Trust Me- Episode 4

It's the final episode of Jodie Whittaker's fake Doctor drama- but is she going to be found out? Beware, spoilers for all four episodes lie ahead.

After three largely slow paced episodes we get a speedy finale. Cath's lie is so very close to being exposed with the aftermath of the patient from the previous episode and sticking together with Bridget and ex-partner Carl on this way up to Edinburgh. 

I think that this episode is perhaps the one which paints Cath in the best light. As an audience we can never feel comfortable with her deception but it's sort of become more acceptable as we've discovered how good a Doctor she can be. Andy tells her to essentially throw Bridget under the bus, let her take the blame and then Cath can carry on as Doctor Ally. But she's a good person and Bridget is her friend, despite the mistakes she has made, and Cath can't bring herself to do it. Instead she completely takes the blame. 

As if this stress wasn't enough she's now got not one but two challenging medical procedures to perform. One is a repeat of the procedure from the night before and though initially in panic Cath eventually sorts it out. I was thinking that it's irrelevant that Cath isn't a real doctor here and this must be what real doctors go through when having to repeat a procedure that went so wrong the time before. Then her friend Mona is in the department and suffers a cardiac arrest, with poor Cath having to try and save her life. Again, so many doctors must struggle when people they know are in the hospital. 

After all this Cath decides she can't take anymore so she picks up Molly and heads to leave forever. But then she bumps into Molly's dad Carl who can sense her turmoil. It's not entirely clear whether Cath actually means her promise that the three of them can go back to Sheffield and live together but either way it allows her to escape from danger. But soon Andy and Carl come to blows, fighting over Cath, and then poor Carl finds himself hit by a car. 

The title of the series gets a new twist when it's Andy we have to trust rather than Cath. Did he kill Carl? It would be the only surefire way of ensuring Cath's secret was kept safe and therefore the relationship being kept safe too. I don't think he probably did go that far, he is a doctor after all, but the fact that Cath suspects him shows how shaky their relationship really is. 

The series ends with Bridget taking long-term leave and Cath taking over as lead of the department. It's not how I thought the series would inevitably end with her being found out. As a viewer I feel conflicted as I do feel for Cath and in reality she makes a great doctor. But I can't help but feel that what she is doing is wrong and she really ought to be found out. 

It's unclear whether there was ever any plans for a second series but it is certainly left open for one. With Whittaker now committed to Doctor Who this seems unlikely though I suppose she might just be able to squeeze in one episode to round things off. Frankly I think the ending was noncommittal as sooner or later she will be found out and I want to see how that happens. 

All in all, I enjoyed the series. It perhaps could have condensed things down a little but good writing and great acting from the cast, especially Jodie Whittaker, it was a great little drama.

[Click here for all my Trust Me episode discussions]

The Innocent

Over the past few years I have collected a random selection of Big Finish audio stories, from freebies to sale items, and I'm gradually working my way through them. Whilst I will be discussing most of them on my Who Catch Up blog some just don't fit into a particular category so I'll be discussing them here.

Today I will be discussing The Innocent which is the first story in Only the Monstrous, a boxset of War Doctor stories starring John Hurt. This story was free with Doctor Who Magazine #500.

This story opens with a fairly typical pre-credits sequence. The Doctor has just been declared dead. We all know it's obviously not true but it's an intriguing start and we are then given the War Doctor's Doctor Who theme which keeps the basic tune but gives a more militaristic style. 

Nicholas Briggs makes great use of Doctor Who lore as we flashback to what actually happened. The Doctor (but don't call him that) takes the place of two Time Lords to activate the Time Destructor on the dalek fleet- last seen way back in The Dalek's Master Plan. It's a tricky doing a War Doctor boxset when you have to try and be in keeping with fifty years of Time Lord and dalek lore. 

Much of the story is set on the planet Keska where the Doctor (don't call him that) ends up. There he meets Rejoice who is proper companion material. She looks after 'her alien' as he recovers but when he wakes the Doctor finds himself in the midst of another war as the Taalyens attack. It's swiftly dealt with though when we see this version of the Doctor at his most Doctor-ish so far. It shows us that the personality of this incarnation is entirely due to the awful situation he finds himself in and actually the Doctor is still there somewhere. 

This story is almost an alternative new companions story. Traditionally the Doctor would meet his new companion, save the day with their help and take them with him on his travels. It's the last bit he knows he can't do here as he obviously can't risk taking Rejoice into the Time War. There's a long, brilliant sequence where the Doctor tries to convince Rejoice and probably himself too that he is no longer a hero. Rejoice never falls for it but sadly the Time Lords turn up and Rejoice is forced to remain on Keska. We've seen it in the TV show a few times but it's heart-breaking when a would-be-companion misses out on the best opportunity of their lives. 

I really enjoyed this story and will consider forking out for the rest of the box set in the not too distant future. 

The Next Companion(s)

On Monday British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror announced they had a scoop about the next series of Doctor Who. They reported that Bradley Walsh would be the companion to Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor.

