Kathleen "Dixie" Dixon

Kathleen "Dixie" Dixon (born 13 April) is a former senior paramedic who worked for the Holby Ambulance Service. She joined the service in 2006, and in 2007 took up the role of Operational Duty Manager before leaving the service in 2016.

During her time with the Ambulance Service, she saw the arrival and departure of many paramedics including Polly Emmerson, Big Mac and her former husband Jeff Collier. Despite originally not working as closely with the ED, she eventually got to know many of the staff and build friendships with them.

For seven years, she worked closely with Jeff until his death in 2014. This left Dixie emotionally distraught, and left her questioning her career. However, she eventually managed to carry on, as it was for the best. At the end of January 2016, Dixie left the service to move to Cornwall shortly after being offered a promotion and declining it.

Early life
Kathleen Dixon was born to Arthur Dixon. Before joining the paramedics, she tried her hand at being a classroom assistant, a kitchen hand on a cruise ship, and manager of a pub.

Time with the Ambulance Service (2006-16)
Dixie joined the department in 2006, and at this time her boss was paramedic Josh Griffiths. Despite having had best intentions at heart, Dixie and colleague Cyd failed to make a good impression on Josh.

In September 2007, Dixie was sent out with new F2 Toby De Silva to the scene of an accident where a bomb had exploded on a bus on a busy main road. Later that year, she was in the ambulance with Josh and a patient when Josh suffered a major panic attack, which meant she had to request for another ambulance to pick up the patient. This prompted Josh to leave the service the following week. In November as the new operational duty manager, Dixie attended a scene where a fire in a school had occurred with new paramedic Greg Fallon. Despite her orders to not enter the building, Greg went in anyway and managed to save a whole classroom full of pupils. This caused tension to rise between them in the following weeks, as Dixie saw it as disrespectful that he didn't listen to her. In December, she finally spoke to him about his behavior after their shift.

The following year, Dixie was called out to an accident at a chocolate factory where a man had fallen into a chocolate vat. Dixie jumped in to rescue him when he started to drown, but she started to sink with the patient. Eventually the fire brigade were able to rescue her. Later in the month, Greg decided to leave after Dixie called him a liability.

In February, Dixie and new paramedic Snezana Lalovic managed to get the ambulance stuck in the mud when on a call out to a woodland. Upon thinking that it was a hoax call, they prepared to drive off only to find the stabbed man in the road. Later that day, Dixie, Snezana and Jeff left to visit a pub where Maggie's daughter was giving birth to a baby. This lead Dixie and Snezana to break into an argument as to whether they should deliver the baby there or try to get her to the hospital. In September, Dixie, Jeff and Adam arrived at a call out where an accident had occurred involving fireworks. They treated a local resident, but it was unknown to them that the rogue firework had started a fire. When it later caused an explosion, the fire became out of control, and Tess decided to track down the culprit herself.

In September 2009, a new set of F2 doctors arrived. Adam chose Heather Whitefield to accompany him to the scene of an accident in a derelict shopping centre. When they became trapped as a result of a fire, Dixie and Jeff arrived to help out but Jeff entered the burning building even though Dixie said not no. Jeff collapsed inside due to the smoke, but was brought out safely. Meanwhile, Adam managed to escape out of a lift shaft with his two patients, but Heather wasn't as lucky, as the burning lift fell and crushed her before she had reached the top, killing her.

In February 2010, Dixie was shocked when her father, Arthur, arrived and told her he didn't have long to live. He jumped to conclusions that Dixie was in a relationship with Jeff when he saw them together, not knowing that she was a lesbian. He was delighted by the relationship, so Dixie didn't tell him the truth. He continued to mistake Jeff and Dixie for a couple, and told Dixie how anxious he was to see her get settled before he died. This lead Dixie to give her dad what he wanted, so she proposed to Jeff.

In March on her hen night, Dixie started to have second thoughts after she met the woman of her dreams, Lena. The following day, Dixie woke up next to Lena, but still decided to go ahead with the wedding for the sake of her father. However, at the registry office Dixie was shocked to see that Lena was the registrar. After learning of her circumstances, Lena still decided to conduct the ceremony, and the two shared a kiss goodbye after. Unfortunately for Dixie, her father saw the kiss through a window and was devastated by Dixie's lies. He suffered from a heart attack shortly after a visit from Dixie in his home. He was admitted to the ED where he died due to his cancer becoming more serious. In 2010 and 2011, Dixie took the time to settle into her new relationship, and toned down her exciting call outs to focus on her personal life more.

In August 2011, Dixie and Jeff faced competition from new paramedics Omar Nasri and Tamzin Bayle. Just when they thought their day couldn't get any worse, they were called out to an old farmhouse owned by a drugs baron, and little did they know that he owned a wild pack of dogs. In November, Dixie's feud with Louise who at this time worked at ambulance dispatch, had tragic consequences when the victims of a shooting were brought into the ED. This left Dixie depressed, and she even risked her life by running into a burning shed, and burnt her arms in the process.

