The Royal - ITV
The Royal - Episode 5 - Keep on Running
Episode 5 of ITV's Heartbeat spin off, the Royal, brings us male chauvinism, senile dementia, arson and ends with a big splash!
Ken (Michael Starke) nearly knocks over an elderly gentleman, Alf Wilkinson (Bernard Gallagher - whose long list of TV credits include playing Ewart Plimmer in Casualty). Mr Wilkinson is confused and keeps asking for his dead wife, Margaret. He is being looked after by his daughter, Janie Wilkinson (Elizabeth Rider - recently seen in ITV's Jane Hall and BBC1's Hotel Babylon). He has wandered off on his own whilst she is at work as a teacher. She has to face up to the the difficult decision to put her father into residential care, as his condition has steadily worsened.
The only real casualty of the accident is a portrait of Mr Middleditch (Ian Carmichael), the previous Hospital Administrator, that Ken and Alun (Andy Wear) were bringing back from the framers. Mr Middleditch is coming that afternoon to view the painting, so Ken and Alun have to touch it up with Lizzie's old paint by numbers paints! Matron (Wendy Craig) has asked Mr Middleditch for his advice regarding using the Middleditch Trust to purchase a new x-ray machine for the Royal and he readily agrees that it is appropriate use of the funds. Mr Middleditch then admonishes the new Hospital Administrator, Adam Carnegie (Robert Cavanagh) for not having the backbone to stand up to the authorities when they threaten to close the Royal. Carnegie leaves the encounter feeling very unwanted.
Another patient, Phil Granger (Tony Slattery), has been brought in after his chip shop caught fire. It transpires that he started the fire himself as a way out of a desperate situation. Dr Gordon Omerod (Robert Daws) believes he is suffering from depression, but a persistent Sergeant Fuller (Paul Gabriel) is keen to question him, alleging that he started the fire deliberately to claim on insurance money.
Later that same day Malcolm Hogg (Richard Ridings who played Alan in Fat Friends) staggers into hospital with a piece of glass stuck in his foot after paddling in the sea with his children. He is on holiday with his wife, Rita and their two children, Alice (Terrell Kay) and Danny (Freddie Bolt). Mr Hogg has strong views about the world and particularly women's place in it. His long-suffering wife (Siobhan Finneran who is married to Mark Jordan - PC Phil Bellamy from Heartbeat) is not allowed to go anywhere near the car and he is certainly not forking out for a taxi to take her and the children back to their hotel - some holiday! Dr Jill Weatherill (Amy Robbins) offers them a lift back in her car (and this point is emphasised to Malcolm!) and manages to persuade Rita Hogg to take a different view of life, so much so that she dyes her hair blonde and leaves the children with their father whilst she attends a resident water-colour painting course a little further up the coast.
Meanwhile Dr Jeff Goodwin (Paul Fox) is moved by the situation in Biafra. He telephones a charity to offer his services as a doctor and is quickly accepted. He then has to make a decision about his future at the Royal.
Lizzie Hopkirk (Michelle Hardwick) is disappointed when her current beau, stationery salesman, Teddy Catchpole (Tom Mannion) appears to have lost interest in her. Fuelled by ideas from her father, Ken and Nurse Stella Davenport (Natalie Anderson) that Teddy might be cheating on her, she goes to confront him at the flats where they both live. She is horrified to find him semi-conscious on the stairs, having suffered a hypoglycaemic attack. He is brought into the Royal, where Dr Joan Makori (Kananu Kirimi) reminds him that now he has diabetes he must look after himself, by ensuring he has regular meals and takes his insulin appropriately.
Later Alf Wilkinson goes off on another wander out of the hospital and this time is not so fortunate in his encounter with a passing motorist. It appears that he has broken his hip and has to go Ashfordly General for an x-ray.
Mr Granger, the patient suspected of arson, sees his chance and steals the ambulance with Alun, and the unfortunate Mr Wilkinson inside. His dash for freedom takes him along the seafront at Scarborough. Driving along the quay, pursued by Dr Goodwin in his MG, with Janie Wilkinson, and Ken and Frankie (Scott Taylor) in the van, he has to chose between giving himself up or plunging into the depths of Scarborough harbour, taking his unwilling passengers with him! He chooses the latter and the ambulance plunges into the sea (I hope they filmed it without wrecking a real 60s ambulance!). Water fills the ambulance threatening to trap Alun and Mr Wilkinson inside. Alun manages to open the door and he and Alf Wilkinson escape to freedom. No mean feat for Alun given Mr Wilkinson's condition. Mr Granger, though, did not escape his fate, despite valiant efforts by Frankie to try and find him in the dark waters of the harbour.
Nurse Catherine Deane (Amelia Curtis) decides it is time to tackle Carnegie about how he perceived by the hospital staff and patients and pleads with him to show everyone the real Adam and that he really does care about the Royal. They end up in a passionate embrace, which is viewed through the blinds of Carnegie's office by Matron - what must she be thinking?