Characters of Casualty

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Casualty is the world's longest running medical drama,^[1] first broadcast in 1986 and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The show's characters are all staff within the fictional Holby City Hospital, composed of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and hospital management. The only current character remaining from the show's conception is nurse Charlie Fairhead, played by Derek Thompson. The following characters appear regularly in the programme as of 8 March 2008.^[2]

Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[edit] B

[edit] Tess Bateman

Tess Bateman
First appearance	18x01, 2003-
Portrayed by	Suzanne Packer
Information
Occupation	Clinical Nurse Manager (former Sister)
Spouse(s)	Mike (divorced)
Children	Sam Bateman

Tess is a strong willed woman who believes firmly in playing by the rules. Following her husband's paralysis and their subsequent separation, she struggled to come to terms with her son's bi-polar condition, and was reluctant to see him gain his independence. She has a strong friendship with fellow nurse Abs Denham. After some budget cuts Tess was originally going to take redundancy, leaving Charlie Fairhead to run the department however Charlie attacked a patient leaving Tess in a position to stay. Tess was injected with a paralysing drug by a Bank nurse Lewis, but thanks to help from the rest of team, managed to recover.

[edit] C

[edit] Alice Chantrey

Alice Chantrey
Sam Grey as receptionist Alice Chantrey
First appearance	20x31, Going Under, 2006 -
Portrayed by	Sam Grey
Information
Occupation	Health Care Assistant (former Receptionist)

[edit] Character creation

[edit] Background

With the departure from the series of Casualty receptionist Bex Reynolds in Series 19, Episode 44,^[3], and fellow receptionist Sam Bateman's decision to train as a Healthcare Assistant in Series 20, Episode 27,^[4], the programme was in need of a recurring character to staff its reception desk - a role that has been present within the show since its first episode and first receptionist Susie Mercier.^[5] This imbalance was redressed with the addition to the cast of the Alice character, five episodes later.

[edit] Casting

It was first announced on 3 February 2006 that actress Sam Grey had been cast in the new role of Alice.^[6] Prior to joining the cast of Casualty, the actress had had just one small television role, in drama series Dream Team.^[7] She said of receiving the role:

"I'm really excited to be working with such skilled and talented actors on Casualty. It's a great opportunity to learn more. At the moment my real nerves are helping me to play the part of Alice as she's an anxious character"^[8]

[edit] Storylines

Having previously worked in the archives department at North Wyvern Trust, Alice was transferred to Holby City hospital as a receptionist when the department closed."^[9] She worked alongside Sam Bateman, and the characters became fast friends. Alice soon established that she had a keen interest in nature and animals. She is exceptionally bright but has a fear of exams so has never actually achieved academically;^[10] despite this she is very organised and makes a good receptionist, although has exhibited a fear of talking to the public and being shouted at by many of the staffing team.

Alice soon developed a crush on Senior House Officer Guppy Sandhu, but was disappointed that he appeared more interested in Paramedic Cyd Pyke. A recurring joke of her earlier episodes featured Guppy's inability to remember her name. She went as far as to pretend one of the porters was her boyfriend in an effort to draw his attention, however all this achieved was helping Sam to realise that he has feelings for her himself. In Series 20, Episode 47, Alice was dressed up by Nina for her leaving party. After hearing rumours of Guppy and Kelsey sleeping together she left alone, crying.

Alice and Kelsey eventually became friends again, and Alice began to come out of her shell by suggesting a staff game in Series 21, Episode 4, involving the collection of points based on the first letter an illness began with. Tess Bateman eventually caught on and Alice returned to her shy state. After the department was threatened with closure, nurse Ellen Zitek recruited Alice and Kelsey in Series 21, Episode 11 to jump into a water fountain, wearing white T-shirts championing their opposition to attract media attention. Consultant Harry Harper also opposed the move, and Clinical Manager Nathan Spencer persuaded Alice to claim that he had sexually harassed her, in order to sabotage Harry's campaign. Realising she had been tricked, Alice dropped her claim in Series 21, Episode 23, and expressed a wish to leave for the South American rain forest. She was persuaded to stay by Sam. Later in the series, Sam, who suffers from bipolar disorder, ran away from home when Alice incorrectly lead him to believe his mother Tess was having an affair with psychiatric nurse Abs Denham. Although he returned unharmed, he left later that day to travel in Thailand. Alice went after him and kissed him before his departure, confessing her love for him.

