Connie Beauchamp

Constance "Connie" Beauchamp (née Chase)  MBBS, FRCS, FETCS,  is a consultant, former surgeon and the current Clinical Lead at Holby City Emergency Department. She arrived at the ED as Deputy Clinical Lead in March 2014 and assumed the role of Clinical Lead after Zoe Hanna stepped down in June 2014.

Upon her arrival in the ED, she was disliked by many of the staff, especially the nursing staff. This was due to the fact she gave many of the undesirable jobs to the nurses to do, which caused tension to arise between Connie and Rita Freeman. The tension between them grew, with Rita confronting her regarding the way her staff were being treated and how rude Connie had been to her. Connie was firm in her beliefs, and this just made things worse between them. She is now seen as the figurehead of the ED and despite being strict and sometimes blunt with the staff, she has without a doubt become much easier for them to work with.

Connie was raised in Peckham, South London where her mother was a nurse and her father a teacher. She has one daughter with Sam Strachan, Grace, who was born in 2007. When her daughter left to live with Sam in New York in 2015, Connie was extremely upset. Shortly after, an inspection goes badly at the ED, and she blames Rita for the things that went wrong. After several other issues between them after this, they finally become on talking terms again by August 2015.

Throughout her time in the ED, Connie has, as well as being promoted to Clinical Lead, implemented a number of new policies which in her eyes will lead to a more efficient work environment. Since joining the team, Connie has seen the arrival of several new staff members including Jacob Masters and Alicia Munroe, and the departure of Martin Ashford as well as the death of paramedic Jeff Collier.

Time at Holby City Hospital (2004-10)
Connie Beauchamp arrived at Holby City General Hospital on 1 June 2004, and remained at the hospital until she left, departing on 28 December 2010. Connie's job at Holby City Hospital was that of consultant cardiothoracic surgeon on Holby City Hospital's Darwin Ward. She later became Clinical Lead in 2006, and held the position until her departure in 2010. During her time in the ED, her husband arrived only for them to split up, she then fell pregnant with another man soon after they divorced.

In December 2010, her father was rushed to Holby in need of an operation, and she learns that he is suffering from Alzheimer's. During the operation her father nearly dies, which leads to Connie deciding that she can no longer work there and hands in her resignation.

Time in the Emergency Department (2014-)
Connie Started at the ED on 29 March 2014 as Deputy Clinical Lead. She started her first shift when she initially arrived, without even consulting the Clinical Lead at the time, Zoe Hanna. On her first day, she also went out to the scene of an accident and put herself in danger by climbing up some unsteady support beams to reach an injured man on the metal supports above the stage. She came across to the other staff as being rude and bossy, to which they took a dislike to her.

In May 2014, she raised concerns to Ash after a man who was admitted to the ED dies, questioning Zoe's choices. Soon after, Ash and Zoe realise that Connie had been playing them off against one another. The following month, Connie decided to go to the hospital's CEO Guy Self to question Zoe's competence as Clinical Lead. Although he initially dismisses the claims, Zoe later leaves the ED in order to help at the scene of an accident, leaving the ED with no leadership. Soon after, Guy calls Zoe in but before he can say anything, she steps down as Clinical Lead and gives the role to Connie.

Connie had a complaint lodged against her by Hailey Blake, the daughter of a patient who died in the ED in October 2014. Despite trying to reason with her, it seemed to only make things worse for Connie. After a lengthy ordeal for both Connie and Hailey, they have a conversation outside the ED in early January and she decides not to take the case any further.

Whilst caught up in the stress of the court case, Connie had few options and decided to bring her daughter, Grace, to work with her. However, in the following months their relationship strains as Connie continued to put patients before her. In January, Rita's estranged husband Mark turns up at the ED having been released from prison. Coincidentally, Grace goes missing on the same day when she is at the ED, leading Connie to jump to the conclusion that Mark has taken her. When Grace turns up later, it's apparent that Mark didn't take here, but Connie is still left to question whether she can concentrate on her daughter and her career. Soon after, Grace's paternal grandmother suggests that Grace would be better off living with her father in New York. Although Connie is distraught at losing her daughter, she saw this as an opportunity to focus on her work more. As a result of the recent events, she asks Cal Knight for his letter of resignation following a bad inspection, however Charlie manages to persuade her not to.

