hero living abroad with a family of his own. Discussing the storyline, Edmondson commented of his character: "Typically he has been drinking and hasn't warned Ric of his arrival. Abra tells Ric that the surgeon lined up to carry out the op has pulled out. He wants Ric to do it." Abra proved able to convince Ric to go ahead with the operation, even talking him into allowing him to perform part of the surgery himself, despite being under the influence of alcohol. As Kyle recovered, Abra came close to admitting his paternity, however lost his nerve at the last minute and departed from the show once more, despite Jenny's confession that she still loved him. The character returned on a more permanent basis from June 2006. Abra confessed to old friend Diane he had been run out of Ghana by the father of a woman he had a fling with. He was offered a permanent position at Holby by Christopher Sutherland, however this was almost immediately retracted when Abra defied new protocol by utilising the designated emergency theatre for a minor gall stone operation. Edmondson explained of the storyline: "Abra promises a patient he'll operate on her immediately, but the hospital rules say he can't book the operating theatre for the same day. So Abra decides to do it anyway. He has a knee-jerk reaction to any kind of authority." Initially this plot strand was set to crossover with Holby's sister show, Casualty, with Sutherland's role instead filled by Casualty manager Nathan Spence, however this was abandoned prior to broadcast. After clashing with colleague Nick Jordan in the following episode, "Invasion", Abra made a favourable impression on Lord Byrne, an old family friend. He then left Holby again briefly for a research project recommended by Lord Byrne. It was revealed at this point that Edmondson would be returning as Abra for six months from the autumn. Series producer Emma Turner stated: "We are delighted that Adrian has agreed to come back. He made a huge impact in the few episodes that he was involved in and there are some explosive and controversial storylines in store for his character when he returns to film with us." Xenotransplantation; anti-retrovirals Abra arrived back in Holby towards the end of series 8, immediately becoming embroiled in an illegal porcine kidney transplantation on renal patient Pete Golding. When Ric discovered what he had done,