Casualty (series 4)
| Casualty series 4 | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Original run | 8 September 1989 – 1 December 1989 |
| Home video release | |
| DVD release date | Unknown |
| Series chronology | |
| List of Casualty episodes | |
The fourth series of the British medical drama television series Casualty commenced airing in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 8 September 1989 and finished on 1 December 1989.[1]
Cast
Continuing into Series 4 were nurses Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson), Megan Roach (Brenda Fricker), Lisa "Duffy" Duffin (Cathy Shipton) and Cyril James (Eddie Nestor), paramedic Keith Cotterill (Geoffery Leesley) and administrator Valerie Sinclair (Susan Franklyn).
Joining the regular cast were medical registrar Andrew Bower (William Gaminara), senior house officer Lucy Perry (Tam Hoskyns), student nurse Alex Spencer (Belinda Davidson), paramedic Josh Griffiths (Ian Bleasdale), receptionist Julie Stevens (Vivienne McKone) and porter Jimmy Powell (Robson Green).[2]
Episodes
| Episode No.[nb 1] | Series No. | Episode | Director | Writer | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | 1 | "Chain Reaction" | Andrew Morgan | Ginnie Hole | 8 September 1989 |
|
Dr Lucy Perry treats a young woman with cervical cancer before being called out with Cyril to a road crash. A car has collided with a lorry carrying drums of chemicals and a second car has rolled over killing the driver. A young girl hitchiker is thrown through the car windscreen and has head injuries. The lorry driver needs a chest drain which Lucy performs at the roadside. A policeman is burned by a pool of acid and dies in CRASH as his wife arrives to see him. Andrew Bower, Lucy Perry, Alex Spencer, Josh Griffiths, Julie Stevens and Jimmy Powell are introduced. Guest starring Pat Roach, Sean Pertwee and Stephen Tompkinson.[3] | |||||
| 42 | 2 | "Accidents Happen" | Jeremy Silberston | Bill Gallagher | 15 September 1989 |
|
A housewife trips on her hoover cable falls downstairs and is found unconscious by her neighbour, a mentally handicapped boy. Her husband angrily accuses the boy of causing the accident. Cyril finds out he lost out on the ITU job, to Nurse Sally, he's annoyed with Charlie. Jimmy gets another telling off from Charlie, he pleads with Charlie not to call the head of portering and give him another chance. Guest starring Colin Baker.[4] | |||||
| 43 | 3 | "A Grand in the Hand" | Sue Butterworth | Sam Snape | 22 September 1989 |
|
A suicidal woman ploughs her Volvo estate into a yellow Mini containing four young people. Two die instantly and a girl dies in CRASH. A policeman spots cans of lager in the wrecked Mini and wants to breathalyze the driver who has a serious head injury but Andrew tells the PC this will prove fatal. Later, the suicidal woman admits the accident was her fault. A worker on a building site slips and hot bitumen falls on him. His boss tries to silence him with £1,000 but his wife won't allow it. Charlie finds Megan stealing Valium and makes her flush it away. Guest starring Shirin Taylor.[5] | |||||
| 44 | 4 | "Day Off" | Steve Goldie | Jacqueline Holborough | 29 September 1989 |
|
In the Kings Arm pub, Jimmy Powell finds the pub comedian, Arthur Drury, stabbed in the toilets. He needs a chest drain. Two policeman, DS Prescott and DS Monahan, suspect Jimmy, until they find evidence the killer is a deranged young man, who came in earlier with slashed wrists, but fled. His flat mate is also brought in, after being attacked by him, his skull has caved in and he dies. Alex gives a patient a painkiller before a doctor sees him. Duffy snaps at her. She has just found out she's pregnant. Andrew is discussing his new post and Duffy tells him she will have the baby on her own and doesn't love him. Andrew Bower departs. | |||||
| 45 | 5 | "Vital Spark" | Terry Iland | John Fletcher | 6 October 1989 |
| Lucy receives a letter in the post, which makes her angry – she failed her primary exams. Megan throws her pills down the toilet and Julie jokes with Jimmy that his dancing isn't up to scratch. An old poacher, Alfred Newcombe, is out with his grandson, Eric, showing him his old haunts, when he collapses. Eric drives him to A&E, where Lucy diagnoses terminal cancer called carconomotosis. Eric tries to get him and his father, Graham, to make peace, Graham says he loved him once. Later Alfred dies peacefully, with Eric by his side. | |||||
| 46 | 6 | "Charity" | Sue Butterworth | Margaret Phelan | 13 October 1989 |
| A child in a caravan is choking from asthma. Her father tries to bring her into casualty. First his car breaks down, then the parked cars belonging to guests at hospital charity ball block the path of the ambulance. Stretchered in, the girl dies in CRASH. An elderly man with a thrombosis still manages to mistreat his wife. Lucy copes with a woman's eptopic pregnancy and a man at the charity ball who has had a stroke. An elderly woman with cancer is left in the corridor because there's no bed for her. Alex curses a man who gropes her and is told off by Duffy. But she's cheered when she grabs the stomach of a patient who has swallowed a tooth to make him cough it up. | |||||
| 47 | 7 | "Victim of Circumstances" | Andrew Morgan | Ginnie Hole | 20 October 1989 |
|