In March 2015, she started to enforce new rules and regulations that the staff must abide by. Some of these things were unpleasant, especially for the nursing staff and the porters. After she started to demand too much of the doctors by making them work longer shifts, Lily hit someone with her motorcycle while driving as she couldn't concentrate due to a lack of sleep. After this incident, Connie decided to cut the staff some slack after Charlie and Rita both spoke to her separately.

At the end of February 2015, Alfred Maxwell was admitted to the ED, and elderly patient suffering form motor neuron disease. After a while, he frequently asks Connie to help him die. Connie visits Alfred on the night of 17 April and takes 2 boxes of benzodiazepines with her. The next day, Alfred dies in the ED, and a suspicious Rita requests a toxicology report on his body. Upon seeing that he has had an overdose of benzodiazepines, she checks and sees that two boxes are missing from storage. She jumps to the conclusion that Connie has assisted Alfred's suicide and calls the police. Connie tell the police that in her top drawer they'll find the two boxes with 2 tablets missing from one box as proof that she didn't give him an overdose. However, when the police arrive at the ED, Rita overhears the, telling reception where they want to search, so she goes to Connie's office first. To her surprise, there were only 2 tablets missing, therefore proving Connie's innocence. Rita takes the boxes but later gives them to Charlie and apologizes. Charlie takes the evidence to the police, and Connie is set free. Despite this, she is still suspended from work for a couple of weeks,



In May 2015, Connie goes with Charlie to Bucharest in search of his son, Louis who they've been told is in trouble. They meet a Romanian doctor named Alex who is caring for Louis in hospital. After finding out he is going for kidney harvesting because he owes money to a drug dealer, Connie and Charlie locate the hospital where the operation is due to take place with the help of Sofia, Louis' girlfriend. They arrive just in time before the kidney was going to be removed, to find the Alex is one of the doctors performing the operation. Connie has to attempt to save Louis after one of his internal veins is accidentally cut by Alex when Charlie pushes him out of rage. She then distracts the drug dealer, Christian when he arrives with the help of Sofia and Alex. Connie also learns from Charlie that it was Rita who set her up the previous month regarding the police. In early June 2015, Connie returns to the ED after her false suspension, replacing Dylan from his role as temporary Clinical Lead.

In August 2015 she took Jacob Masters' new gun violence protocol into account, and viewed it as being a possible benefit to the ED. After Rita declines the need for such a thing, Connie gets directly involved, and they both soon realise that he is manipulating them.

Personal life
Connie was married to Michael Beauchamp, but they are now divorced. After a brief relationship with Sam Strachan in 2006, she gave birth to their daughter, Grace, in 2007. Connie was apprehensive to let Sam have anything to do with the birth, but later becomes more accepting. Grace took Connie's married surname of Beauchamp from her previous marriage to Michael Beauchamp.

Her mother died in 1995, and after that she was estranged from her father for a period of 12 years and reunited when Connie revealed that she had given birth to his granddaughter.

In the years she was at Holby General Hospital as a surgeon, her romantic interests have included Ric Griffin, Will Curtis, Mubbs Hussein, Sam Strachan, John Grayson, as well as her ex husband, Michael Beauchamp. In May 2015 when she was in Romania in search for Louis Fairhead with his father, she had a fling with a local doctor named Alex. Later in 2015, the arrival of Jacob Masters, a new staff nurse, initiated another potential for a romance in Connie's life.

Relationships
Because of her authority and managerial approach to running the ED, she is disliked by many of the staff, although gets along very well with a few such as Charlie Fairhead. Connie had a favorable relationship with Zoe in comparison to other staff, partially due to the fact that she was Clinical Lead upon Connie's arrival, not because she thought any higher of her. After Zoe disobeys instructions to stay in the ED in June 2014 and goes to the site of an accident, she resigns as Clinical Lead as she feels saving lives is more important than the responsibility. After Zoe announces this, Guy Self asks Connie if she would like to be Clinical Lead, to which she says she does. Guy then suggests that Connie fire Zoe, but Connie strongly objects saying that Zoe is one of the best consultants she has ever worked with.

