Josh Griffiths

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Josh Griffiths is one of the longest-serving fictional characters in the popular BBC Drama Casualty (TV series). He is a Paramedic. Over the last seventeen years Josh has saved countless lives, risked his own life on many occasions and endured endless personal trauma. Josh's deepest personal trauma was when a fire ripped through his house. His daughter was the only person rescued from the wreckage. His wife and son were killed instantaneously, whilst his daughter Sarah later died in hospital. Josh is played by Ian Bleasdale.

Josh's trauma affected him badly, causing him to become a compulsive gambler (which resulted in him accumulating excessive debts). Josh has since struggled to find love. He married Collette but his marriage collapsed after discovering she was pregnant with a child that had been conceived during an illicit affair. His most recent date proved a disaster as he prepared a meal of Duck for a vegetarian and had his overflowing bath fall through the ceiling and collapse on him.

Josh commands a lot of respect from his forever changing staff. The paramedic he had the closest friendship with was Finlay "Fin" Newton (who was tragically murdered). Their friendly banter proved so popular they were granted their own special episode which focused on their shift. Josh has risked his own life on many occasions and nearly died in a landslide in season 15. Prior to this he has been stabbed and strangled, shot at, taken hostage and trapped in quicksand. In recent years, Casualty has become more focused on life in the hospital due to problems with filming caused by the increasing number of episodes, and the paramedics are less used. However Josh is still saving lives and has climbed through a broken garage window to save a man who was attempting suicide. Josh has also received a long-service medal from the Queen.

At the end of "Killing me softly," (episode 15 from Season 21) Josh is stabbed in the left hand side of his neck in the back of an ambulance. He is still bleeding and his attacker closes the door on him when the episode ends. The attacker is a woman named Laura who appears to be having a mental breakdown and seems to believe that her child is sick. Josh is attending to a man who has just jumped out of a window on one of the upper floors of the ED when he sees Laura walking away with an unconscious Rosie in a wheelchair. Laura seeks shelter in an unlocked ambulance but when Josh enters She thinks that her is trying to take her daughter, Rosie, away from her, so she stabs him. The ending is left on a cliffhanger with Josh bleeding heavily. However, in the next part of the story, a badly bleeding Josh is found in the ambulance by Nathan. He shouts for help and Charlie and the rest of the team come out, rushing him straight into Resus.

The week after, Josh is seen recovering in another ward of the hospital. Due to recent events, he had become depressed and couldn't see a future for himself. After a heart-to-heart with with his longest and best friend Charlie, Josh realised there was so much he wanted to see in the world. After saying his goodbyes to Charlie, Josh left the series at the end of 2006 and set off on his travels to see cricket and culture around the world.

Josh is set to return later on in the year