#madge britton

[wipbigbang]

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[lonelier-version-of-you]

Alright, it's been several days and I still haven't commented on those two recent pieces of Casualty news, so I'm going to fix that now:

- Siobhan sounds like an interesting character (very Madge Britton-like, but that's not necessarily a bad thing), although I'm also quite sad that her coming in as Clinical Nurse Manager seems to imply Donna won't be coming back after all. I really want Donna to come back.

I haven't watched Corrie in a long time but I don't think I ever liked Cathy at all. But I think that was more about the character than anything to do with the actress, so I'm happy to give Siobhan a chance. If nothing else, I LOVE the name Siobhan, so that's a good start.

- I'm sad to hear Jon Sen is leaving, as I think his era of Casualty has overall been great, and has given us some of the best single episodes since... well, at least since I started watching. I wish him luck in whatever he does next, though!

I have no idea who the next executive producer could be, but whoever they are, I just hope they do well and keep up the momentum. I also wouldn't mind if they gave us more Eli Ebrahimi crossovers while they're at it, lol.

[lets-steal-an-archive]

SPN Casting Sides (usually 3-10+ pgs from script):

1.10 Asylum (Kat, Gavin)

1.13 Route 666 (Audrey Robinson, Cassie Robinson, Harold Todd, Jimmy Anderson)

1.14 Nightmare (Alice Miller, Max Miller)

1.15 The Benders (Deputy Kathleen Hudak, “Abraham Bender”)

1.17 Hell House (Craig Thursten, "Ernie”, “Harold”)

1.18 Something Wicked (Michael, Young Dean)

1.19 Provenance (Sarah Blake)

1.20 Dead Man's Blood (Beau, Kate, Luther)

1.21 Salvation (Tom)

1.22 Devil's Trap (Bobby Singer)

2.01 In My Time of Dying (Tessa, “Janitor”)

2.02 Everybody Loves a Clown (Ellen, “Miles”, “Alex” 12 July 2006, “Alex” 14 July 2006)

2.03 Bloodlust (Gordon Walker, Lenore)

2.04 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Angela Mason, Neil)

2.05 Simon Said (Andy Gillette)

2.07 The Usual Suspects (Detective Pete Sheridan)

2.08 Crossroad Blues (Crossroads Demon, George Darrow, Robert Johnson)

2.09 Croatoan (Dr. Lee, “Vargo”)

2.10 Hunted (Ava)

2.11 Playthings (Susan)

2.12 Nightshifter (Agent Henriksen, Ronald)

2.13 Houses of the Holy (Father Thomas Gregory, Father Reynolds)

2.15 Tall Tales (Frat Boy, “Janitor”)

2.16 Roadkill (David McNamara)

2.18 Hollywood Babylon (Director, Tara Benchley)

2.19 Folsom Prison Blues (Deacon Kaylor, Mara Davis, Randall)

2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One (Jake Talley, Lily)

3.01 The Magnificent Seven (Isaac, Walter Rosen)

3.02 The Kids Are Alright (Ben Braeden)

3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock (Bela Talbot, Creedy, Kubrick)

3.04 Sin City (Father Gil, “Iggy”, Ruby)

3.05 Bedtime Stories (Crossroads Demon, Dr. Garrison)

3.06 Red Sky at Morning (Gertrude Case)

3.07 Fresh Blood (Dixon)

3.08 A Very Supernatural Christmas (Young Dean, Young Sam, Edward, Madge)

3.09 Malleus Maleficarum (Elizabeth, Renee, Tammi Benton)

3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me (Dream!Dean, Jeremy Frost)

3.12 Jus in Bello (Deputy Phil Amici, Nancy Fitzgerald, Sheriff Dodd)

4.01 Lazarus Rising (Castiel, "Kristy”, Pamela Barnes)

4.03 In the Beginning (Young Mary, Young John, Deanna Campbell)

4.04 Metamorphosis (Michelle Montgomery, Jack Montgomery, Travis)

4.05 Monster Movie (Jamie, Dracula)

4.06 Yellow Fever (Luther Garland, Sheriff Ed Britton, John Garland)

4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester (Tracy Davis, Don Harding, Uriel)

