Rita Freeman

Rita Freeman (formerly Richie) is the current Clinical Nurse Manager in the Emergency Department of Holby General Hospital. She joined the department in 2013 as a band 5 staff nurse and became a band 6 following a promotion the following year. In 2015, Rita was promoted to Clinical Nurse Manager after Tess Bateman stepped down from the position.

When she first arrived at the ED, she was popular among her colleagues, despite having a stern attitude when she wanted something done. In March 2014 when Connie Beauchamp arrived, the two did not get along partially due to the fact they had very differing opinions on how the ED should have been run. When Rita was promoted, she started to notice that Connie was giving her staff the undesirable jobs which only made things worse between the two of them, but eventually Rita confronted Connie about it.

During her time at the ED, Rita has seen the arrival of new junior doctor Alicia Munroe, nurse co-workers Ben Chiltern and Jacob Masters, registrars Ethan Hardy and Caleb Knight, as well as the departure of Tess Bateman, Adrian Fletcher, Jamie Collier and Martin Ashford and the death of Jeff Collier. In 2015, she entered a relationship with paramedic Iain Dean.

Early life
During Rita's childhood, her parents would take her on a trip to Scotland in their camper van every summer. In 2014, Rita told Dixie that it was one of her happiest memories that she recalled whenever she felt down.

Before joining the ED, Rita was married to Mark Richie, a teacher. However, during their marriage Mark sexually assaulted one of his thirteen year old pupils. During the court case which took place after the incident, Rita defended Mark as she wanted to believe that Mark hadn't done what he had been accused of in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. In the end, Mark was found guilty and incarcerated. They became separated thereafter, and Rita told everyone whom she met that her husband was dead so her past would have as little impact as possible on her present.

Prior to joining the ED, she worked in another hospital as a band 6 nurse, but in a much smaller department.

Time in the Emergency Department (2013-)
Rita was late for her first shift due to an accident in her new flat. Her neighbour upstairs had been hoarding for too long and with it sitting above a leaky ceiling, it eventually gave way. She successfully managed to help her neighbour and met her new paramedic colleagues when they arrived at the scene. She made strong first impressions on paramedics Dixie Dixon and Jeff Collier as well as senior nurse, Fletch. On her first day, she attended the scene of an accident with the paramedics, but was shocked and it clearly wasn't what she was expecting. Also in 2013, Rita was given the task to teach Lily Chao a better bedside manner after she was seen to be too blunt with patients.

In October, Rita once again went along with Jeff and Dixie to the scene of an accident, which had occurred at a car breakers yard. Despite Jeff and Dixie telling Rita not to tell the man that his injuries may be fatal, she told him anyway which led him to call his estranged daughter.

In January 2014, Rita's night out with Dixie took a turn for the worst when they saw a woman running from an alley in distress. As Rita intervened, 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.

Later that year, Rita phoned "the man who ruined her life" outside The Hope & Anchor, demanding a divorce. The following month, the man was admitted to the ED after being badly beaten up in prison, and the rest of the staff discovered that it was Rita's estranged husband, Mark, who she had told them was dead. At the time of his admittance, Rita was in an interview, but soon had to be called out after Mark refused to have life-saving treatment unless he could talk to Rita. Despite Rita's shock, the other staff members also had a surprise when it was discovered that he was put in prison for sexually assaulting a 13 year old girl. He eventually agreed to sign the divorce papers.

In August after knowing that the other staff know about her husband, Rita turned to alcohol. As the weeks went on, it became obvious to them that Rita had been drinking after they picked up on her scent. Rita didn't turn up for work one day, which prompted Ash to call on her. When she eventually allowed him in, he agreed to keep her drinking a secret from the rest of the staff. However, when an alcoholic died later that day in the ED, Ash told her that's where she could be heading. By November, Rita's drinking problem had improved a lot, and she was even promoted to a senior staff nurse.

In January 2015, Rita was promoted to Clinical Nurse Manager after Tess stepped down. Also at the beginning of 2015, Connie blamed Rita for her daughter Grace's disappearance, as she went missing at the same time Rita's convicted sex offender ex-husband Mark returned to the hospital after having been released from prison. Connie promised Rita that she would make her leave the department within six months, despite later finding out that Mark wasn't even responsible.

In March, Connie's hatred for Rita grew when a meeting between the two of them resulted in Connie missing the chance to say farewell to MND sufferer Alfred Maxwell before he returned to his care home. The following week, Rita stood up to Connie after she expected Rita's nursing staff to clean up mess in the ED, the job of a porter.

In April 2015, Alfred died, and Rita called the police and accused Connie of assisting him to die as well as hiding vital evidence that would have suggested otherwise from the police. When she overheard the police saying they would need to search Connie's office, she rushed there first to see if the tablets which she thought Connie had given to Alfred were really there, which they were, proving that Connie hadn't done it. She still continued to hide the evidence and took it as the police walk in. She was then left feeling guilty and told Charlie, and the case was dropped when he handed in the evidence to the police after she gave the tablets to him.

