Cardiac Arrest

The first scene sees Dr. Rajesh Rajah waking up in the bed with Nurse Reece after having had a skinful the night before. A fresh faced Dr. Andrew Collin arrives on the wards finding himself unprepared for the situations with which he has to deal, including that of the asbestos patient, Albert Gray. The suited consultant surgeon Mr. Betancourt also makes his first appearance. He is revealed to be Maitland's lover and heavy critic of SHO Monica Broome.

The pressure begins to get to Monica, who starts to drink. After Dr. Mortimer sexually harasses a nurse, Claire embarrases him in front of the other staff by pretending to fancy him. Towards the end of the episode, a patient arrives who is bleeding heavily, and needs treatment in the operating theatre. Betancourt continues his criticism against Monica.

Andrew overlooks a potassium reading and believes he is negligent over the death of an eldery lady patient, Ada Pitkin. At a hospital party, Dr. Mortimer plays a joke on Raj, and sets him up with a transvestite. This episode also introduces Diane and her child, friends of Dr. Maitland. The child later re-appears in episode 6. Raj has an encounter with Nurse Whitecoat. At the end of the episode, Raj forgets about taking a heart pacemaker out of someone who is being cremated

Raj takes a fancy to one of the medical students are shown around the wards with Mr. Docherty. A fake locum is rumbled. Hospital manager Alex Legg is introduced. A patient who has taken a paracetomal overdose asks Dr. Maitland to stop his treatment. Caroline goes on a date with Andrew. Andrew nearly falls asleep during his date! When they both get back to his place, Andrew holds back going any further than the basics because he is a Christian.

Attention turns to Monica, who fails her fellowship exam. Despite appealling to management, Dr. Collin is expected to work another night when a locum cannot be found to cover. Betancourt reveals to Claire that the hospital did not even attempt to find cover, and that because Andrew has worked an illegal number of hours, he cannot be paid. During Andrew's long night, the hospital manager Alex Legg is brought in suffering from a heart attack.

The pressure takes its toll on Claire, Raj and Andrew. After a confrontation with her husband who says their kids will be taken away to stay elsewhere, it is all too much for Monica, who takes an insulin overdose and commits suicide. Mr. Docherty confronts Betancourt about his behaviour towards Monica. Lucy Buxton, the girl from episode 3 is brought in with a chest injury sustained from an accident on a merry-go-round. The doctor treating her initially is hesitant about what to do, and the nurse contacts Claire who rushes to deal with the patient.

Due to a bomb scare at the General, the hospital is overrun with patients. New doctors are introduced. Phil Kirkby (played by Andrew Clover) is eager, but tries too hard to impress. Smedley (Peter O'Brien of Neighbours fame) is the new registrar, who impresses the other doctors with his knowledge. In the same episode, he saves a patient who has a collapsed lung. Dr. Collin is no longer a beginner and is now one of the experienced doctors. He is now married, and is often taking personal phone calls from his wife, Alison. The hospital manager Alex Legg (from series 1) makes a brief appearance, only to be killed off from a heart attack. Adrian DeVries (Jack Fortune) is the new consultant surgeon - he can perhaps be seen as this series' replacement for Mr. Betancourt. Incidentally, for the first time, the cameras move outside to show DeVries driving his car.

This episode features a patient who has prolonged hypothermia. Claire and Dr. Mortimer provide extended resus. During the long process, Dr. Mortimer reads from a sex novel. As a result of a managerial meeting, it is decided that junior doctors are expected to cover the specialist Ear, Nose and Throat cases, to the objection of Mr. Docherty who believes the plan is madness. He is proved right in episode 5. Alf Grocott, a terminally ill patient is introduced. He is told that he has lung cancer, however he tells Dr. Collin that he does not want his daughter told. Alf's daughter also tells Dr. Collin not to inform her father of the diagnosis.

In this powerful episode, the main storyline is that of Heather Parsons, a girl who brought in with flu, but later develops meningitis and dies. The blame for misdiagnosis is laid at the door of the blundering GP, Dr. Wilson, although it is Andrew to has to carry the can. Andrew takes some small revenge on Dr. Wilson by pretending to be a patient experiencing symptoms of diabetes, and then turning the tables when Wilson clearly fails to recognise them. Maitland starts to question whether or not she wants to be a doctor anymore. Nasreen, a police officer, and an old school friend of Raj is introduced

Kirkby becomes attracted to a woman who is brought in with a sickle cell crisis, however it turns out she is faking some of her symptoms in order to get a ""fix"" of painkillers. Caroline is suspended after a patient dies in suspicious cirumstances. Raj and Nasreen kiss and become lovers at the hospital ball. Maitland starts the night with a handsome helicopter pilot, however both he and DeVries are brushed aside at the end of the evening in favour of Smedley. Mr. Docherty is informed that one of his operating lists is no longer available.

