she doesn’t need it – she doesn’t want to feel like a burden. Celia is scared of going to a nursing home.
Julie tells Liam Danny’s flat offer has fallen through – Liam goes to Danny to offer him the flat again. Victoria arrives, and shows her ring to Julie.
Tash agrees with Jazz that Mrs Paterson has a heart murmur, but this time Mrs Paterson is being far nicer. Tash tells Jazz that she needs to present herself properly, which Jazz takes an insult.
Gavin gets a call on his mobile, ignoring Nancy’s request to turn it off. Apparently, a business deal has gone sour and he doesn’t have the cash to fix it. Liam asks him to turn his mobile off.
Celia is going in for surgery – she asks for Gavin. Nancy snaps at Anne for making snide comments.
Jazz complains to Julie about Tash being on her case. She then complains about Steve. Julie says he’s being a typical married mam “Want you for his lunch and her for his dinner.” Tash responds with a typical sarcastic comment and storms out.
Steve is waiting in the cafeteria for Jazz.
The anaesthetist is putting Alison under. James says her mum would have been proud of her and Alison says she’ll dream about her during the op.
Victoria is coming to observe on the operation. She finds Guy in the locker room taking some pills. She stares at him in shock, but does nothing.
Celia is wheeled out of her operation.
Guy starts on Alison’s operation.
In bed, Celia becomes agitated. She is shouting “Get off me!” and gets out of bed. Everyone crowds around as she is screaming “Dead! Dead!” as they try to calm her down.
Guy proceeds, but is sweating and complains of feeling a little hot.
James asks Steve if he’s heard anything about Alison, but he hasn’t. F says it was he the arsonists were after when they burnt down his house and killed his wife. He says that he would take revenge but Steve advises him to hang onto what he has – his daughter; the family he has left.
Mike and Tash are looking at Celia’s X-rays. They believe she has chronic bronchitis and looking at her ECG and blood pressure they think she is at risk of heart attack.
Steve returns the bit of equipment to Jazz, saying about missing her at lunch. She is evasive.
Jazz comes back to see Mrs Paterson, who complains she has not had her tests yet. Jazz says they won’t be long.
Steve comes to see Julie about Jazz.
Mike tells Celia’s family that Celia has suffered one heart attack already and is likely to have another. Nancy accuses Anne for not stopping Celia smoking. Gavin tries to calm them down. Mike says there isn’t much they can do and asks them to look at not resuscitating her if she has another heart attack. Gavin suggests it would be for the best, but Anne is in tears. Mike advises that they should make her as comfortable as possible. Anne says she’d take care of Celia and runs out, crying. Kath tries to comfort her outside. Kath says Celia wanted her independence, but Anne paints a different picture, saying how much Celia relied on her. Anne says the hardest thing is knowing that they were right – that Celia wouldn’t want it that way.
Guy is finishing Alison’s operation when he blood pressure suddenly drops to nothing and her pulse stops. Guy stands back, helpless as Victoria and the anaesthetist start issuing orders. Guy starts CPR and the anaesthetist suspects a pulmonary embolism – Victoria asks for cardio-thoracics to be called.
Gavin tells Mike they have decided that Celia shouldn’t be resuscitated. Anne tearfully agrees.
[ID 572]Sam[/ID] arrives in theatre, saying Meyer is on his way. Alison drops into Ventricular fibrillation, and she is shocked, putting her back into sinus rhythm – but still with no pulse output. Sam orders for Alison’s chest to be opened, but Victoria protests, saying they must wait for Meyer. Sam says they have to open Alison’s chest if it is a pulmonary embolism.
James asks Steve what’s going on – it’s been over 2 hours. Steve says he will go and check.
Gavin is back on his phone, explaining Celia’s situation. He asks the man on the other end to “check it out” “about her investment.” He then says he has to go and do “the concerned thing.”
Sam is about to open up Alison but Victoria tells her not to do it – she protests that Alison is dead already. Meyer arrives and asks what has gone on. He confirms that Alison is indeed dead. Someone comes in and tells Guy that he is wanted in another theatre. Guy says he had better go to tell James, but Victoria firmly says that she will do it. Guy attempts to apologise.