In February, Dixie and Jeff were left annoyed after another paramedic in Holby, Rossy, who works alone, was attending all of their calls faster than they were. Dixie suspects that he may not have been an authentic paramedic, and she later proved to be right. In May, Dixie and Jeff rushed a 9 year old boy into the ED with a head injury, but he later died. Dixie suspected that there was something suspicious, and called the police but Jeff was left furious as he knew the boy's father and insisted that he wouldn't have had anything to do with it. Superintendent of Holby Police Yvonne Rippon and D.I. Cook came to investigate the matter at the ED.

When the Holby riots began in July 2012, Dixie and Jeff's job became in higher demand, as the casualties were rushing into the department. They became caught up in the violence when they attempted to treat a young mother who had suffered an anaphylactic shock. On their way back to the ED, the crowd blocked their path, but they were eventually able to get Amber back to the department, but she died soon after. When the riots grew more intense, Jeff and Dixie were dispatched to pick up a gravely injured Yvonne, who had been stabbed by a panicked shopkeeper who mistook her for a rioter. In addition, she had also sustained severe spinal and head injuries when she had fallen down the stairs after. They requested the assistance of a doctor, and Nick Jordan offers to go, as he was romantically involved with Yvonne at the time. In the ambulance on their way back to the ED, Yvonne stopped breathing, and Nick was forced to perform life saving surgery. However, the rioters once again blocked the ambulance's way and they began to crowd the ambulance upon suspicion that police were inside. They eventually managed to get her back to the ED when Nick's procedure worked, but after the riots Nick left temporarily to go with Yvonne to a spinal clinic.

With the hospital still reeling in from the riots, Jeff, Dixie and Tamzin attended a call out alongside Sam and Tom involving an accident at a festival in August. The stage went up in flames, and a wall from one of the exit tunnels collapsed, which just made their jobs harder.

The following year in June 2013, Fletch joined Dixie and Jeff when they were called to a diabetic woman in the city's highest tower block, Newton Place. Matters were only made worse when a group of unruly teenagers were threatening a resident of one of the lower flats.

In July, Dixie and Jeff were called out to assist in taking an injured inmate in a prison to the ED, but unfortunately some riots ensued in the prison at the same time. Dixie and Jeff were left trapped with Tom, who realised that the patient was his father. Eventually, they managed to escape, and back at the ED Dixie met the prison's commanding officer, Carol, and she asked her out on a date.

In August, new staff nurse Rita Freeman was late for her first shift after she had to help a neighbour when their roof collapsed. Her new colleagues arrive at the scene, Jeff and Dixie. In October after two months in the ED, Rita attended another call out with Jeff and Dixie in which a patient was trapped in a dangerous position in a car breakers yard. Despite Dixie telling Rita not to tell the patient that his injuries could be fatal, she still did.

In January 2014, Dixie was shocked when she was called out to assist her on-off girlfriend, Carol, whom she had met the previous year. Although she initially only complained of her wrist hurting, Carol took a turn for the worse back at the ED and later died. Later in the month, Dixie's night out with Rita took a turn for the worst when they saw a woman running from an alley in distress. As Rita intervenes, a man from in the alley got aggressive towards her, but Dixie stepped in and pushed him away which caused him to fall back and hit his head. This led to Dixie being arrested and prosecuted for assault, however the charges were later dropped when it was discovered that he had raped the woman down the alley.

In October 2014, Dixie, Jeff and Tamzin were called out to the site of a vehicle collision. When they arrived, they discovered that it involved a minibus that some of the ED staff were travelling in. However, just after rescuing everyone, Jeff was just about to get out of the minibus when it exploded, killing him. Dixie was left devastated by his death, after having worked with him for 7 years. The following week at Jeff's funeral, Dixie made a speech but was clearly emotionally distraught. Later that day, Dixie spoke to paramedic Iain Dean who had previously worked with her and was present at the funeral. She offered to give him his old job back, as Tamzin had left due to Jeff's death leaving only Dixie. He accepted the job, and started his first shift the following week.

In the weeks following the funeral, Ash was left feeling guilty, as he felt that Dixie blamed him for Jeff's death. This was due to the fact that if Ash hadn't sustained the injuries he did in the minibus, Jeff wouldn't have been in there for as long, and not been there when it exploded. However, at the end of November after scattering Jeff's ashes, Dixie apologised to Ash for her irrational behavior. Despite this, Ash left the department in December even after counselling sessions with Ben Harding.

In February 2015, Dixie and Iain found themselves attending a dangerous call out to a caravan which was hanging precariously off a cliff. Iain risked his life to save the people inside the caravan, much to Dixie's anger as she didn't want to lose Iain too. In June, Dixie and Iain treated a mother who was found in her car mangled in greenery. The situation escalated throughout the day, when Dixie later found a woman, Suzy, on the edge of Holby pier with holding the baby. Suzy had taken the baby from the car of the mother who crashed as a result of her grievance for previously losing her child. Eventually, Dixie managed to get Suzy to hand over the baby, and therefore be given back to the real mother.