4.08 Wishful Thinking (Wes Mondale, Hope Lynn Casey)

4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer (Alastair, Anna Milton)

SPN Misc. Crew Documents:

8.10 Torn and Frayed (one line schedule)

14.05 Nightmare Logic (longform breakdown)

14.07 Unhuman Nature (technical package)

14.13 Lebanon (technical package)

15.04 Atomic Monsters (prep memo)

SPN Scripts (in all stages):

1.01 Pilot (lavender revisions)

1.03 Dead in the Water (production draft)

1.04 Phantom Traveler (yellow revisions)

1.10 Asylum (blue draft)

1.12 Faith (production draft)

1.13 Route 666 (studio draft)

1.14 Nightmare (production draft)

2.03 Bloodlust (production draft)

2.11 Playthings (production draft)

2.12 Nightshifter (blue draft)

2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One (blue revisions)

3.15 Time Is on My Side (production draft)

4.11 Family Remains (studio story arena, yellow revisions)

4.12 Criss Angel Is a Douchebag (network arena pitch)

4.13 After School Special (studio story arena)

4.14 Sex and Violence (network arena pitch)

4.17 It's a Terrible Life (blue revisions w/director’s notes)

4.20 The Rapture (outline)

5.09 The Real Ghostbusters (production draft w/director’s notes)

5.10 Abandon All Hope... (goldenrod revisions)

5.15 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (network draft)

5.22 Swan Song (production draft)

6.13 Unforgiven (green draft)

8.11 LARP and the Real Girl (production draft)

9.07 Bad Boys (2nd writer’s draft)

9.20 Bloodlines (2nd network draft)

9.22 Stairway to Heaven (production draft)

9.23 Do You Believe in Miracles? (pink pages)

10.23 Brother's Keeper (production draft)

11.20 Don't Call Me Shurley (production draft)

13.04 The Big Empty (blue draft; missing Act 5)

13.06 Tombstone (blue pages only)

13.08 The Scorpion & the Frog (production draft)

13.10 Wayward Sisters (2nd writer’s draft)

13.19 Funeralia (studio/network draft)

13.21 Beat the Devil (studio/network draft)

14.13 Lebanon (yellow draft, green pages)

14.14 Ouroboros (blue draft)

14.17 Game Night (studio/network draft)

SPN Storyboards:

3.05 Bedtime Stories (Scenes 1-4)

9.03 I'm No Angel (Scenes 1-37)

11.11 Into the Mystic (Scenes 1-5; 37)

[lonelier-version-of-you]

My mom’s catching up on Call the Midwife and it’s got Madge Britton and Jayne Grayson in a lesbian relationship. That feels surreal.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

"So there I am, off the coast of Tamarindo, Costa Rica, when I feel a - a - a tugging on my leg! I look down, there's a seven foot thresher shark with my calf in its jaws." "Well, you're lucky to have survived." "No, no, there's nothing lucky about it. A visiting surgeon pulled me from the water, gave me the kiss of life, and spent thirteen hours in surgery putting me back together! You saved my life, Henrik."

Russ Faber made his debut one year ago today! (Series 23 Episode 28, October 12 2021)

[lonelier-version-of-you]

madge britton in s23e35

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I honestly can’t decide what to address first from tonight’s episode - Jac’s plotline (because she dies next week), Madge’s plotline (because it’s an ableist trainwreck), or Henruss (because that’s what I usually start my review posts with). So, not to disrespect Jac - though I like to think she’d understand - but my autistic little brain has defaulted to routine and so I’ll just talk about Henruss first.

There’s not much to talk about, anyway, but did the fact that Henrik was barely in tonight’s episode and Russ was totally absent stop me from crying once we saw the note Russ had put inside the parcel that said “be happy, Henrik”? No. No it didn’t. I just. AAAAHHWWWWW. That’s the sweetest thing. Russ is so sweet. I love him. <3 It’s the way Henrik literally yelled at Russ and told him their relationship was “a fantasy [Russ] made up to deal with [his] husband’s death”... and Russ still doesn’t resent him for it. Is still concerned about his happiness and his wellbeing. What a lovely, lovely man.