Bradley Walsh is best known as a quiz presenter, presenting shows like The Chase (nothing to do with the 60s dalek story) and more recently Cash Trapped. But that's not to say he's no actor as he has had long roles in Coronation Street and Law and Order: UK (alongside Who's Freema Agyeman) and guest acting roles in a range of shows, including The Sarah Jane Adventures as Oddbob the Clown and his alternate personalities.

Now it's unclear if there is any truth to this story. The paper reported that Kris Marshall has been cast as the Thirteenth Doctor so there's so guarantee it's accurate whatsoever. That story seemed to come mainly from the fact that Marshall coincidentally left Death in Paradise around the same time Peter Capaldi announced he was leaving. But there's no obvious source for this story and Walsh has worked with new showrunner Chris Chibnall before (on Law and Order: UK). It's one of those stories where we can't say with any degree of certainty either way. 

All this got me thinking about the type of companion Chris Chibnall will want. I haven't got a very good track record on predicting Chibnall's decisions so far having concluded he properly wouldn't cast a woman as the new Doctor. Oops.

Now for the most part New Who has stuck with a single female companions, sometimes with their romantic partner. But with a female Doctor this would mean that the entire TARDIS crew would be female. Now I don't have any problems with this as such but I think some parts of the audience would. Apart from the obvious misogynists, having an all woman crew could leave some young boys starting to think that Doctor Who is for girls. There is a potential for audience figures to be affected by this choice so I would guess that the Who team would want to have a male companion either instead of or alongside a female one. 

Maybe there will be a complete switch and we'll have a female Doctor and a male companion. There are two obvious dangers with this in my mind. One is that it leads to the potential for some form of relationship between the Doctor and the companion. As much as that worked well between Rose and the Ninth/Tenth Doctors it is starting to feel a stale idea. Then there's the problem that writers could end up making a male companion fill in parts of the Doctor's role. I'm not saying that would happen but it's certainly a possibility that should be avoided. 

My bet is that we'll get more than one companion, more akin to the classic series. Quite what form this will take, I'm not sure. Maybe we'll go down a 60s route and have two friends who clearly have feelings for each other but haven't yet done anything about it. I could see that working on the modern show, a slow burning romance with the 13th Doctor trying to make it happen. Alternatively they could already be in a relationship. We've had that fairly recently with Amy and Rory but Chibnall was great when focusing on their domestic life in Pond Life and The Power of Three. 

The other option is for the new Doctor to gradually pick up several new companions over a series of episodes. Personally, this is what I'd like to see. It would mean that the companions have to get to know each other as well as the Doctor (imagine if we had two companions who didn't get on) and it allows for more possibilities in splitting the team up (e.g. the Doctor and one companion together, both companions together, all character separated from each other etc). It would also give an opportunity to have at least one companion that is from a different period in time, something that the new series has not really explored yet. 

I'm really intrigued to see what form the new companion(s) will take but I'm excited for whatever Chris Chibnall comes up with.

Trust Me- Episode 3

It's the penultimate episode of Jodie Whittaker's fake doctor drama and someone learns her secret. This discussion includes spoilers if you haven't yet seen the episode.

Things are starting to go wrong for Cath/Ally. This episode opens with Cath at her father's deathbed- now she is working as a Doctor she desperately wants to help but there's nothing anyone can do. It's not a plotline which is lingered on but is well portrayed all the same. Whittaker manages to show us the depth of her sadness without resorting to overly dramatic floods of tears that some actors may have gone for. For me, the death of her father is symbolic of Cath losing control of her life. There's nothing she can do to keep her dad alive and I feel she is just as powerless in ensuring her secret stays safe.

Indeed, it's already got out to one person as boyfriend Andy discovers that Dr. Ally is really Nurse Cath. The series has so far focussed on Jodie Whittaker's character but here it spends quite a long time with Emun Elliott's Andy. He's absolutely furious with the situation and very nearly spills the beans but doesn't when Bridget tells him Ally is perhaps the best Doctor on the ward.

I think Andy realises that although what Cath is doing is morally wrong she does make a good doctor so he's not overly worried about that side of things. What he is most upset by is the fact that she has never revealed the truth to him. He whisks her off to a remote Scottish mountainside and tries to get her to open up. We have the best moment of the series so far as he calls after Ally and when she doesn't respond uses her real name, Cath.

Fortunately for Cath it turns out Andy is not going to reveal her secret. He loves her and has decided he wants to help her keep the lie. It's a huge risk for him but he obviously consider it worthwhile. It was a worrying moment but soon Cath is moving in with Andy and she finally has the confidant she so desperately needed.

Things don't stay good for long as Cath finds herself working a Friday night shift with Bridget as the only other doctor. When a patient with a dental abscess comes in Cath wants to investigate fully but Bridget tells her to not to and to discharge him. Soon he is rushed in with the abscess blocking his airway and a messy procedure needed to save him.

