S15 E29 (10 Mar 01) : Kindness of Strangers by Suzie Smith
Victoria is going round the shops with her husband Laurence, hinting at presents she wants for their nineteenth wedding anniversary. They hug, but as they do so Victoria catches sight of a poster advertising a ballet. She says she has to go, to get his present, and they part. Victoria heads to the theatre where the ballet is due to be on. She asks to see Sasha Pudovkin and is shown in. She heads for the stage, where Sasha is choreographing the ballet. He sees her and recognises her, then leaves his work to talk to her. They were together twenty-six years ago; it ended when Victoria left Sasha. She tells him she's married but has no children; he says he never married but is happy with his work. She tells him she's happy too, and he asks her why she's here in that case. She says it was stupid of her to come, and starts to leave. He tells her to wait, and kisses him. Later Victoria tells him it was difficult going out with a ballet dancer. He asks how long he'll have her today, saying they're leaving tomorrow morning. He asks her to come with him, and she agrees. She decides to go home to collect some things and tell Laurence she's leaving him for Sasha. As she is going, she suddenly collapses in pain, clutching her head.
Sasha calls an ambulance and Josh and Fin take her to Holby A&E. It looks like Victoria has had a stroke, so she is booked for a CT scan. The staff tell Sasha they need to call Victoria's next of kin, and that he shouldn't be with her. Laurence is called; when he arrives he goes in to see Victoria. She says they need to talk, but Laurence says it will wait until she's better. He leaves to get a drink, and Sasha introduces himself, saying he was Victoria's friend. Laurence knows that they were lovers. He thanks him for looking after Victoria, and asks him to leave. He says their marriage is perfectly fine and he doesn't want Sasha messing it up. Sasha says he'll stay till he knows Victoria is all right. Victoria talks to Anna, telling her how she left Sasha because she was scared of living in Russia with him – she didn't trust her own heart. Victoria suddenly goes off. The team set to work to resuscitate her. She is taken for a CT scan and the results are serious. Max talks to Laurence, telling him that Victoria isn't going to make it; she is being kept alive by the ventilator alone and Max thinks it would be better to switch it off. Laurence asks to be alone with her for a while first. He gives her the ring he bought her for their anniversary. He talks to Sasha, asking how he and Victoria met up today. Sasha tells him they just bumped into each other. Laurence asks what were the last things Victoria talked about. Sasha says he told her about her life. Laurence asks if she told him that he always tried to make her happy; Sasha tells him she said she was very happy. He asks if he can go and see her; Laurence agrees to this. Anna is left to finish tidying up in resusc, and is there when Laurence goes in. He talks to Victoria in Russian, holding her hand to his face. She is obviously upset, and Max, who is also there, tells her that the first death is always the worst. He tells her it's time to go home. She thanks him, and he tells her she did well today.
Fin asks Josh when he's going to ask Colette out. Josh replies, "Sometime never." When Fin asks why, Josh gives him the light reason – he's too old and he's out of practice. Later he tells him the heavy reason: he says that when you lose someone, you become convinced that you're going to lose again, and the happier someone makes you, the more you think you'll lose them.
Amy types a letter of resignation and addresses it to Duffy. Duffy receives it, and asks Amy to talk to her. Amy tells her that if anything had happened to Milo when he was involved in the car crash, she would never have forgiven herself. She says she wants to spend more time with him, and also says that she can't do her job any more, because of the commuting and difficult hours. She asks Duffy not to try to change her mind; Duffy says she won't.
Roger is at work, in stocks and shares. Suddenly he sees something on a computer screen that terrifies him. He goes to see his boss, and tells him he's just lost three million dollars. His boss is unsympathetic. He drives home and parks his car in the garage, then closes the door, connects a hosepipe from the exhaust to his window and gets in. He is about to turn on the ignition when someone pulls the hosepipe out of the window. Roger gets out of the car and confronts the man, asking him what he's doing here. The man, Will, says he was just kipping in the garage. Roger tells him to get out, but Will refuses. Roger is about to threaten him with the police but realises that given what he was doing, he can't. He tries to force Will out of there, and they start to fight. A locket drops from Will's pocket, and Roger stamps on it. Will, upset, picks it up and leaves the garage. Roger gets back into the car and turns on the ignition. As he is starting to choke, Will returns. He tries to get into the garage but the only way in is through a locked door. He breaks the glass in the door but is unable to reach the bolt, so he goes through the window, cutting himself on the broken glass. He drags Roger out of the car and uses his mobile to call an ambulance. They are both taken to Holby A&E, where Roger soon recovers. Will, however, has lost a lot of blood and is more seriously ill. Roger goes to see him, and asks why he came back. Will says he couldn't just leave him to get on with it. Roger says that of all his friends and colleagues, Will's the only person to have ever shown him any kindness. Will gets angry, saying that Roger only ever talks or thinks about himself. He says perhaps he should have left him there – he's in pain because of Roger and now has to put up with him whinging. He says if Roger wants things to change, he'll have to stop being such a self-pitying divvy. Roger asks Will if there's anything he can do to help him, offering his garage to sleep in.