Shortly after, Connie becomes Clinical Lead. Zoe still maintains a good relationship with Connie, although wasn't happy about how some of the staff were being treated by her. However, Connie and Rita Freeman do not get along. This is mainly due to the conflict that arose when Connie treated the nurses badly and Rita felt it was her responsibility to step in due to the unfair treatment. When Rita called the police on Connie after she suspected she had helped Alfred to die, Connie was unaware who had reported her. However Charlie told Connie in Bucharest that it was Rita who reported her; Connie was already pretty much certain that it was her, although she wanted to hear Charlie say it. Recently, they have both kept out of each others way.

Charlie Fairhead was friendly to Connie from day one even when he felt she was being unreasonable he managed to speak to her in a calm way. They became friends in 2015 after Connie revealed to Charlie that the reason that she is so controlling in the ED is because her father died in a crowded ED and she doesn't want Holby ED to let that happen to anyone again. She later speaks to him frequently about Alfred Maxwell's frequent requests to Connie to help him to die. Connie also has a close relationship with her daughter, although she didn't always have the time for her when she lived in the UK. Due to her busy schedule and new appointment as Clinical Lead, Connie often found it hard to keep an eye on Grace as well. Because of this, Grace started going to Zoe instead for attention.

Cal was frequently flirting with Connie, especially when she became more strict with the staff. This was likely an attempt to suck up to her so she would favour him over the other doctors. This however also happened around the same time that Connie asked for Cal's resignation, to which she later withdrew the request after talking with Charlie.

Lily and Connie both possess very strong personalities and therefore clashed in the ED while working together. Because of Connie making staff working hours longer, Lily was too sleepy whilst riding her motorcycle and she subsequently ended up colliding with a person crossing the road.

Whilst Connie declined Jacob's offer on a date, Jacob still believes there's something between them.

Trivia

 * Connie used to be the Clinical Lead for Cardiothoracic Surgery at Holby City Hospital.
 * She began working at the ED in March 2014.
 * Connie joined Holby City Hospital as a surgeon on 1 June 2004.
 * Connie left Holby City Hospital on 28 December 2010.

Behind the scenes
Amanda Mealing has played Connie in Casualty since March 2014 and previously portrayed her in Holby City from 2004 to 2010. She at first returned to a regular role in Casualty but as time passed, she became more prominent. She also portrayed Connie in 3 other episodes of Casualty between 2004 and 2007, but not as a permanent role.

Reception
Connie has been subject to many criticisms, mainly since she arrived in Causalty due to the fact she is unrepresentative of what the NHS is really like. During her time in Holby City, Connie has been described as "ruthless" by The Times' Emma Cook, and an "egomaniac" by The Daily Mirror's Clare Raymond and Jim Shelley respectively, but the BBC describes her as "an outstanding surgeon who wields her power just as comfortably in the boardroom as in the bedroom.

Discussing public reception of her character, Mealing states that: "The response has been amazing - from men, women and children. I'm often stopped out shopping or dining etc. and told 'You're so mean to (whoever).. but we love you!' I think there's a little in all of us that would like to say what we really feel, the way Connie does". Mealing has received several award nominations for the role; ranking seventh 'Best Actress' in the 2004 BBC Drama Awards, being nominated 'Best Actress' in the 2005 TV Quick Awards, and 'Best Newcomer' in the 2005 National TV Awards.

With her return in Casualty, the Daily Mail's Claudia Connell called Connie out for being unrepresentative of the NHS, "wearing more make-up than the entire cast of TOWIE" and "teetering around saving lives in her tight pencil skirts and towering heels".

Appearances

 * Main article: Appearances of Connie Beauchamp.

Connie made her first ever appearance in Casualty during the series 19 episode "Casualty@Holby City - Part 1" which aired in 2004. She appeared in two more episodes as a guest character before joining as a series regular in the series 28 episode "Valves to Vagrants" in March 2014.