Thursday 9 October 2014

Friday 9 October 1964

Tonight's Emergency Ward 10 begins with actress Stella Tanner, by either luck or design, framed beautifully by the show's title.


Bryan Mosley as Mr Cartwright seems to have considerably worse facial scarring than when he was first admitted, and now his eyebrows have disappeared too (he also sounds a lot posher, Bryan Mosley having presumably decided to match his accent to that of young Martin Norton, playing his son).  Anyway, he's up on his feet and helping Sister Ransome clear away the tea things.

Giles Farmer's in a jolly mood, until he drops a cup and gets glared at by Sister.  He just can't seem to get in her good books.  "I doubt if you could [replace the cup], Mr Farmer.  It was from a set presented me at my last hospital."


Giles lets it slip to the excitable Ivor Gittings that he and Louise Mahler are now engaged.  The joyous mood's punctured by the passing Guy Marshall, who's in a foul mood.  Ivor suspects he's mooning over Barbara Dodge, "America's answer to Dusty Springfield".


Giles and Guy go to visit Billy Cartwright, who's experiencing phantom fingers where his fingers were blown off.  The doctors are concerned about the itinerant life he leads with his single salesman father, but Billy says he much prefers it now his late mother's not around, as she was very strict.


Ivor's now looking after Leon Dorsey, who's recovering from his ear operation and has virtually no sense of balance:"It's torture to move my eyes!" It could take him two years to recover, and he'll be permanently deaf in one ear.


Louise chats to Rex Lane-Russell about her new role in men's medical.  She's getting on fine with the usually fearsome Dr Grant, and Rex suspects it's because she's friends with Guy, whose girlfriend's huge donation to the hospital he's hoping to secure for his own use.


Guy has a heart-to-heart with the hospital chaplain, Reverend Joseph Clayton (Maitland Moss), who's also his foster father.  It seems there's a big hoo-hah in the offing about Barbara's donation, but Guy's thoughts are focused on the woman herself.  "She sounds like a stimulating companion," reflects the Rev.


Sister Ransome assures Mr Cartwright that all will be well with Billy, but is concerned about their home life.  He insists that his new job means he's only away one night a week, when his landlady's happy to look after Billy.


"You don't half look funny without eyebrows!" exclaims Billy on seeing his father.  He's strangely insistent on not being sent back... somewhere.


Ivor and Les Large start to plan an engagement do for Giles and Louise, but Les gets called away to deal with a patient, Mr Bamgee (Salmaan Peer), a recent immigrant from India.  After a pretty excruciating comic language barrier bit, Les establishes that Mr Bamgee's got a funny tummy and is having difficulty walking.



Stumped, Les calls Charlie Booth in to have a look at his patient.  Charlie initially puts Mr Bamgee's peculiar behaviour down to being drunk.  I love how utterly bemused both doctors are upon being told that Mr Bamgee's religion forbids alcohol.


Meanwhile, Leon has his first session with physiotherapist Miss Clark (Sylvia Marriott).  He's extremely pessimistic about recovering.


Ivor bumps into Jane Beattie and asks how her exams are going.  She's got no idea.  He asks her to the engagement party and she agrees to come with him, but it's clear that she's just hoping to make Rex jealous.


Louise has got to the bottom of Mr Bamgee's problem: although a qualified carpenter, he's been unable to obtain work since he moved to England, and has become malnourished through living on a diet of nothing but plain rice.  The doctors hope that the food on offer at Oxbridge general should sort him out, though as it seems to consist mostly of biscuits and scones I'm not so certain.


As he gets ready for the party, Giles makes a start on learning Swahili.



The episode ends with Les, Charlie and Ivor crowding into Giles' room to propose a toast to the happy couple.  Aah, how lovely.


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