In October, Iain and Dixie found themselves in mayhem during a HART training course in which they had to rescue patients from a pretend scenario. After the exercise, Dixie tried to take her mind off the fact that Jeff's death anniversary was approaching. At the end of her shift, HART paramedic Jess Cranham whom she had met earlier came to visit Dixie and they arranged to meet up for a drink. At the end Around this time, Dixie decided that she would like to adopt a child, but was aware of the harsh procedures in order to do so. Unfortunately for Dixie, she was rejected by the board of adoption. Embarrassed, Dixie decided to keep the news to herself, but told Iain the following week.

She later discovered that Jess wasn't interested in meeting up again, however in November, Dixie and Iain were called out to the scene of an accident where Jess had fallen down a hole whilst in a woodland with her partner Nikki and daughter Olivia. Upon taking her back to the ED, it was noted that she'd been suffering from blackouts, and was taking anti-depressants. With no other choices, Dixie reported her as she was putting lives in danger. When Nikki brought Olivia in a couple of weeks later, Dixie suspected that she may be in danger, and arranged to meet up with Jess for a chat. Dixie left midway through as Jess explained that she wouldn't let anything happen to Olivia. That evening at the pub, Dixie received a phone call informing her that Jess had filed a complaint against her for harassment.

In January 2016, Dixie was called out when Nikki pushed Jess into a glass cabinet. When they were admitted to the ED, Nikki was treated for an earlier hand wound and Olivia told her mum that it was Nikki who injured her wrist. When Jess and Olivia went back to their house preparing to leave with Dixie, Nikki appeared and in the ensuing chaos, threw a lit birthday cake across the room. Although Dixie managed to get Jess and Olivia out safely, she went back for Nikki but realised she had suffered severe burns from a falling curtain. Back at the ED, Jess broke up with Nikki, and Dixie was left feeling unhappy despite being seen by everyone else as a hero.

Later in the month, the date of Dixie's disciplinary hearing for the complain lodged against her came. Although Jess had withdrawn the complaint, they were still going ahead in the investigation. Jess came to visit her in the day to let her know that her and Olivia were moving to Cornwall, and asked if Dixie wanted to come, to which she declined. After her disciplinary hearing, Dixie was given a written warning but also offered a promotion. She undecided as to whether to take up Jess' offer or not, and in the evening at Ethan's leaving party she told Iain that she was going to do something wild for once, and went to Jess' house to take up the offer. She returned to The Hope & Anchor to say goodbye to everyone and drove off with Jess, Olivia and her dog, Little Abs.

Personal life
Dixie was married to Jeff Collier for four years, before his sudden death in 2014. Dixie is a lesbian, and only married Jeff to please her father. The year after Jeff's death, Dixie tried to adopt but was unsuccessful, only to be turned down by Jess Cranham.

In October 2015 after Iain and Rita had started dating, Iain learned of Dixie and Rita's kiss from years ago, but took it jokingly, by telling Rita that Dixie wanted to kiss her again making it awkward but eventually told them it was a joke. On Christmas Eve, Rita and Iain were texting flirtatiously, but Iain accidentally sent a dirty text to Robyn which shocked her.

Trivia

 * Was married to Jeff Collier, despite being gay.
 * Has a Labrador named Little Abs that Jeff gave to her.
 * She accidentally ran over a girl whilst driving the ambulance.
 * She tried to hide her homosexuality from her father, but he found out on his deathbed.
 * She wanted to adopt a child but Jeff was against the idea and refused
 * She took the death of Jeff hard
 * Rita and Dixie once kissed

Behind the scenes
Jane Hazlegrove portrayed Dixie on Casualty from 2006 to 2016. The time between her first and last appearance was exactly 9 years and 4 months.

During an interview shortly after her arrival on the show, Hazlegrove said "I haven't had big storylines but I think the arrival of Jeff changed Dixie's place in the work environment."

Jane explained the events leading to what happens, "There's a documentary crew following the casualty department throughout the day," she says. "Dixie and Jeff are trying to prove they're the A-Team and are better than Snezana and Curtis. There's a bit of rivalry going on between the two teams." The crew film the pair as they attend a shout on the rough Farmead Estate, "They go to a flat fire which turns into a complete inferno. Its all a bit scary," says Jane.

After the shout, the paramedics are delighted to have saved a patient's life infront of the cameras. But their cockiness has consequences, Jane reveals, "Coming back from this shout, she has an incident in the ambulance and that dictates what happens to Dixie over the course of the series – the wheels fall off." This storyline played out in the series 23 premiere "Farmead Menace - Part 1".

Appearances

 * See also: Character appearances and Category:Dixie centric.

Dixie made her first appearance in the series 21 episode "Waste of Space" which aired on 30 September 2006. It was the third episode of series 21. Hazlegrove's final episode as Dixie aired on 30 January 2016, "The Good Life".