Guppy arrives at work feeling tired and disillusioned: his night of 'passion' with med student Maria was a disaster. But Stitch isn't sympathetic and is happy to let an exhausted Guppy take every patient going. Guppy treats a patient named George for a suspected anxiety attack and soon gives him the all-clear. When a shout comes in to attend a sewer where groom-to-be, Dave, is trapped, Stitch sends Guppy. Guppy gets there to find that Dave urgently needs to be freed before he drowns, and with the surgical team nowhere near and no surgical kit to hand, Guppy is forced to chop off Dave's hand with an axe. No sooner is Guppy's sewer nightmare over, than George is rushed back in with complications and there's a battle in resus to save him. Later, Guppy goes to Stitch's office certain he faces the sack, but Stitch is surprisingly lenient, telling Guppy he's a good doctor – he just needs to pull himself together. Stitch reveals he copes with the stresses of the job by taking cocaine - but is adamant that Guppy should stay clean. Guppy, on the other hand, has other ideas... Also, Charlie treats a nightclub bouncer injured in a fight and, when he discovers he's been self-harming, encourages him to see a counsellor.