And I think that’s a really good sign, too, because Henrik needs someone who will understand him on his bad days. Someone who will see that his chronic mental illness isn’t always going to be smooth sailing, but who will support him anyway. Who will understand that much of his lashing out actually comes from a place of anger at himself, not at the person he’s talking to.

And Russ can most certainly give him that, and I’m glad.

Henrik’s reaction to the note, though. Aaaaaah. I don’t even have words I’m too busy crying.

Also - I love Russ’s handwriting.

Elsewhere, Jac was being as Jac as ever and thankfully at least got to share some screentime with people who aren’t Fletch. Which is nice. Just try not to think about the fact that they’ll probably have her last conscious moments be spent with Fletch next week. ://

Her little dream at the beginning with Essie, Arthur, and Jasmine was weird and so cringe. Also, oof for all those of us who expected more from Jasmine’s cameo. Literally one line. Ouch. Was nice to see her at all, though. And surreal for me - the first episode I ever saw was her death in 2017.

And I’m going to say it once again - WHY would Jac see Arthur in her ‘facing her own mortality’ dreams? She had, like, nothing to do with him. I know she didn’t have much to do with Essie either, but at least Essie was the love of Jac’s best friend’s life. I guess if you squint, you could sort of be like “well, Jac was close to Zosia, and Zosia was close to Arthur” but still, why play Six Degrees of Arthur Digby when...

They could’ve just used Tara Lo? Jac was actually close to Tara! Tara literally died of a brain tumour! Tara would have been a MUCH more reasonable choice for Jac’s weird dreams than Arthur would. But no, just because Arthur’s more popular they chose to use him. Ugh. Why is so much about the ending of this show revolving around cheap fanservice? (See also: the continuous pushing of Flac.)

As for Elliot, it was nice to see him again. I’m willing to ignore the fact that he was a complete and utter ass to Jac on his last return if the writers are. He slotted back in SO naturally. And his characterisation felt pretty accurate, which I appreciated. Just wish I could say they tried to keep Sahira in-character during her return last year too. But alas.

Paul Bradley and Rosie Marcel both acted their socks off throughout tonight’s episode. It was fantastic to see.

Also, the little Max/Elliot argument was cool because it gave us a BRILLIANT line from Max: “I love my grudges, and I nurture them like adored children!” Me too, Max. Me too. What a relatable moment.

I’d like to have actual words about the issue at hand, i.e. Jac’s fuckin’ dying, but honestly I really can’t be bothered. I just hate everything about it all so much and it comes across as yet another “fuck you” from the producers to Rosie Marcel and I don’t even have words for how angry I am about it.

Anyway. If I had a nickel for every time Holby gave a main character an autistic family member who existed solely to be portrayed as a burden to the main character in question, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it really shouldn’t have happened even once, let alone twice. Seriously, was Jason not bad enough? Did we need this whole Lizzie thing on top of that?

The worst part is, the idea of Madge having an adult daughter who was hurting her really intrigued me when they first brought it up. I thought it was a fantastic storyline idea, an under-represented issue, and I was sad that they’d only brought it in so close to the end.

But then it turned out her daughter was disabled and I was like OH GOD WHY HOLBY. Why on Earth couldn’t they have just left it at “Madge’s daughter has anger issues and hurts her”? They would’ve had a chance of actually handling that right! Leave the disability storylines to Casualty, please, Casualty can actually do them properly.

And I feel bad for complaining that Lizzie isn’t an actual character because of course she isn’t, she’s a guest role for a storyline that was only introduced in the 3rd-to-last episode. They would’ve had no time to actually make her a fleshed-out character even if they wanted to. They really should’ve brought the storyline in earlier if they wanted to do it that badly, instead of dragging on “ooh, Madge has a secret” and then seemingly resolving it all in one (1) episode.

