> Series 05

7/9/90 – 7/12/90

Episode Listing

• S5 E1 (7 Sep 90) : Penalty by Ginne Hole
• S5 E2 (14 Sep 90) : Results by Ben Aaronovitch
• S5 E3 (21 Sep 90) : Close to Home by Jim Hill
• S5 E4 (28 Sep 90) : Street Life by Ian Briggs
• S5 E5 (5 Oct 90) : Hiding Place by Tony Etchells
• S5 E6 (12 Oct 90) : Salvation by Robin Mukherjee
• S5 E7 (19 Oct 90) : Say it With Flowers by Rona Munro
• S5 E8 (26 Oct 90) : Love’s A Pain by Sam Snape
• S5 E9 (2 Nov 90) : A Will to Die by Christopher Penfold
• S5 E10 (9 Nov 90) : Big Boys Don’t Cry by Ginnie Hole
• S5 E11 (16 Nov 90) : Rememberance by Barbara Machin
• S5 E12 (30 Nov 90) : All’s Fair by Stephen Wyatt
• S5 E13 (7 Dec 90) : A Reasonable Man by Barbara Machin

History

Casualty had never been about goodies versus baddies. Moral judgements have no place in an A&E ward. And if you want neat, wrapped up endings, you watched another show. But in 1990 when Brenda Fricker went to Hollywood, came back with an Oscar for her role in My left Foot, you couldn’t help noticing that the Holby saints seemed to outnumber the Holby sinners. The regulars needed an anti-hero.

Happily he had just arrived. Julian Chapman, Registrar, was arrogant, cold, the sort of doctor everyone knows and hates. Until he had to use his surgeon skills and saved someone they love, that is. With him in this new series, also produced by Peter Norris, was Beth Ramanee, an Indian, although born in Britain, caring and capable but as uncertain as any junior doctor might be. She and Julian were to fight and fight again. Each time she lost, but viewers loved it.

There was a small new star too. Derek Thompson’s son Charlie played Duffy’s baby Peter. Coping with nursing shifts and her son proved exhausting for Duffy. Baby-minders let her down. Her mother grudgingly helped sometimes and Mr Right did not arrive. A candidate for that post seemed to turn up for Megan. But social worker Tony Walker turned out to be married and a rat. New staff nurse Martin Ashford was, by contrast, an angel.

And as before, Norris, chose to go boldly, inviting viewers into hell holes – a football ground riot, a car race when drivers had been drinking, a careless grandfather who kills a child, a prisoner who has been raped, an unemployed man so jealous he kills – trusting that they would see them in the right moral light, as the horrific results of avoidable causes.

The series ended with an armed madman, played by Kenneth Cranham, taking Megan hostage in crash and finally, shooting Charlie. It made a thrilling end-of-series cliffhanger. Was it believable? ‘A bit of non reality never hurt anyone,’ defends Norris.

Joining Cast

• S5 E1 Julian Chapman – Registrar
• S5 E1 Beth Ramanee – Senior House Officer
• S5 E1 Martin Ashford – Staff Nurse
• S5 E1 Helen Green – Receptionist
• S5 E1 Tony Walker – Social Walker
• S5 E2 Jane Scott – Paramedic’

Regular Cast

• Charlie Fairhead – Charge Nurse
• Duffy – Sister
• Josh Griffiths – Paramedic
• Jimmy Powell – Porter

Exiting Cast

• S5 E10 Tony Walker – Social Walker
• S5 E13 Megan Roach – State Enrolled Nurse
• S5 E13 Helen Green – Receptionist
• S5 E? Keith Cotterill – Paramedic

Notable Guest Stars

• S5 E1 Dervla Kirwan – as Anna
• S5 E2 George Costigan – as Robert
• S5 E2 Ken Sharrock – as Barry
• S5 E3 Pete Postlethwaite – as Ralph Peters
• S5 E4 Denise Black – as Jenny Munro
• S5 E4 Tony Caunter – as cafe owner
• S5 E4 Simon Rouse – as Roy
• S5 E6 Louise Jameson – as Judy
• S5 E6 Dermot Crowley – as Hastings
• S5 E7 Mark McGann – as Joe Morrison
• S5 E7 Amanda Royle – as Mandy Trent
• S5 E8 Jack Ellis – as Sergeant Chancellor
• S5 E9 Liza Walker – as Fenella Chivers
• S5 E10 Tessa Peake-Jones – as Esther Macauley
• S5 E12 Louise Lombard – as Clare Jameson
• S5 E12 Dee Sadler – as Irene Clarke
• S5 E12 Geraldine Somerville – as Ruth
• S5 E13 Christopher Eccleston – as Stephen Hills
• S5 E13 Kenneth Cranham – as James Lawrence

Casualty/ Holby City Guest Appearances

• S5 E6 Lisa Coleman – as Sharon Dobbs
• S5 E7 Dona Croll – as Lucy Watson
• S5 E9 Dominic Jephcott – as Peter Gosford
• S5 E11 Bob Gwilym – as Howard Collier
• S5 E11 Kulvinder Ghir – as Jeevan’