In Series 22, Alice has given up reception duties to become a healthcare assistant. The reasons for her change of role are yet to be discussed. On New Years Eve Alice delivered a patients baby after getting stuck in a lift with Adam who was having a claustrophobia attack.

[edit] Maggie Coldwell

Maggie Coldwell
First appearance	19x22, 2005-
Portrayed by	Susan Cookson
Information
Occupation	Senior Registrar, Emergency Medicine
Family	Lana Coldwell (granddaughter)
Spouse(s)	Steve (separated)
Children	Jamie Coldwell Joanne Coldwell

Maggie started off her career in medicine as a nurse, before retraining to become a doctor. She is highly competent, although has been held back from progressing further up the career ladder as a result of a tendency to be too outspoken with hospital management, most notably clashing frequently with Nathan Spencer. She successfully applied for the role of consultant, before Nathan claimed there was no funding to pay her post.

It was revealed that when her husband, Steve, had been sentenced to jail, she had told her children that he had died. When they discovered the truth and he was subsequently released, she allowed them to travel abroad with him to Malaysia. Paramedic Josh Griffiths was her lodger before his departure, however she has a long running romantic interest in Josh's best friend Charlie Fairhead.

Maggie's daughter Joanne returned in January 2008, and Maggie was shocked to see that she was heavily pregnant. Maggie became a grandparent in February 2008, when Joanne gave birth to a baby girl called Lana. She now shares her house with Joanne, Lana, Toby and Ruth.

[edit] Jeff Collier

Jeff Collier
First appearance	21x25, "The Miracle on Harry's Last Shift", 2007
Portrayed by	Matt Bardock
Information
Occupation	Paramedic
Spouse(s)	Lucy

Jeff originally did not hit off with Dixie, after he calls her princess several times and she takes offence. Later on in the series he becomes good friends with her, and they bring some light-heartedness to the show. Jeff eventually volunteers to transfer to another hospital to save Dixie having to volunteer one of her team. He returns later and helps to fill the gap that Cyd Pyke has left.

[edit] D

[edit] Abs Denham

John "Abs" Denham
First appearance	18x05, "Flash In The Pan", 2003-
Portrayed by	James Redmond
Information
Occupation	Senior Staff Nurse (Mental Health Nurse)
Spouse(s)	Ellen Zitek (Deceased)

Abs' first day at work was particularly memorable. He discovered that an escaped psychiatric patient had stolen his identity and was posing as him within the Emergency Department. Although the impostor successfully fooled Clinical Nurse Manager Tess Bateman, the matter was eventually sorted out and the genuine Abs was able to start doing his job.

Abs entered into a short lived marriage with Ellen Zitek, the half-sister of his love interest Nina Farr. Ellen lied to him over the course of many months about the danger she faced in her home country, and Abs agreed to get married simply to help her get a visa. It eventually became clear however, that Ellen's motives had not been genuine, and she was acting simply out of malice toward Nina. She left for a short period, during which Abs reunited with Nina - however, they were soon harassed by a loan shark to whom Ellen owed £15,000. Abs struggled to keep up with the payments, and not only got beaten up but had items repossessed. However, after being beaten up himself, the loan shark was fatally injured and Abs was free of Ellen's debt. Immigration officials also informed him that they would not be investigating his marriage to Ellen any longer, leaving him free to enjoy his time with Nina.

Once Ellen returned, Abs demanded a divorce. However, she soon revealed she was suffering from cancer, and although both Abs and Nina supported her throughout, several months later she was killed in an unrelated incident, run down by a motorbike, leaving Abs a widower. His relationship with Nina disintegrated during this period, with him first reacting poorly to the revelation she had once had relationships with women and identified as bi-sexual. He then became jealous of her relationship with Greg Fallon, and eventually Nina decided to leave Holby.