Then Cath faces the ultimate dilemma. Bridget asks her to doctor the paperwork and though it clearly goes against Cath's very strong ethics she feels she has no choice- she can't risk an investigation. It then becomes apparent Bridget has been drinking on the job and has done so regularly.

It's a really difficult situation. Cath now faces the choice of throwing her friend Bridget to the wolves or risk her real identity being found out in an investigation. Just how far will she go to keep her secret? I fear the department is in danger of losing its three main doctors with Ally/Cath and Andy keeping her secret and Bridget being an alcoholic!

As well as this dilemma, there's also the problem that Karl, Cath's ex, is headed to Edinburgh angry that she has been telling people he hit her. Surely Cath is going to be found out in the final episode but I'm not quite sure how that will be...

[Click here for all my Trust Me episode discussions)

Trust Me- Episode 2

Jodie Whittaker's medical thriller continues... Beware, there are spoilers below!

We left Cath/Ally in a precarious position last week. She'd successfully managed to convince everyone she is actually a doctor but there were threats all over the shop that could have revealed her secret. 

Cath is starting to become an excellent liar by this point. When she first joined the emergency department she was making basic mistakes like signing the wrong name on forms. But now the lies seems to be coming in quick succession. In this episode she is badgered for her passport and manages to keep fobbing the HR man off by saying she can't find it. In the end she has to pay £800 for a fake one. Surely you can't just use Google to find that sort of service? 

There's also a medical conference which Cath is virtually forced to attend. She takes very careful notes but suddenly realises that the junior doctor from her previous job is in attendance. Her answer- go to the pub! It's another example of her easily dodging a risky situation. 

One situation she hasn't managed to dodge so successfully is the journalist who has been hounding her. He leaves with the assumption that Cath's ex Karl hit her and her daughter. Cath never actually said that but she didn't deny it either. It's one thing lying about her past but when it brings other people into disrepute it could lead to major problems. 

The highlight of the episode is a scene in a lift when a patient crashes and the doctors run out of lines. It's feels really tense and claustrophobic and Whittaker is superb at showing us how stressed the character is. Fortunately it's solved by the junior doctor who, er, finds another way in. 

There's also an important scene where Cath successfully treats a drug-addict whose veins are closed up. She finds a way in, calling on her experience as a nurse, and shows how good a doctor she can actually be. I think this is a really important scene as it shows us that she's not hopeless and is genuinely making a difference to people. 

It's been clear from the start that someone will find out the truth sooner or later and at the end of the episode Cath's new partner Andrew does. He keeps hearing things that don't make sense like an old friend who heard Ally went to New Zealand and a phone call asking for Cath rather than Ally. A quick Google leads him to an image of nurse Cath receiving an award alongside the real Dr Ally Sutton. It'll be interesting to see his reaction in the next episode- he's clearly fallen head over heels in love with Cath so will he confront her, report her or keep quiet? 

To be honest, I wasn't overly keen on this episode. It had some good moments but largely it was a repeat of the last episode. Constant tension for Cath as she thinks at every moment someone has found her out. It really feels like the first two episodes could have been condensed into one. 

[Click here for all my Trust Me episode discussions)

Trust Me- Episode 1

Jodie Whittaker will now forever be known as the Thirteenth Doctor but before her Doctor Who debut she appears as the main character in Trust Me- a woman who pretends to be a doctor.

Cath Hardacre is suspended from her nursing job after causing a nuisance of herself, gathering data about mistakes in patient care and considering giving them to the press. But when the opportunity comes to take on the identity of a doctor she decides to take it and finds herself working as a doctor at an A and E department in Edinburgh.

The moment Cath decides to take on the role of a doctor is an interesting one. It's not really clear what her motivation is. She has a child to support but there's plenty of other jobs she could do. Maybe it's because she genuinely wants to help and make a difference to people. Surely though she knows that her masquerading as a doctor would put lives at risk eventually.

Much of the episode sees Cath working in the emergency department, constantly fearing that she is going to be found out. She makes minor mistakes, like not giving anesthetic when she sets bones. But she is medically trained and with a bit of research manages to get by and become popular with her colleagues. Writer Dan Sefton says that it would be relatively easy to get away with if you had enough medical knowledge and that fake doctors would likely be better than some real doctors.

At the moment, it's not entirely clear where this series is going. All we can say for sure is that Cath is going to be found out- it's just a question of when and by who. She's seen here beginning a relationship with colleague Andy and I could imagine that he might not give her up if he is the one to find out. There's certainly plenty of threats on the horizon such as the journalist trying to get hold of her and the need to present a passport.

The pace is relatively slow but this episode is all about setting up the deception and how Cath manages to get away with it. Surely it's going to be the fallout where the drama really comes. Jodie Whittaker is great here despite not having a great emotional role as yet. What her performance really does capture is her fear, the way she constantly worries she has just been found out. It's all in the body language and Whittaker shows how great an actress she is by saying everything without words.

An intriguing start and I look forward to where the series will go next...