But like. I don’t trust that they would’ve made Lizzie an actual character even if the show was continuing. I don’t trust that we would ever have learned any more about her than “she’s autistic and has an intellectual disability, and she attacks Madge during violent meltdowns”. (Oh, and she has a bead collection, I guess. Which is neat. Seriously, they barely gave Lizzie any personality but she seems like the kind of woman I’d like to hang out with anyway. I want to see her bead collection!! Maybe the actress is just really charismatic. If so, they got lucky, because the character has nothing to her.)

Because, really. Jason’s been on the show for six years. In that time, they never gave him any personality beyond autism. He seemed to vaguely act like an actual person when sharing scenes with other disabled characters, at least, (Greta, Henrik, Ollie...), but even then there was nothing to him as a character. And 99% of the time he just existed for “lol, look at the silly autistic manchild who doesn’t understand things” jokes and “oh, isn’t Serena such a saint for tolerating her autistic nephew” narratives. Sigh. So, yeah, I fully believe Lizzie wouldn’t have any personality even if she wasn’t a one-off character.

Anyway, if anyone wants to see an actual respectful portrayal of an autistic woman with high support needs, the Casualty episode “Sanctuary” - which stars such a character as a patient - should be coming up to air on the Drama channel in a few weeks. Check it out when they re-run it. Please. It’s really great.

Also, the weird thing Holby does where they treat autistic characters like aliens if they’re explicitly autistic and treat them as people if they’re only coded continues. Remember how three-dimensionally they handled Henrik being violent during a meltdown in 2018? How they managed to show us why he was behaving the way he did, didn’t just treat it as a ~random outburst of aggression~. How they put the focus on him and not how, say, Fletch was ~affected~ by him having a meltdown. How they managed to show why he was acting that way, but still without condoning his lashing out. That was such a good episode.

Moving on - so I guess we’re supposed to assume everything’s fine now Madge has her job back? I didn’t hear any mention of a pay raise or anything like that! If she couldn’t afford to pay for Lizzie’s care before, she’s not gonna be able to afford it now if she’s still being paid the same. You can tell they just wanted to wrap this up quickly because they left it too late to actually do anything with it.

I just. Gah. Sorry. I’ll shut up about this storyline now.

Other notes because I’m tiring myself out from rambling:

- Seeing Donna again is nice, even if the whole ‘Donna wants to come back to Holby’ thing is really bizarre.

- Bob Barrett was incredible tonight. I just wish they’d remembered to make Sacha part of this storyline sooner...

- All the sudden focus on Jeongsoo is weird. I guess they’re trying to make up for doing basically nothing with him ever since he arrived, lol. But still, all this focus on him out of nowhere so close to the end of the show is still bizarre.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Right, I transcribed the Oliver spoilers and the Henruss spoilers from the latest Soap Secrets podcast, for those who can’t or don’t want to bother listening to it. There is a bit that I think has very, VERY interesting implications about the Henrik/Russ relationship, so I bolded it.

Soap Secrets lady (IDK her name): And we’ve talked about Oliver, haven’t we? He’s back, and we know that he’s not quite all he’s cracked up to be. And this week we see Hanssen setting him a bit of a challenge, and I suppose the question here is, not if he’ll be rumbled but when he’ll be rumbled.

Victoria Wilson, the spoilers lady: Yeah. So, um, yeah, Ollie’s kinda struggling, he’s been set a diagnostic task, set by Hanssen. Um, he just wants to prove his worth really, he is a brilliant doctor, but he’s been left with this brain injury after being shot by [? I can’t tell if she says “Hanssen’s son” or “Fredrik Johanssen”, the audio kind of glitches out here, same difference though].

Um, so he’s kind of frustrated with what sort of seems like a really easy challenge, um, so Russ - obviously the guy that brought him into Holby to be mentored by Hanssen - he kind of seeks out Hanssen to find out why he’s not pushing him when Ollie’s clearly more capable.

Erm, this sort of storyline then segues into, erm, Russ finding Hanssen in the store cupboard, and they kind of both get locked in, and there’s - two people, when they get locked in, they really bond, and there’s things they’ve discovered about the other person, and all that. And we definitely find that here.