In a special Comic Relief episode written by Richard Curtis Abs was participating in a sleep-a-thon and was taken hostage by returning character Megan Roach's grandson who crashed his camper van. Abs was unhurt but for a minor cut on his head

He was shot on New Year's Eve 2007 while out at a night club with Kelsey but he escaped with just a minor injury to his arm. In protest of Charlie Fairhead's redundancy, he called an unofficial work-to-rule, but after a patient died as a result, he realised he'd taken things too far and called it off.

In March 2008, Abs attended his brother's funeral. At the funeral, he was reunited with his old friend Stacey. However, when his friend's drunken behaviour ended in a violent punch-up, Abs was forced to talk to Stacey about the dangers of alcoholism. Later, he revealed to his mother that he wanted to open up a clinic to treat alcoholism.

[edit] Toby De Silva

Toby De Silva
First appearance	22x01, My First Day, 2007-
Portrayed by	Matthew Needham
Information
Occupation	Foundation House Officer (FHO2)

Toby is a doctor who has just graduated from medical school. As an only child whose parents are in the medical profession, Toby was pushed into medicine.

On his first day on the show, we see his lack of confidence, earning him the nickname of Dracula. After making lots of mistakes and messing up on an injection on a patient in front of his mother he decided to resign. Adam Trueman decided to give Toby one last chance to prove himself by giving him a tricky procedure to do. After pulling off the procedure successfully, he decided to stay.

Since then Toby became more and more confident at his job and at Christmas 2007 he kissed Maggie under the mistletoe for a pound. She then offered him her spare room, which he accepted, becoming her lodger. On 2 February 2008, Toby and Abs Denham found Ruth having hung herself in her room. Toby found it hard to cope being the only F2 around and only just managed to complete a complicated procedure to save a girl's life.

After Ruth's attempted suicide Toby got drunk at a pub with Maggie's pregnant daughter Joanne. When she went into labour, he was forced to deliver the baby himself. The birth was successful and since then Toby and Joanne have become lovers. Toby then took a job in Orthopaedics with Sean Anderson as his boss. He was furious to discover that Maggie had expressed serious doubts in his capability to do the job.

[edit] Dixie Dixon

Kathleen 'Dixie' Dixon
First appearance	21x03, Waste of Space, 2006-
Portrayed by	Jane Hazlegrove
Information
Occupation	Paramedic, Operational Duty Officer

Kathleen "Dixie" Dixon arrived early in series twenty one, having transferred from another hospital alongside her close friend Cyd Pyke. When Josh Griffiths took a six month sabbatical to travel the world, she vied with fellow paramedic Greg Fallon for his position as Operational Duty Officer, eventually emerging triumphant. She forged a budding friendship with new recruit Jeff Collier, to whom she admitted she was a lesbian, however their friendship came to a close when Jeff volunteered for a transfer to save Dixie the task of forcibly deploying one of her staff. Recently, believing Cyd's life to be in danger following a venomous snake bite, Dixie confessed her love for her friend. With Cyd now having recovered well, their friendship has become strained by this revelation.

Unfortunately for Dixie, Cyd decided to transfer to another hospital which left Dixie on her own and since then she has formed a close friendship with fellow paramedic Jeff Collier.

[edit] F

[edit] Charlie Fairhead

Charlie Fairhead
First appearance	1x01, 1986-
Portrayed by	Derek Thompson
Information
Occupation	Senior Charge Nurse, (former Clinical Nurse Manager, Clinical Nurse Specialist)
Spouse(s)	Barbara "Baz" Wilder (deceased)
Children	Louis Fairhead

Charlie is the longest serving member of the Casualty cast, and is described by the BBC as "the lynchpin of Holby's ED. [...] an indispensable, trustworthy and diplomatic member of the team."^[11] He has had various on-screen relationships over the years. The most notable was with Barbara "Baz" Wilder - another original character. Baz left Casualty after the first season but returned nearly a decade later. Trapped in an unhappy marriage she pursued a relationship with Charlie, ultimately becoming pregnant with their child Louis. Baz divorced her husband and married Charlie. The marriage however was later dissolved after Baz went for a job in Canada. Baz briefly returned to the series to be by the bedside of her ill father but ended up dying after being involved in a road accident.

