Elle Gardner

Elle Gardner is a consultant in emergency medicine who currently works in the Emergency Department of Holby General Hospital. She joined the department in May 2016 as a replacement for Zoe Hanna. In her first few weeks of working in the ED, she clashed with Clinical Lead Connie Beauchamp.

Early life
Elle has three sons including Carl, whom were all born before she began working in the ED. By the time she started working in the department, they were all teenagers. In the mid 2000s, she took a break from her medical career to focus on bringing up her three boys.

Time in the Emergency Department (2016-)
Elle had her first shift at the ED on 7 May 2016, after having had a break of 10 years from her medical career. Already running late, she decided to take a shortcut through the park on her way to work. However, she ended up hitting Vince Callaghan with her car as he ran out into the road. She waited until the paramedics arrived and accompanied him back to the ED. However, when they arrived Vince went running off to see Shelle who was waiting on the other side of the car park for him. Zoe and Elle went to help, and Shelle stabbed Vince and they all ended up in a side room of The Hope & Anchor. They were forced to try to save his life in there, as Shelle wasn't letting them escape. Eventually Max located them and Shelle ended up stabbing Zoe in the hand which resulted in Elle restraining Shelle against a wall. Once in the ED, Connie understood why she was late, and Hanssen later told Elle to report back to him if she had any concerns about the department.

The following week, Elle and Jacob recognised each other as old friends, much to Connie's surprise. Soon after, Elle caught up with Hanssen to update him on how she was finding work in the ED. Robyn and Louise saw them talking to each other as friends, but decided that they shouldn't mention it to anyone. After catching up with Jacob, she left the ED with him without permission from Connie to attend the scene of an accident at a chemical plant. When they arrived back in the ED, Connie called Elle into her office and disciplined her. Although Elle tried to reason with her, Connie simply told her that her way of running the department was what worked best, and convinced Elle that she had the full support of Hanssen, unaware that he was in fact good friends with Elle.

In June, Hanssen confronted Elle about the fact a patient from the previous week had gone to the press about their painkillers being stolen. He also told her that a sequence of events including Jacob getting shot and Lofty accidentally killing Diane had got the trust suspicious too, and that they'd need an important staff member gone to please "the masses". She told him that if she could help get to the bottom of it she would. Later in the day, Elle asked Charlie about the investigation and he told her it had been closed. She later looked in his locker when he left the key in it and found the drugs which, unbeknown to her, Charlie was hiding for Big Mac. Elle went straight to Rita, and they went to report it to Connie. Connie was angry with Elle for looking in Charlie's locker and although Elle urged Connie to go ahead with the investigation, Connie told her to leave, despite the fact Elle was in fact trying to help Connie. When she later saw Hanssen leaving the ED, she assumed he knew and dropped Charlie's name into conversation therefore revealing him as the culprit. Charlie was later suspended, and Connie revealed to the staff that it was Elle's fault which turned them all, including Jacob, against her.

The following week, the staff continued to avoid Elle as a result of Charlie's suspension. She spoke to Dylan in the staff room, and he revealed to her that she could attempt to redeem herself by trying to find the real thief, although she never followed through with this. She later attempted to assist when some casualties were admitted in the ambulance following an RTC, but Dylan bluntly informed her that she wasn't needed, leaving her standing in reception. Big Mac later admitted to stealing the drugs, therefore clearing Charlie's name.

Towards the end of the month, Elle was still being given the cold shoulder by the rest of the staff. During a stressful night shift, Elle was treating a pregnant woman who was having concerns about the pregnancy. With some assistance from Duffy they were able to treat her. However, they were eventually forced to perform an emergency c-section which resulted in the mother's death but the baby survived. By the end of the day, Charlie told her that she did the right thing, and Jacob was also showing a friendlier side to Elle again.

Trivia

 * Elle's car is her sanctuary - her only place of peace and quiet.
 * She has a close friendship with Hanssen.
 * Elle has three teenage boys, who can be quite a handful.

Behind the scenes
Jaye Griffiths' first episode as Elle Gardner aired on 7 May 2016. Her casting, along with Jason Durr and Lloyd Everitt, was announced in late February 2016.

Griffiths said: "I was filming in Cardiff for Doctor Who last year, so it's great to be back in Wales starting a new role with the Casualty team. Everyone's been extremely welcoming and the storylines are really powerful." The first appearance of Elle in video footage was released in a trailer posted by the BBC in March 2016. It featured several snippets of scenes with her in, showing her conflict with Connie and friendship with Jacob.

On 21 March 2016, Jeff Povey posted a photo on Twitter partially revealing a diagram showing the doctors of series 31. It revealed that Elle will at some point replace Connie as Clinical Lead.

Appearances

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

Elle first appeared in the series 30 episode "Hello, I Must be Going", the same episode in which Zoe Hanna departed. To date, Elle has had centric episodes.