S14 E17 (26 Dec 99) : Peace on Earth by Tony McHale
Episode Summary
It is Christmas day. Duffy talks to Charlie telling him it must be hard celebrating Christmas without Louis. He says Louis rang him up at 4am, he was already opening his presents.
Holly arrives for her shift and Amy greets her with ‘Happy Birthday!’ Holly is surprised Amy knew it was her birthday and moans about only ever getting one set of presents. Amy says she should be at home living it up, not working. Holly replies by saying she has the girls from Med school over to her house after the shift.
Tina, on her way walking to work, sees Noel, a young drunk man with his girlfriend. He climbs on a wall to prove he is sober but falls off. Tina rushes to help him. He is later brought in and Sean treats him. Later, Patrick tires to butt in and take over with treating Noel much to Sean’s annoyance.
Annie Stevenson is brought in by her husband Thomas. She has Motor Neurone disease as well as pneumonia. Holly treats her and wants to admit her. Thomas insists on being able to take her home, as she wants to be there on Christmas day. He cares for Annie without any other help. They talk about Christmas presents. It’s obvious Annie has asked her husband to help her commit suicide if she becomes too ill and it’s too much for him. He wants to obey her wishes but he can’t bring himself to do it and he takes her home so they can spend Christmas day together.
Darlene and Martin Devern, with their 3 children, are visiting church on Christmas morning and Darlene sings in the gospel choir. Before leaving for church they let in Martin’s brother, a drug addict, he needs money to pay off a dealer, they claim they haven’t got any and leave him in their flat alone. While they are out he trashes the flat looking for anything he can sell to get some cash. He causes a gas leak and while leaving a neighbour sees him. When the Deverns return they find the flat in a mess. Their neighbours says he tried to stop him but couldn’t, he lights a cigarette and there is a explosion. The 2 Derevn boys are seriously injured along with the neighbour.
Patrick apologises to Holly for the way he spoke to her earlier. She accepts his apology and he asks her out for a drink to celebrate Christmas and her birthday. She declines, making up the excuse that she is going for a drink with her boyfriend.
Penny and Josh bring in Chris Roberon. He has been holed up in a bunker for several weeks convinced that the world would end at the turn of the millennium. He’s stopped all power and has been saving up his water tablets. Barney and Patrick treat him. They have to be careful not to mention the date. Later when in reception he sees the Christmas decorations and asks the date. Amy says the 25th and he starts to panic, Barney pretends that Amy is not from England and it’s her countries tradition to keep the decorations up until the end of January. He pretends to talk to her in another language to try and calm Chris down.
Noel has a fracture in his spine and his girlfriend Ruth demands to know if he will be well enough to fly to New York for the Millennium as they have protected the whole computer system. Sean tells her it is unlikely. She makes some calls and their boss agrees to let Ruth fly on ahead then Noel will follow when he has recovered sufficiently.
Patrick tells Holly she missed a good chest drain in resus. She accuses him of being too clinically minded and she prefers the human side to patients. He asks her if she thinks he should change. She says not necessarily but a little civility towards him colleagues at Christmas wouldn’t go a miss. Later at reception he asks her to help him change, she says she’s spoken for and if he wants to change he should do it for himself not her. Amy then asks Holly if she’s ready for her night out with the girls. Patrick realises she has been lying about having a boyfriend.
Actors playing the 7 dwarves in a pantomime turn up individually in A&E. Holly suspects it is food poisoning as they all ate at the same restaurant the night before, however Janice, who plays Snow White, turns up claiming she ate the same thing and is not unwell so it can’t be food poisoning. There is a plant kept in their dressing room and one of them asks if that could be the cause. Charlie suggests that the symptoms they are suffering could have been caused by arsenic from rat poison which one of the dwarves has been using as fertiliser for the plant. He turns out to be right and the dwarves are discharged.
Max has been roped into dressing up as Father Christmas to visit the children on Otter ward. Adam and Chloe also dress up as elves. Tina has to go up and call them back down to A&E to assist with the injured from the gas explosion. Max hasn’t spoken to Tina properly for a couple of days as he wanted time to think things through. He asks her if she wants to spend Christmas dinner with him later, she tells him she’ll think about it. Max is waiting for the lift so he can change out of his Santa trousers and braces. Tina joins him. The lift has been playing up all day and keeps getting stuck, as they go up the lift stops. Max asks Tina if she’s decided about coming round for dinner yet, she replies by saying she needs to know how serious he is. They kiss, and Tina pulls down Max’s braces…
Adam, Sean and some other staff have been waiting for the lift. Eventually it starts moving again and arrives. Max and Tina emerge, straightening their clothes. Sean tells them they should have pressed the alarm if they were stuck. They say they tried but it wasn’t working. Sean tests it as he gets in the lift and he is confused when it works.
Sean asks Tina why she is avoiding him. She claims she isn’t but he tells her he just wants them to be friends. Tina says they are friends and wishes him a merry Christmas.
Steve Devern is brought in by Josh and Penny after been beaten up and abandoned by his dealers. Martine doesn’t want to talk to his brother after what he has done to them. Duffy persuades him to see his brother. Martin had no money as he was out of work and had made all the kids Christmas presents. But Steve says he should have helped him, given him the money as he is the Christian. Martin is upset and blames himself for the explosion and ruining his family’s lives.
Amy organises a motel for the Devern family to stay in for a couple of days, as she is a friend of the manager. She also arranges for Darlene’s church choir to come up to Otter to sing carols. The staff collect money and join them on the ward. Charlie gives Darlene the money and Martin joins his family. They all sing ‘Oh Come all Ye Faithful’.
Patients
* Noel – fractured spine after falling off a wall
* Chris Roberton – Holed up in a bunker
* Two young children brought in after a gas explosion
* The children’s Uncle suffers injuries after been beaten up and dumped by drug dealers.
* Annie – suffering from Motor Neurone disease and Pneumonia
* 7 dwarfs – suffering symptoms due to rat poison being using on a plant as fertiliser.
First Scene/words
[Tina is walking into work. She passes by a house and stops for a little while to watch the family inside swap presents. Then she notices Max come into work by car and him stopping to let a couple of bikers pass by in front of him. Tina continues walking, looking thoughtful.]
Last Scene/words
The staff sing carols with a church choir on Otter ward to cheer up the children brought in from the gas explosion.
Notable Facts
* Martina Laird, who went on to play Comfort Jones in series 16 onwards, plays Darlene.
* HOLBY CITY’s Julie Fitzjohn appears in this episode.
Review by Chrissy.
UK Viewing Figures
9.16m