Charlie himself has brushed with death on several occasions including a shooting, a hit and run involving a stolen ambulance, a pulmonary embolism and an attempted drowning.

Charlie's son Louis once set him up with colleague Maggie Coldwell, who he admitted to having feelings for, however any romance between the pair has yet to develop. At the beginning of series 22, Charlie celebrated his thirty fifth year in nursing. However, throughout the course of the series, Charlie began to have to grapple with childcare issues, as well as the news that either he or Tess Bateman would have to be made forcibly redundant. Although Tess volunteered for the redundancy, Charlie became involved in a fight with a patient and was asked to leave the department.

Charlie returned to the show on 8 March 2008. On 15 March 2008 Charlie helped Adam Trueman bring down a thug who attacked Adam, a patient and a Security Guard. He demanded to Marylin Fox to have better standard of security in the hospital but Marylin reminded him that the hospital couldn't afford it.

Charlie appeared in the first ever episodes of Casualty spin-offs Holby City and Holby Blue. The character has also appeared in Casualty@Holby City crossover storylines.

[edit] H

[edit] Zoe Hanna

Zoe Hanna
Casualty character
First appearance	22x18, "Take a Cup of Kindness Yet", 2007-
Portrayed by	Sunetra Sarker
Information
Specialty	Emergency Medicine
Occupation	Clinical Lead, Senior Consultant

[edit] Storylines

Since the arrival of Orthopaedic Consultant Sean Anderson, Zoe has been having an 'on and off' affair with him. Zoe finds it hard when it is revealed that he is actually married to Staff Nurse Jessica Harrison, despite trying to end their relationship.

In S22 E29, Zoe was promoted to Clinical Lead over Maggie Coldwell, despite being late, and interviewing badly. Maggie was the favoured candidate but Marilyn was determined that Zoe should have the position. In S22 E34, Jessica and Snezana noticed that Zoe was acting coldly towards a teenage patient who had recently lost his parents. When Snezana confronted Zoe about this, she ran off. Zoe later admitted to Jessica that she couldn't have children.

[edit] Jessica Harrison

Jessica Harrison
Casualty character
First appearance	12th January, 2008
Portrayed by	Gillian Kearney
Information
Occupation	Staff Nurse, (former Agency Nurse)
Spouse(s)	Sean Anderson
Children	Two

[edit] Storylines

Jessica Harrison first joined the Holby City Hospital Emergency Department as an agency nurse. She arrived on January 12th 2008 and had a speciality in paediatrics. She is a strong, modern woman who knows her own mind and decided to become a nurse after her brother almost lost his leg in a bicycle accident. She is excellent with children and Tess sees her as a life saver. She arrived in the midst of the work to rule and calmly and efficiently deals with staff and patients alike. She had a one night stand with Adam before her arrival. Yet on meeting him at work, she remained calm and professional. Adam was attracted to her but she made it clear she was not seeking a relationship. It was later revealed that Jessica was actually married to Orthopaedic Consultant Sean Anderson and that she had concealed this out of fear that her colleagues would treat her differently from other people if they knew she was married to an important man. Jessica had breakfast with Adam which he heated on the car engine. She was attracted to him but drew back on seeing her husband. He asked her straight out whether she wanted a relationship or not. She said no.

[edit] P

[edit] Kelsey Phillips

Kelsey Phillips
First appearance	19x45, 2005-
Portrayed by	Janine Mellor
Information
Occupation	Staff nurse

Kelsey is a happy go lucky girl with a penchant for gossip, matchmaking, and generally unintentionally causing trouble in the workplace. She is notoriously bad with her finances, and during series 21 was almost forced into prostitution after being threatened with eviction for falling behind on her rent. She quickly dropped the profession when her first client turned out to be Nathan Spencer. She then revealed to Selena Donovan that Nathan was her client. Then at Tess Bateman's party Stitch Lambert caused friction and Kelsey and Nathan bonded. Kelsey thanked Nathan for not exposing her as a prostitute. She also stood up to Stitch.

