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THE
ROYAL SEASON SIX character profiles |
| UK
| ITV1 Network | Sundays @ 8:00
We
have the low down on whos who in this sixties set medical drama
series.
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
T.J.MIDDLEDITCH RETIRED HOSPITAL SECRETARY
Ian Carmichael
Ian Carmichael’s character T.J. Middleditch, is a kindly, benign and greatly respected figure. The hospital was endowed by his grandfather at the turn of the century and in 1948 the family charity was effectively nationalised and given to the
NHS. He has run the place as a one-man band since 1948, assisted by Matron, but there’s a sense of the Ancient Regime - about to be swept away by new administrative reforms. Middleditch retired in the last series, but his character makes guest appearances throughout this current run and has an uncanny knack of turning up to save the day when things seem certain to fall apart at the seams.
ADAM CARNEGIE HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR
Robert Cavanah
Adam is Middleditch’s go-getting, ambitious replacement. Ex-RAF man Carnegie tends to rub some staff up the wrong way with his modern approach. He’s developed a friendship with Nurse Catherine Deane, but he will be taken aback when he discovers her pregnancy. However, things aren’t always what they seem. Carnegie’s attempts to raise private finance for a new hospital wing don’t go according to plan and he faces calls for his resignation. |
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KEN HOPKIRK PORTER
Michael Starke
A put-upon character – father of a large clan, many of whom he’s placed in employment in and around the hospital over the years. Although always alert to any possibilities that may benefit his (almost infinite) circle of friends and relations, he is nonetheless a scrupulously honest man who has been with the hospital a long time – he is the below stairs version of Middleditch. If you’ve got a problem, Ken can usually sort it out for you. Adam Carnegie is Ken’s nemesis, always threatening to put a stop to his way of doing things.
LIZZIE HOPKIRK SECRETARY/RECEPTIONIST
Michelle Hardwick
Ken’s hard working and reliable daughter, she’s meticulous “to the letter”. However, she’s a typical dizzy blonde with no imagination, so takes everything quite literally (with amusing results). She is not given to using her initiative, but she’s very good at making sure the forms are filled in. Recently divorced, she is enjoying her new-found independence, but is hoping she won’t have to stay on the shelf for the rest of her life.
ALUN MORRIS THEATRE TECHNICIAN/ODD-JOB MAN
Andy Wear
In his late 20s, Alun is Ken’s sidekick and always ends up embroiled in his latest scheme. He’s a real dreamer, who in another life would be a famous rock star. He’s the junior porter/theatre technician and when he’s not helping Ken out with general maintenance work or a scam, he’s taking patients down for surgery and helping out in the Operating Theatre, sterilising instruments etc. Always falling in (unrequited) love with the nurses, Alun really suffers when he manages to get himself impaled on a railing!
MEDICAL STAFF
MR.ROSE VISITING CONSULTANT
Denis Lill
Mr Rose is a general surgeon based at Ashfordly General and comes over once a week to carry out operations which might be tricky for the practice GPs (for instance if a patient is particularly obese, or if an unusual procedure is to be carried out). He’s the sort of man who makes Lancelot Spratt look like Mary Poppins – a good surgeon, but short of interpersonal skills. He views the practice with genial contempt, feeling that Ashfordly’s new General Hospital is the way forward for medical care, not least because it has expanded his personal empire, though he views the new administration with even more contempt. Aside from carrying out minor operations scrubbed up and masked, Mr Rose is rarely seen without his pipe – and always keen to get to the golf course.
DR JILL WEATHERILL
Amy Robbins
Dr Weatherill is in her mid-thirties, attractive and one of the new breed of doctors. She’s striking a blow for women’s equality in the medical profession, which often leads her into conflict with Matron and Mr Rose. As GPs go, she’s progressive, and interested in new and holistic methods of treating patients. Determined, she can be quick to jump to conclusions. Now married to Dr Ormerod, she’s finding it hard and a struggle being a career woman and a new mother.