Victoria tells Steve the bad news. He offers to go and tell F, but Victoria says she’ll do it.
Julie finds Jazz, who has still not spoken to Steve.
Steve sees Victoria talking to James, who storms off. He and Victoria come after him. He runs into the operating theatre area as Victoria tries to tell him that the embolism is a possible complication that no-one could have forseen. James bursts in to the theatre and tries to perform CPR on Alison. Victoria tries to tell him that Alison is gone.
Jazz brings Mrs Paterson the results of her test – they are normal, which makes Mrs Paterson greatly smug. She says Jazz should have “kept that stethoscope in your pocket and got on with your job!” Jazz suddenly spots that Celia is having a heart attack and starts to resuscitate her, getting her back. Kath and Gavin come in and demand to know what’s going on.
Steve finds Victoria sitting on Alison’s bed. Steve tells her that you never get used to losing a child, Victoria wonders if she should have kept a distance. Steve tells her she did the right thing. He says Alison is with her mother now, which is what she wanted. Steve goes to find James while Anton comes to talk to Victoria.
Mike apologises for Celia’s resuscitation and says it doesn’t alter the facts about her condition. Gavin becomes angry – “She’s not supposed to be poorly, is she!? We said do not resucitate!” Nancy rebukes him for being so cavalier about Celia’s life and he apologises, saying he was shocked.
Anton tells Victoria she must speak to the coroner. He says he heard of Victoria and Sam’s argument.
Danny asks Kath what he’s going to do about the flat – he thinks he’s lost them both as Liam has been taunting him all day. Kath, laughing, tells him that Liam already knew – at which point Liam arrives. Danny, bashfully, asks to move in. Liam says yes.
Anne and Nancy are watching Celia. Kath tells them they shouldn’t keep hoping. Nancy slowly tells Anne she’s only wanted what’s best for Celia and she didn’t like Anne pushing her away. Gavin’s phone rings. Nancy is about to turn it off but listens to the message on it instead. He expression deepens. Gavin arrives.
Jazz is talking to Mike about resuscitating Celia.
Mike trys to explain things aren’t that simple – but Jazz responds with a sarcastic outburst and storms off.
Nancy is shouting at Gavin and he is denying all knowledge of what was going on. Anne asks what the message was and Nancy says Gavin was plotting – he owed Celia money and knew if she died he wouldn’t have to pay back anything. Nancy tells him to leave through clenched teeth.
Steve is leaving for the night but instead decides to go upstairs to Keller ward.
Mrs Paterson comes to see Mike and says she was impressed with what Jazz did resuscitating Celia and asks for her this to be passed on. Steve suddenly arrives, looking for Jazz but he has missed her.
Nancy tells Anne she supposes she owes her an apology about Gavin. Celia suddenly starts to come around.
Outside, Steve finds Jazz and tries to apologise. She says if he wants to back off, he should. He says he would like to, but he can’t help himself – he is worried that he’ll lose her – he thinks he’s in love with her, even though he doesn’t want to be. They kiss.
Celia comes around – asking Kath if it’s over. She sees Nancy and Anne sitting at the foot of the bed, and ask if they are behaving. Nancy says they are just catching up.
Julie finds James in the coffee shop.
Victoria is looking for Guy. She confronts him in the toilets – he is obviously the worse for wear, still sweating.
Patients
Celia Owen (femoral hernia, chronic bronchitis, heart attack – you name it, she’s got it!)- operated on, suffered two heart attacks but survived.
Grace Patterson (haemorrhoids, heart murmur) – still awaiting operation, but now respects Jazz.
Alison Campbell (burns) – operated on (Morton, Merrick), died (pulmonary embolism).
Notable Facts
James obviously has a hard time letting go – he barely acknowledges that his wife’s gone after 6 months and now can’t let his daughter go!
Compare again Guy’s drug abuse with Anton’s MND, Tom’s alcoholism and Alex’s Parkinson’s. They certainly like reusing storylines!
(Will Watson)