Kelsey and Alice Chantrey started internet dating and both got dates but it was revealed that Kelsey's date was Big Mac, of which she was unaware. Noel took her out clubbing before Big Mac arrived.

[edit] T

[edit] Adam Trueman

Adam Trueman
Casualty character
First appearance	22x03, "Meltdown", 2007-
Portrayed by	Tristan Gemmill
Information
Specialty	Emergency Medicine
Occupation	Consultant

[edit] Storylines

Following his arrival, Adam began to clash with Harry Harper who didn't like his attitude about not caring how patients got their injuries or illnesses and also falsely accused him of setting up the blog Toxic Shark but it was later found to be receptionist TC. When a patient died Adam laid into Harry by saying that he might not have died if the kept his resus in order and updated the equipment which resulted in a major argument, which was eventually stopped by Maggie Coldwell who said that if Adam and Harry both ran the resus then they could have the best success rates in the country. On Harry's last day Harry offered Adam his job but he refused and Zoe got it instead.

Adam was stuck in a lift on New Years' Eve with Alice Chantrey and a pregnant woman in labour named Martha. As Adam suffers from Claustrophobia after an unexplained childhood incident, he suffered a panic attack and eventually forced Alice, with no former medical training, to deliver the child.

At a party, Adam met Jessica Harrison and slept with her. He was shocked to discover that she was the new nurse that started that morning when he arrived at work.

In March 2008 he found a bullying thug attacking his patient. Jessica called Security but with little effect. Adam removed the thug's arm from his patient, but ended up being headbutted to the floor. When the thug started to attack the Security Guard, Charlie Fairhead grabbed his arm to stop him and Adam helped by rugby tackling the thug to the ground despite his mouth injury,causing him and Charlie to be regarded as heroes. This made Jessica get closer to him while she was treating his mouth injury.

[edit] W

[edit] Ruth Winters

Ruth Winters
Casualty character
First appearance	22x01, "My First Day", 2007-
Portrayed by	Georgia Taylor
Information
Specialty	Emergency Medicine
Occupation	Foundation House Officer - Year 2

[edit] Creation and development

Ruth was one of three new characters to join Casualty at the beginning of its 22nd series. With the return of Series Consultant Barbara Machin, the show underwent a widely publicised overhaul, with the intention of returning to its more politicised, less character-driven roots.^[12] It was first announced on 18 July 2007 that Georgia Taylor had been cast in the role of Ruth.^[13] The BBC described the character as "clever, hardworking and focused"^[14], stating that she has wanted to be a doctor since she was eight, and graduated top of her class - working hard at the expense of her personal life.^[14] Taylor herself commented:

"Ruth's very responsible and articulate, and seems pretty confident. But underneath it all, she's something of a troubled soul which hopefully we'll find out later on. She's very self critical and won't allow herself to make any mistakes. But, for a junior doctor, the whole first year in a hospital is about making mistakes and learning from it. Ruth won't accept help from anyone; she thinks she knows it all."^[15]

[edit] Storylines

Ruth misdiagnosed a patient with severe stomach pains and missed a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. She blamed this mistake on Nadia in order to preserve her reputation. She Ruth was shocked when she was asked to deal with a drunk lorry driver, who turned out to be her abusive, alcoholic father. She reluctantly agreed to fake the blood alcohol test in order that he would not be prosecuted. She was later devastated to realise that he used her. Ruth found out her nickname in the hospital was "Chuckles". Suspecting Adam, she told him that the hospital was no place for nicknames. She accidentally gave a traffic warden the wrong medication. She covered up her mistake and was later surprised when Adam told her she was doing a great job.