In August 2015, Rita picked up on Dylan's OCD after he tampered with a cardiogram in order to avoid having to treat a patient in resus bay 4. When Dylan confided in Rita regarding his condition, he later overheard her discussing it with Zoe which lead to him ignore them both for a brief period. At the end of August, staff nurse Jacob Masters attempted to manipulate Connie and Rita, who by this point had moved on from their previous conflict. After Zoe and Max's wedding when Charlie suffered a heart attack, Rita told Connie to give up on attempting to resuscitate him, but she persisted for over half an hour, which eventually lead to him living.

In September, she entered a secretive relationship with paramedic Iain Dean, although some staff members, namely Zoe and Jack picked up on it shortly after. In January 2016, Rita supported Lofty during his application to become a senior band 6 staff nurse. She was present during his interview along with Henrik Hanssen. She offered Lofty the job after he used his initiative in setting up a triage outside the ED when a black alert was called.

Towards the end of February 2016, Rita was called in for an urgent meeting with Deputy Director of Operations for Unscheduled Care Michael Hall regarding the death of Diane Stuart. She collected statements from both Dylan and Lofty about the incident, but during the interview Rita was shocked that Lofty went against what had been said due to his uncertainty that her death wasn't his fault. In March, the investigation continued and Rita informed Lofty that he could simply take a training course and still keep his job, but he decided to leave the department anyway.

In April 2016 during a shift at the ED, Rita began treating an 18 year old woman who had been in a car crash and was using the name Jane Eyre. Rita began treating her and discovered that she was involved in the car crash with her boyfriend. Shortly after, Rita was shocked when Mark was wheeled into the ED on the trolley and that quickly turned to horror when it transpired that her 18 year old patient was Mark's girlfriend and also the student with whom Mark slept with when she was thirteen. Rita continued to treat Mark and his girlfriend whose real name was revealed to be Fiona, but through routine tests it was discovered that Fiona was pregnant. Lily notified them that the fetus was growing outside of the womb and there was no way it could survive, and that Fiona would require surgery. She initially refused surgery and locked herself in Connie's office, but after a chat with Rita her condition started to worsen and she was sent up for treatment anyway. At the end of the day, Rita was confronted by Mark, who had just been dumped by Fiona, and he told her that she was just jealous of their relationship.

The following week, Rita told Iain about Mark being there the previous week and he told her that he was there for her should she need to talk. Shortly after, Connie told Rita that a complaint had been made against her by a patient, although Rita had no recollection of the patient or the allegations. She noticed her ID badge was missing and also received a threatening text from an unknown number. She began to suspect it was Mark, but another patient that day had smashed her computer screen out of anger which made her suspicions of Mark dissipate. However, when she returned home, she discovered her bedroom had been trashed and the words "you will suffer" written in lipstick on her mirror, which confirmed for her that Mark was the one responsible.

Personal life
Rita was once married to Mark Richie, but they separated long before she started working at the ED. Not much is known about their relationship, but it likely ended because of or prior to his sex offender charges. Eventually, she divorced him in 2014 when he eventually signed the divorce papers.

In 2015, she began a relationship with Iain Dean after they kissed in October. Since then, the relationship has become more serious, but they've still not revealed it to the other staff, but some have caught them in the act already like Dixie. Unlike Zoe and Max, Rita and Iain's relationship has been less secretive.

Later in October, 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

 * Always has a new project or hobby on the go, from rock-climbing to spelunking, Rita seems fearless.
 * Rita loves a bit of karaoke!
 * Rita has had problems with alcohol abuse in the past.
 * Rita became the Clinical Nurse Manager on 24 January 2015.
 * Rita owns a kayak.

Behind the scenes
Rita has been portrayed by Chloe Howman on Casualty since her arrival in 2013. Howman had previously guest starred in Casualty for minor roles in series 24 and 26. During 2015, Rita was built up to be the primary antagonist of the show with her framing Connie. By the end of the year, this association of the character had dissapeared completely.

Reception
Series producer Erika Hossington praised Howman's acting and commented that she has "risen" to the challenge of Rita's new storyline. Rita was a love-hate character, especially in the spring of 2015 when she framed Connie for helping Alfred die.

In November 2015, Erika Hossinton revealed that Rita and Iain's relationship would turn dark in 2016, so to keep an eye out for it. In April, Rita's ex-husband Mark returned to the ED after being involved in a car crash, which kicked of a storyline involving the two of them.

Appearances

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

Rita made her first appearance in Casualty in the series 28 episode "Once There Was a Way Home - Part One".