Will says the only reason he came back was because of his sister, whose photo was in the locket. She died – Will blames himself as he was meant to be looking after her as she was depressed. He went out with his mates and got back to find she'd committed suicide. Roger says he feels like a fraud – Will says he reaps what he sows. Roger says he deserves the garage.George is brought into A&E from school, where he had an asthma attack. His father Leon is called, and when he arrives in A&E he yells at Amy as she asks him to wait while she finds out where George is. He bursts into paediatric resusc where George is recovering. George is very self-assured, and keeps correcting Leon when he says he's very calm about things. Later, Leon apologises to Amy, saying he was very rude. Amy just agrees with him. When George is being taken upstairs, Amy talks to him, asking if his dad's always like that. Leon appears and asks if she's looking to join his fan club. Amy says she could be; Leon says that at least he knows where to find her. Amy tells him that she won't be working there much longer. George says that his father could give her a job; Leon tells Amy he's looking for a PA, and gives her his card. At the end of the shift, Duffy announces to everyone that Amy's leaving, and Dan gets out a bottle of champagne. Amy tells them she'll be working her notice before leaving. Leon comes into the staff room. He says that George told him people always lose cards, so he gives her a huge stack of them. Amy laughs. He waves goodbye. All the staff are making comments, and Amy says, "Guilty as charged."
Holly arrives at work looking extremely tired. She tells Patrick about what she found in her flat the night before. She says she called the police but was embarrassed by it as the intruder did no harm. She tells him she spent the night on a friend's sofa as she couldn't bear to stay there. She is upset all day, and starts to make mistakes in her work. Patrick tries to reassure her. Dan asks her to come to his office to discuss an exercise; when she arrives he says that was just a cover so she can talk about her stalker. He asks if there's anything he can do; Holly says the police are dealing with everything, and that she's busy. They go back down to the department. As they pass the photo board, Holly notices that her photo is missing. Dan tells her there's probably nothing sinister about it. He offers her time off, but she says she'd rather be at work. Later, we see [ID 387]Tom[/ID] pick up the phone, saying he's calling the unit; just afterwards the phone rings in reception, and the caller asks to speak to Holly. Holly picks up the phone, and the voice tells her the purple colour she's wearing really suits her. He hangs up; Holly rushes round to every phone, asking who's used it. Dan asks what's going on; Holly, uptight, tells him that her stalker is here and knows what she's wearing. Dan takes her into the staff room. She says she's terrified and she's not herself. Dan says he hates seeing her like this. He tells her he really cares about her; Holly gets angry and says that this is the worst possible time. Dan apologises, and leaves. At the end of the shift, Patrick offers Holly a lift home, and says he'll check that all the locks have been changed and the house is secure before he leaves. Tom comes into the staff room in time to hear this. Patrick and Holly walk out to his car, only to find that two tyres have been slashed. Tom offers to give her a lift. He goes to his car, where he gets out a photo – the photo of Holly from the board. He drives round to the entrance of A&E and Holly gets into the car. Tom drives away…
First Scene/words
[Holly is walking into work, Patrick comes up behind her and taps her with his squash racket.]
Patrick: Ohh, heavy night was it? I'll put that at three hours sleep, four max….
Holly: He broke in.
Patrick: What? [he puts a hand on her shoulder]
Holly: Whoever he is, whilst I was here, he let himself in. He's been in my flat. I couldn't stay there after that so I went round to Vicky's and slept on the sofa.
Patrick: Tell me you called the police.
Holly: Yes.
Patrick: And?
Holly: Oh they were fine, they took the whole thing very seriously which only made me feel even more stupid.
Patrick: Why?
Holly: 'So Doctor Miles, what did this person do in your flat, did he take anything? Did he damage your property?' He folded my washing. Not exactly the crime of the century is it?
[Holly walks away and Patrick follows. Someone replaces the reciever on one of the payphones.]
Last Scene/words
[Holly climbs into Tom's car – he's giving her a lift home. Dan watches]
Dan: Drive carefully and look after Holly for us yeh?
Tom: Don't worry, I will.
Dan: See you.
Additional Cast
Victoria – Sharon Maughan (HC)
Sasha Pudovkin – Irek Mukhamedov
Roger – James Buller
Caroline – Jacqueline Sarah Jones
Leon – Nicholas Moss
George – Daryl Moore
Bernard – Colin McCabe
Will – Alun ap Brindley
Dancers – Niki Baldwin, Jason Barden
Guide by Alison.
UK Viewing Figures
Screencaps : S15 E29
In this article:Cas Series 15, Casualty Character Exits, Suzie Smith
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