Fearing his risky medical practices relating to his trial could be exposed, maverick professor John Gaskell decides to take drastic action…
As brain-damaged neurosurgeon Roxanna MacMillan remains in intensive care following the car accident, friend and colleague Henrik Hanssen holds vigil at her bedside, unaware she was hit as she tried to run away from Professor John Gaskell after she threatened to expose his risky medical practices.
Hanssen (Guy Henry) is keen to see signs of improvement in Roxanna's condition. But knowing she's unable to jeopardise his precious stem cell trial in her current state, Gaskell (Paul McGann) cunningly advises putting their friend in an induced coma.
Later, however, it seems Roxanna is making progress when doctor Meena Chowdhury (Salma Hoque) visits her to apologise for being the driver that knocked her down – and she’s shocked when she sees Roxanna blink!
Meena interrupts Gaskell mid-surgery to tell him that Roxanna’s responsive. Gaskell orders Meena not to do anything until he can get to her – but an impatient Meena disobeys him and alerts nurse Essie Harrison (Kaye Wragg).
It’s obvious Roxanna’s trying to tell them something, so Essie urges her to communicate the only way she can: blinking once for yes, twice for no. When this proves ineffective, Essie gets Roxanna to blink as she points to letters of the alphabet, hoping she can spell out what she’s desperately trying to say.
However, when Gaskell sees what Essie’s up to he’s furious, accuses Essie of over-stimulating Roxanna, and urges her to let the patient rest. As Gaskell is left alone with Roxanna, how far will he go to keep his secrets safe?
Holby City continues Tuesdays at 8pm on BBC1.
