"Born To Be Wild" is the 550th episode of Casualty and the eighth episode of series 21. It was directed by Darcia Martin and written by Peter Mills.
Synopsis[]
Josh is due to be awarded a medal for his 20 years of service as a paramedic. While observing Josh on a shift, Charlie finds a young boy named Danny being beaten up by a group of other children and takes him to the emergency department for treatment. There, it transpires that Danny's parents Brad and Britany both have learning difficulties, and Danny wants to be put into care. However, Ray David, who claims to be a volunteer for a community action group, is allowed to take them home. Ray takes Danny to his workshop, but Danny grows increasingly uncomfortable with Ray's eagerness to spend time with him. After finding out that the community action group does not exist and that Ray is a sex offender, Charlie and Josh are directed to Ray's workshop and find that Danny has set him on fire in self-defence; Ray later dies in resus.
Meanwhile, several members of an altruistic biker gang are injured by an impatient motorist when the group pay their respects to the father of the leader, Henry Swindell, who died earlier in the morning. Josh manages to save Henry's best friend, but the incident disgusts him to the point where he does not want to accept the medal. With help from the other paramedics, Charlie convinces Josh to attend the ceremony. Midway through, the ceremony is gatecrashed by Henry and his gang who commend Josh and the paramedics for their selflessness. To thank him, Henry gives Josh his father's motorbike.
Elsewhere in Holby, Penny Wilson, a paralysed woman, is forced to move to Milton Keynes when her appeal against lowering her amount of nursing care is rejected. She is taken to the ED with an unknown ailment, but when Penny's husband Steve mentions that Penny is taking beta blockers, Maggie realises that she has been stockpiling them so she could overdose and kill herself if the appeal was rejected and relieve the pressure on Steve. Steve is mortified by Penny's actions, but after a talk with Maggie, Steve suggests that both he and Penny stop "bottling it all up".
Now in a relationship with Sean, Comfort feels happier than she has been for a long time. However, she walks in on Sean while he is on the phone and believes that he is speaking to another woman. Sean claims that it was his daughter, but Comfort is reminded of a similar incident involving Fin and breaks up with him. When Sean explains that he is being denied access to his daughter and misses her, Comfort urges him to return to Australia to be with her. Sean is relieved that Comfort agrees and informs Harry of his intent to leave.
Guppy admits to Greg that he fancies Cyd, so Greg offers him advice on how to talk to women, and Kelsey teaches a crestfallen Alice how to win Guppy over. Both of their efforts end in calamity: Guppy ends up lying to Cyd about his birthday, and Alice is disappointed when Guppy invites her made-up boyfriend to his non-existent birthday party.
Cast[]
- Ian Bleasdale as Josh Griffiths
- Derek Thompson as Charlie Fairhead
- Martina Laird as Comfort Jones
- Jane Hazlegrove as Kathleen Dixon
- Joanne King as Cynthia "Cyd" Pyke
- Kip Gamblin as Greg Fallon
- Susan Cookson as Maggie Coldwell
- James Redmond as John "Abs" Denham
- Elizabeth Carling as Selena Donovan
- Simon MacCorkindale as Harry Harper
- Sam Grey as Alice Chantrey
- Elyes Gabel as Gurpreet "Guppy" Sandhu
- Janine Mellor as Kelsey Phillips
- Suzanne Packer as Tess Bateman
- Ben Price as Nathan Spencer
- Luke Bailey as Sam Bateman
- Charlie Quirke as "Dannyboy" Danny Parks
- Jo Eastwood as Britany Parks
- Callum O'Neill as Brad Parks
- Kelly George as Ray David
- Kirsty Dillon as Penny Wilson
- Mark Homer as Steve Wilson
- Gerald Kyd as Sean Maddox
- Luing Andrews as Henry Swindell
- Sebastian Bates as Adrian Green
- Ian Sanders as MC