The investigation continues in to the death of an elderly patient. Nurse Chandley is interrogated by the hospital manager Paul Tennant. Eventually Andrew finds out from a conversation with Alf Grocott that it is the patient's niece who was responsible. Alf is sent home. Dr. Turner, Dr. Yates and Tennant agree to cover up the death of a second patient.

A film crew arrives at the hospital to make a promotional video. The director of the crew (played by none other than Game On's Neil Stuke) is revealed to be the boyfriend of Dr. Mortimer. Mr. Docherty is under pressure from Mr. Tennant to retire. Maitland reports her experiences to the papers. In a meeting with Tennant, he explains that she cannot be suspended for this, however she is suspended for failing to pay for a pint of milk from the canteen. Maitland decides to dump Smedley by telling him he has the smallest dick she's ever seen. Smedley goes out driving and overturns his car in an accident. Raj has a bit of fun with a man who is suffering from complete amnesia. At the end of the episode, Maitland cries her heart out in the arms of Mr. Cullen's widow

A young wife brings her husband in to the hospital with a suspected brain haemorrhage, and he is not expected to survive. The issue of organ transplant is raised. At first the wife says yes, but later changes her mind. David, a recurring character who needs kidney dialysis is introduced. He has a more informal relationship with Maitland, whom he affectionately calls ""slapper"". After Raj gives a patient a cigarette, the patient decides to smoke it when he is taking oxygen, and there is an explosion. A few new characters are introduced. Sarah Hudson the new consultant (it seems in place of Barry Yates who does not appear in series 3), and a new doctor is Liz Reid. Almost straight away, Liz is shown to want to dump most of her duties on other doctors and nurses as much as possible. Two elderly gentleman are brought in - one has bit off and swallowed the other's finger. Raj starts on the GP training scheme.

A suspected peritonitis case is brought in. After an exploratory operation, Smedley finds a tumour in the woman's abdomen, but makes a error of judgement by telling the woman that he thinks the all cancer has been taken out, however tests reveal that she has only days to live. Liz goes to sleep forgetting to take her contact lenses out, and is impaired whilst trying to treat a drugs overdose. As a result, she tangles a lavage tube inside the patient's stomach. In a generally bad day for Liz, she also loses her temper with one of the patients. Dr. Collin and Caroline continue their affair.

Dr. Collin is told by Dr. Turner to continue with a procedure to fit a temporary pacemaker even though he has only seen one done once before. When he gets stuck, Claire who is not on call has contacted at home and brought in to help. Dr. Mortimer is pursued by a journalist about his HIV status. Raj has collision with DeVries' car, and thinks he has got away with it, but DeVries finds out and in order to pay for the damage, Raj goes to work in a private practice for a day. Caroline informs Dr. Collin that he needs to take a HIV test, because Caroline and Luke slept together before. Sister Landers has an accident with a needle. Dr. Turner is told by Tennant to restrict his private practice. Mr. Docherty decides to stand as a replacement for Graham Turner as the chairman of the consultant's committee

This is a wonderfully crafted episode, that is centered entirely around Dr. Collin in casualty. He is the sole doctor available, aside from scant help from Liz Reid, and treats several patients under difficult conditions, including a heart attack victim, a man who has a potentially dangerous cord compression, and a man suffering from a drugs overdose. His main problem is that he is unable to refer patients due to a lack of beds. In the end he manages to refer the most urgent of the patients, and find time to go to the toilet!

A patient, a Michelle Elliot is brought in who appears to be suffering from sharp pain in her stomach. Lots of tests are performed on the woman throughout the episode, however at the end it is Maitland who establishes that she does not have any actual illness, and is faking her symptoms. She is in fact suffering from a kind of illness - Munchausen's syndrome. Mrs. Trimble asks Mr. Docherty to move in with her. Sister Landers reports that she has not caught hepatitis, although her fortunes turn for the worse, when after appearing on a television chat show to criticise management, she is suspended from duty. Phil Kirkby starts to become frustrated about jibes he is receiving about his medical competence since the inquest, and tension mounts between him and Dr. Turner. It is revealed that Tennant has had a previous relationship with Novac. Tennant is suspended.

This excellent episode interweaves a storyline about shaken baby syndrome with which Dr. Raj deals with, a cricket match between the junior doctors and consultants, and a behind-closed-doors meeting about how to resolve Phil Kirkby's possible manslaughter charge. Phil tells Mr. Docherty the truth about the inquest, and how he was expected to lie to cover Dr. Turner. Mr. Docherty promises to help him. Liz is unsure what to do about basic CPR. Raj talks to Nasreen on the phone, and their relationship starts to come under some strain. Claire tells Sarah Hudson that she thinks that Liz is ""ill motivated, innatentive and manipulative"".