An Asian school boy, Vijesh, is beaten up while delivering newspapers from his Dad, Bharat's shop. The staff try to persuade his family to call the police but they think the police won't do anything. Later Bharat is brought in with multiple injuries after being attacked by four youths in his shop. A 7 year old boy, Sam, is brought in by his teacher. Lucy diagnoses appendicitis. He needs an operation, but they can't get hold of his single actress Mum, Carrie, to sign a consent form, to save his life. Duffy has been considering an abortion, in the fear she can't cope with being a single Mum, but Carrie says however hard it is, Sam means everything to her. Charlie learns that Queens not Holby is to have a new trauma centre. Guest starring Tim Healy.[6] | |||||
| 48 | 8 | "Deluge" | Steve Goldie | Bill Gallagher | 27 October 1989 |
| Charlie tackles Valerie about the bed shortage. Megan is annoyed when a Mrs Curtis, who has just miscarried, spends a whole shift on a corridor. At a garden centre opening party, the owner Dan's teenage daughter Trudy gets drunk. They've been arguing after he won't let her go and see her mother. Trudy collapses and is taken to hospital where her stomach is pumped. Megan is hard on the father, as it's not the first time she's been brought in drunk. Trudy arrests and is taken to CRASH, where they manage to save her. An asthmatic boy, Bruce, gets a tooth trapped in his lung, after he is knocked out in a boxing ring accidentally by his trainer father, Alan. An operation is performed to remove it. Bruce's mother, Jean, takes the opportunity to tell Alan he is not Bruce's father, as she had an affair just before they got married. Alex spends a shift out with the paramedics. | |||||
| 49 | 9 | "Union" | Gerry Harrison | Jacqueline Holborough | 3 November 1989 |
| Megan has talked to reporters about the staff and bed shortages, leading to front page headlines. The staff back her up, but Valerie tells her she faces a disciplinary hearing. Charlie is away all week at a seminar, leaving Duffy in charge, and a new agency nurse, Glen Buchanan – who Julie is attracted to. A 12 year old Sudanese girl, Raqi, is brought in seriously ill after her grandmother circumcises her. Her father is furious. Raqi dies, and Lucy tells the family the practice is illegal. Alex becomes upset – Jimmy comforts her and Duffy tells her all good nurses will get upset sometimes. The Surgical Consultant observes Lucy demonstrating relaxing techniques on an anxious man, Clive Jolly, with heart palpitations, he casts him off as neurotic and tells her if she wants to succeed not to follow those ideas. | |||||
| 50 | 10 | "Taking Stock" | Sue Butterworth | Barry Purchese | 10 November 1989 |
| A couple, Dennis and Joan Sedgeley, argue as they prepared to auction their bankrupt farm. Joan tells him their marriage is over, her husband taunts her and she shoots him. He forgives her, but dies as Dr Lewis performs surgery on him in CRASH. Joan is taken away by police. A working mother, Emma Foster, who has left her two year old boy, Ben, at home, finds him with an empty aspirin bottle and takes him to A&E. She is hysterical, as they give him ipecac to make him sick and give him blood tests, which come back negative. Lucy still wishes to keep him in overnight – Emma is worried they'll take him away from her. Jimmy finds a man, Mr Cunningham, in the street with severe eye pain, and brings him in, although he is reluctant and very agitated. He tells staff he has been mugged, but when Julie lets information slip to a policeman, they find out he matches the descriptions of a man who raped a woman – who then sprayed gas in his eyes. | |||||
| 51 | 11 | "Banking for Beginners" | Jim Hill | Bryan Elsley | 24 November 1989 |
|
Alex lunches with a friend, Jonathan, who offers to double her pay with a job in banking. She says she will think about it. As she is about to leave, a man collapses on the next table. She resuscitates him and takes him to Queens, but he dies. Duffy snaps at her for being later for her shift, until she explains. With Charlie away, Duffy is stressed, management have cut their agency budget, so they don't have enough staff. An old lady, Mrs Calthan, is brought in with a broken hip from falling. Jimmy suspects her daughter, Mary, has pushed her downstairs, and tries to tell Lucy, but she dismisses it believing the old lady is senile. It is not until Mary pushes her off her cubicle bed, pushing Duffy and cutting her face in the process, that they realise she is the demented one. Jimmy is annoyed no-one takes him seriously, he confides in Alex that he is thinking of training to be a nurse. Guest starring Caroline Quentin and Barbara Marten.[7] [nb 2] | |||||
| 52 | 12 | "Hanging On" | Steve Goldie | Sam Snape | 1 December 1989 |
|
Alex is given a surprise leaving party at the end of shift and given champagne from a bed pan. But a bomb explosion in the city centre puts the team on red alert. Two surgeons, Arnold Richardson and Simon Spencer, arrive to assist the team, who help treat a stream of injured patients. Two schoolgirls, Janet and Anna, are brought in after a school trip to a panto. Janet has minor head injuries, but Anna is taken to the operation theatre for a laporotomy. Her mother, Gill, waits agonisingly until they finally tell her she's alright. Their teacher's husband, Mr Marshall, is frantically searching for his wife. Cyril discovers one patient is a shoplifter as her bag is full of jewellery. Jimmy waits with the bodies. Under a sheet, a mobile phone rings. He tells the worried wife he'll get her husband to call back. Cyril James, Lucy Perry, Alex Spencer, Julie Stevens and Valerie Sinclair depart. | |||||
Notes
- ↑ "Episode No." refers to the episode's number in the overall series, whereas "Series No." refers to the episode's number in this particular series.
- ↑ Barbara Marten would later go on to play staff nurse Eve Montgomery from Series 12, Episode 13 to Series 14, Episode 48.