Erm, Hanssen’s really saddened to learn that Russ has actually been in counselling after the death of his partner, and, um, it almost becomes like a counselling session in the store cupboard while they’re trying to get out.

Soap Secrets lady: Mm.

Victoria Wilson: Erm, so, erm, obviously, then we sort of, uh, pop back to Ollie, and he gets acquainted with Director of Nursing Madge Britton! And, um, basically there’s a presentation that Hanssen is supposed to be hosting, whilst he’s stuck in the cupboard. And, er, Ollie, he sort of - he sort of ends up hosting the whole thing! So, it, you know, whether, you know, can he rise to the challenge, I guess, we’ll find out! And obviously, will - will Hanssen take him on as a mentee? And we’ll have to see!

[lonelier-version-of-you]

i havent watched since jac left last time bc the show burned me so hard but i have a question. i know this time they introduced an older nurse lady who seemed important to jac. but ive heard nothing about her since. did they pull another kian and insert someone supposedly important to jac and then just like forget all about that. also where is sacha?? the show im hearing about these days doesnt sound like or feel anything like holby. even bad holby.

Her name's Madge Britton, and yep, I guess you could indeed say they Kian'd her. They've done nothing with her connection with Jac (and nothing with her in general until a recent episode that hinted at some complicated backstory involving her kid/s) since she arrived. :/

As for Sacha, he's been doing absolutely anything and everything except interacting with Jac, lmao. He even went on a date with Max recently but they still can't be bothered to give him anything more than literally ONE scene with Jac since she came back.

The show hasn't felt like Holby in a long time, sadly, but IMO it has felt a little closer to the old days very recently, like for literally these last couple of weeks. But that may just be me imagining things just because I'm hyped that Ollie is back and Henrik is getting a boyfriend lmao.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I haven't watched in a while, did the show let Fletch get a job that actually makes him happy or is he still admin as if he hasn't been worn to the bone by nursing shortages for the last like five years? And what happened to his last few relationships, I remember he was with Ange, and then suddenly he wasn't but then he was with someone else who was a child predator or did I mix up plots?? I'm so confused what they've been doing with him. They should've let him get therapy for everything.

He's not admin anymore, no. At least I'm pretty sure he's not. When Jac came back as the Director of Improvement, she demoted him, and made her long-time friend Madge Britton the new Director of Nursing. Madge briefly got suspended a few weeks ago after being found out for being a mole for Regina (the lady who wanted, but failed, to merge the hospital with St. James's), but then once it turned out she was only doing it to get extra money so she could afford to pay for care for her autistic + intellectually disabled daughter Lizzie (yes, they did ANOTHER "burdensome autistic relative" plotline, as if Jason wasn't already bad enough), she was forgiven and re-hired so I presume she's DON again now. (On the same salary. How that money is meant to suddenly be enough when it wasn't before... I think we're just supposed to not question that.)

As for his relationships - he was with Ange, but they broke up around the time the show came off hiatus in 2020. Ange is now engaged to, and a mother of twins from, junior doctor Josh Hudson. (You wouldn't think that relationship would work, but it really does. They're lovely.)

Then in 2021, during a brief stint as CEO (they shoved Henrik back into the role very quickly) after Max got arrested (which didn't last lol) for taking the blame for Louis stealing things (which Louis was doing to give them to an old friend so she could sell them off and raise funds to get out of an abusive relationship she was in), Fletch met Jeni Sinclair, who was, like, funding manager or something. They ended up dating.

Meanwhile, without Fletch knowing, Jeni was grooming Evie for trafficking. She also got Evie to talk Donna's daughter Mia into going to the "parties" with them. After a few months Fletch found out about this and was furious with Jeni. Jeni was arrested and will presumably spend the rest of her life in prison. There's been no mention that I recall though of what will happen to any of the men she trafficked Evie and Mia to, which is weird.

Fletch is currently single, but pining for Jac, because Holby felt the need to drag up a relationship from 4 years ago with no chemistry.

And yes, he really does need therapy.