Friday 6 November 1964

Time for our second visit this week to Oxbridge General Hospital, where poor Amanda Brown is failing fast.

Rex Lane-Russell sums her up as "Blue, out of breath and delirious, and rapidly gets her into an oxygen tent, where actress Hilary Tindall spends the rest of the episode, tossing her head about and mumbling.  Nice work if you can get it.

Rex further aggravates Sister MacNab by commenting that the nurses seem to be much happier with their new shifts.  She's had as much of the new system as she can stand.

Leon Dorsey and Tabitha Chalmers meet for lunch at the Royal Hotel, and there's a lovely bit of comedy as the puzzled waiter brings a pint of beer and a sherry to their table, only for Chalmers (who gets more splendidly eccentric by the week) to gleefully grab the pint. Chalmers insists that Dorsey take a long holiday to recover.  He wants her to put herself forward as permanent chair of the medical board.  So each grudgingly agrees to the other's demands.

At another table, Lena Hyde and Gerald Frobisher sit down with an extra who rapidly makes herself scarce.  Frobisher admits he's jealous of Les Large, though deep down he thinks Les is the sort of person Lena should marry: he thinks his own jet set lifestyle means he'll never be able to give her all the things she needs from a marriage.

Staff Nurse Pat Lyle seems to be recovering well after she was attacked by a psychotic patient, though she admits to Les that she needs to sleep with nightlights in her room.  Charlie Booth's settling in well to his new role, but his conversation with Les is cut short by Pat:

Pat: Dr Large, there's a Mr Robertson who says he's been taken queer.
Les (in camp voice): Ooh, in what way?
Pat: Well, he keeps falling down.  He says he needs some brandy."
Les: Oh, one of those!

Meanwhile, Sister Ransome is prepping Mr Springer to have his cyst out, and desperate to feign interest in his endless stream of chat about betting.

Back at the Royal, Dorsey and Chalmers are now on coffee -she doesn't drink it, she just dunks sugar cubes in it.  He's agreed to take a three-week cruise, though she wants him to go for six.  They toss - she loses, checks it's not a double headed coin and storms off back to the lab: "This is one of the many times when I prefer microbes to men!"

Sister MacNab admires Louise's engagement ring.  Louise mentions that she has far more valuable jewellery back home in Africa, but pleads with MacNab not to mention it to Giles as it would break his heart.

Amanda's still suffering in her oxygen tent, allowing for this fancy point of view shot.

Les is busy writing a letter to Lena when Peter Bacon tells him the lady herself is in the hospital to visit Amanda.  There's a horribly awkward encounter between the utterly ghastly Bacon and the understandably frosty Pat, as he tries to engage her in conversation about her attack:

Bacon: Well, it broke the monotony.
Pat: I prefer the monotony unbroken, thank you, Mr Bacon.
Bacon: You know, I can't quite make you out.
Pat: Do you know, I don't really mind.
Bacon: Well there's no point in being sarcastic.
Pat: Isn't there?
Bacon: You'd be quite attractive if you kept a watch on that tongue of yours.

Aaaargh! In the time I've been writing this blog I've never found a character quite so utterly repellent.  But I suppose that's the point of him.  Anyway. it's at least enjoyable to see Bacon sweat when he answers an angry phone call from Dorsey.

Lena's appraised of the seriousness of Amanda's condition by Rex while a goonish Les tries to get her attention in the background.  When he eventually gets to talk to her he asks her to meet him in the Royal that evening.  She says she'll be there, but he has to dash off before she can explain it's because she'll be dining with Frobisher.

Dorsey tears a strip (or should that be a rasher?) off Bacon: "I am accustomed to a certain amount of idiocy among my housemen, but I'm afraid you exceed that amount." Dorsey warns Bacon that in his absence he'll be managed by the far less forgiving Dr Shaw.

Chalmers pops in to tell Dorsey that she's been in touch with his wife, and together they've arranged a Greek cruise for him.

Les excitedly prepares for his evening out with Lena.  Bacon, fed up with being ignored by Pat, informs her that the man who attacked her has escaped from the psychiatric unit.

Having presided over the removal of Mr Springer's cyst, Sister Ransome's pleased but curious when she receives a call from MacNab inviting her for drinks to celebrate Sister Doughty's birthday: those two normally ostracise her for being so close to Matron.

At the Grand, Les waits for Lena - only for her to arrive with Frobisher.  She doesn't speak to him, just gives him an apologetic look and follows her boss into the dining room.  Les is crushed.

Back at the hospital, Pat's disturbed by a voice calling her, but nobody in sight when she looks.  Then, a black-clad figure puts its hand round the door...

Goodness, who'd've thought Emergency 10 could go so Giallo? We'll find out what happens next on Tuesday, but I strongly suspect we're in for a disappointment.