DR GORDON ORMEROD
Robert Daws
Experienced, senior partner, Ormerod has worked at The Royal for many years. His first wife, Caroline, sustained traumatic brain damage in a bus crash and went into a coma. She was treated in an iron lung at The Royal, and sadly died of heart failure (ending a debate about whether the machine should be switched off). Caroline’s condition, with its associated emotions of grief and guilt, was a major spanner in the works for his relationship with Dr Weatherill. Now married to Dr Weatherill with a new baby son, in addition to his two children from his first marriage, he’s trying to enjoy a period of domestic bliss, but things never run smoothly…
DR JEFF GOODWIN
Paul Fox
Dr Jeff Goodwin is part of the new generation of doctors, the first of his family to attend university. He is from working class stock and not afraid to buck the system if it means he gets the best for his patients. He’s always on the side of the underdog. Good looking and enthusiastic, he’s caught the attention of several younger female members of staff. His idealism took him to Biafra, and he returns this series with an orphaned Nigerian child. He leaves The Royal in this series, as his past catches up with him and forces him to make a quick decision.
DR JOAN MAKORI
Kananu Kirimi
Dr Makori arrived at The Royal as locum cover for the expectant Dr Weatherill. Of Kenyan origin, she’s a wealthy, well-educated young woman from the cosmopolitan streets of Kensington. Something of a novelty at first for the residents of Elsinby, she soon strikes up a friendship with Dr Goodwin. She acquires some of his idealism during the series and leaves to work with Biafran refugees in Cameroon.
DR MIKE BANNER
Sam Callis
Dr Mike Banner arrives in this series to an administrative mix-up, he hasn’t actually got a job! However things work out in the end, and Mike and his dog become a permanent fixture. His scruffy appearance elicits some comment from some of the more established members of staff, but he proves popular with the younger ones – particularly Stella and new nurse Marian. Banner finds middle-class constrictions difficult and has a healthy disregard for authority, although he is very good with people. Weatherill is swifter to see his unique qualities than Ormerod, but he comes round eventually.
NURSING STAFF
MATRON
Wendy Craig
Matron has effectively run the hospital for twenty years in partnership with Middleditch, as Sergeant-Major to his Colonel. Her position has been shaken somewhat by the arrival of Carnegie. A strict disciplinarian, she is fiercely protective of her nurses, and is not afraid of standing up to anyone if she feels that they have abused their authority. The practice Doctors may try and avoid her, but if she feels they need to be put right about anything, her ability to track them down verges on the mystical. Her comfortable routine is shaken by the arrival of her flighty teenage niece, Susie.
SISTER BRIGID
Linda Armstrong
Sister Brigid is an utterly professional and very Irish nun. Her manner is brusque, but every so often a chink in her armour reveals a very caring, sympathetic nature. There’s a lot to Sister Brigid we don’t know about, but there are hints that she’s come from a troublesome background. She secretly harbours a soft spot for Dr Ormerod.
NURSE STELLA DAVENPORT
Natalie Anderson
A local girl, Stella is fun, attractive and lively. She has a tendency to open her mouth without engaging her brain. She has also sworn she’s off men after seeming to always fall for Mr Wrong – words that come back to haunt her when she faces a terrifying ordeal.
NURSE CATHERINE DEANE
Amelia Curtis
Catherine returned to work following the loss of her trawlerman husband at sea. She has a young daughter and is desperate to make a good impression as well as support her child. She had a short courtship with Mr Carnegie which went sour, and is the subject of hospital gossip when her unplanned pregnancy is revealed during this series. She leaves midway through the series with Billy, an old flame and friend of her husband.
NURSE MARIAN MCKAIG
Kari Corbett
Scottish and skint – Marian is thrilled to be away from home, but responsible enough to send most of her wages back every week. Eager to please, efficient and full of high energy, her mouth runs away with her sometimes. She’s a great hit with Alun (who isn’t?) but something about her awakens a bit of a protective instinct in Dr Banner. A team player, she takes the flak for a mistake made by Stella during this series.
AMBULANCE DRIVER FRANKIE ROBINSON
Scott Taylor
Likeable, laddish, and incapable of telling women the truth, Frankie attracts trouble like a moth to a flame. He’s tried his hand at doing something worthy by working as a ward orderly in an attempt to train as a nurse, but it didn’t suit him and midway through Series 5 he returned to ambulance driving which allows him to get a bit of the action rather than scrub bed pans all day.
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