Ruth gave Nadia the catastrophic order to remove the neck brace of a patient who was later paralysed from the neck down. To cover her mistake, Ruth lied to Tess that she had told Nadia not to remove the neck brace. The following day, Nadia resigned and a guilty Ruth confessed that she lied. Fortunately for Ruth, Nadia was happy to resign and take the blame. Ruth accidentally gave a patient a morphine overdose. On January 19th, when a suicide patient died, Ruth opened up and revealed that when she was a teenager, her own mother committed suicide. Ruth believed a seriously ill patient was drunk. Her misdiagnosis led to his death. Ruth was distraught, despite Harry's reassurance that it was not her fault. Afterwards, Toby and Abs by chance found her hanging in her room and called an ambulance. Ruth was admitted to hospital and Harry found her diary.

The diary revealed that Adam had suggested that Ruth shadow the Histology department, so she had taken extra work there after taking a shine to the man in charge, Dr Doom. Working over 60 hours a week, Ruth fell asleep during the day, making serious mistakes and risking the lives of patients. She made friends with a cancer patient called Rachel, who told Ruth she was self absorbed and gave her advice when Ruth revealed her problems with the Histology and Emergency departments. Ruth successfully assisted Rachel's operation despite rudeness from the lead surgeon about histology, Harry Harper and even Ruth's accent. However, Rachel's cancer returned as an inoperable brain tumour and Ruth was shattered when Rachel died. Dr Doom was concerned that Ruth was cracking under the pressure and offered her support.

Ruth misinterpreted his friendly concern as a romantic interest and kissed him. He rejected her, explaining that he was married. Ruth then grew cold towards him and refused his support and friendship. The diary also revealed that her brother was in prison. Harry discovered that the brother was insensitive, since his response to hearing of his sister's attempted suicide was "Good". The death of her patient led Ruth to attempt to kill herself because being a successful doctor was all she wanted from life. Harry, reading her diary, felt that the hospital had failed Ruth and decided it would never happen a second time. Ruth was in a coma for a month, however, Toby witnessed her stirring from her coma on 8th March 2008. She is now living at colleague Maggie Coldwell's house. On Saturday 26th April Ruth attempted to secretly drown herself in the bath after a difficult day at work. Luckily for her, Maggie arrived back at the house in time and she reluctantly decided not to go through with it.

[edit] Others

Arrival	Character	Actor	Role
22x04	Marilyn Fox	Caroline Langrishe	Executive Director
22x13	Big Mac	Charles Dale	Porter
22x20	Noel Garcia	Tony Marshall	Receptionist
22x26	Snezana Lalovic	Ivana Bašić	Paramedic
22x27	Curtis Cooper	Abdul Salis	Paramedic
22x27	Sean Anderson	Richard Dillane	Orthopaedic Consultant and Clinical Lead
22x39	Simon Tanner	Paul Fox	Clinical Nurse Manager, Minor Injuries Unit

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Character profiles at BBC's Casualty Homepage
• Profiles at Holby.tv database

v • d • e Holby Casualty Episodes (by series) : 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 Charlie Fairhead · Tess Bateman · Abs Denham · Maggie Coldwell · Kelsey Phillips · Alice Chantrey · Dixie Dixon · Jeff Collier · Toby De Silva · Ruth Winters · Adam Trueman · Marilyn Fox · Big Mac · Zoe Hanna · Noel Garcia · Jessica Harrison · Snezana Lalovic · Curtis Cooper · Sean Anderson Current cast · Original cast · Former cast Holby City Episodes (by series) : 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 Ric Griffin · Donna Jackson · Connie Beauchamp · Mark Williams · Lola Griffin · Abra Durant · Elliot Hope · Jac Naylor · Sam Strachan · Joseph Byrne · Kyla Tyson · Maria Kendall · Maddy Young · Faye Morton · Lady Anne-Marie Byrne · Jayne Grayson · Michael Spence · Linden Cullen · Daisha Anderson Current cast · Former cast · Recurring cast HolbyBlue Episode list · Character list  · Luke French  · John Keenan Casualty@Holby City Christmas 2004 · Interactive · Halloween 2005 · Christmas 2005 Other Holby · Holby City Hospital · Holby Ambulance Service · Holby A&E Fire (1993)