Series 1 - Episode 3

This episode follows the festival of Holi (like Easter, but usually held in March) and the chaos surrounding the crowds. Lydia finds an abandoned baby on her doorstep and the case brings Gabriel and Ruby closer together. The son of an old friend asks Lydia for help, with life-changing consequences. AJ is in trouble with Ram after a fling returns unexpectedly. Maggie continues to enjoy her remaining life in India with Paul.

Greg has made pancakes for breakfast with Lydia to celebrate the festival, him wearing only an apron. He chooses to see the joy in being thankful for loved ones. She is dismissive of his efforts and refuses the gesture. He is hurt, wanting their relationship to be about more than sex. She wonders what else they would talk about. Opening the door to leave for work, she sees a baby in a basket. She takes the foundling to the hospital, giving him to paediatrician Ruby to look after until the family can be found or he is taken in by the police until an alternative home is available.

Meanwhile, AJ is late for work because he is saying goodbye to his latest conquest. She is Josie, who he calls his British Butterfly. He immediately moves on when she gets into a waiting airport taxi. As he surveys new candidates in town, he comes across a young women who has collapsed at the market. Rushed into the hospital, him and Gabriel believe she is suffering from a head injury until Ruby finds the source of the bleeding. They realise that she must be the missing mother. As a learning experience, Gabriel makes Ruby take the lead on the procedure needed to remove the retained placental fragments. Having displayed confidence in looking after the baby, she now hesitates at surgery but performs it well with guidance.

A tall blonde British man comes in asking for help. Lydia initially dismisses him because he looks fine but he says it's for his father, a local expat artist, originally from Scotland, named Desmond Macintosh. Lydia recognises the name and realises the visitor is Sunshine (Sunny), someone she knew as a boy many years ago. Concerned for her old friend, she takes the house call. Sunny has received a letter asking for him to come, but Desmond is not answering the door. They hear singing, in the form of wailing, along to rock music. Lydia is able to open, only to find Desmond with headphones on and painting naked. The prudish Sunny is horrified by his father's living arrangements.

Lydia hears a bad cough from both her friend and his pet monkey, Jimi Hendrix. He refuses to come into the hospital for treatment so she must adapt to a different tactic and uses the animal to her advantage. Once an X-ray is taken, she diagnoses pneumonia and puts them both onto antibiotics. As the day goes on, her patient demonstrates more and more erratic behaviours. She asks him about the excess skin from weight loss, only to learn that he forgets to eat. She tests him on older trivia as a distraction, which he remembers clearly. When she then asks him which tablets he has to take, he reacts with confusion, saying "What pills?".

It is a busy day for the whole team. Even Ram is helping out with general cases and begs the pair to help him. Ruby extracts a large splinter from the buttock of an unfortunate musician. Gabriel has an asthma patient who is sensitive to the colourful powder the crowds use. On discharge, he tries to stop kids from throwing more, but they ignore him. He guides the boy back for more treatment, having also been covered in it himself. He insists that "it's not funny" as Ruby tries, and fails, not to laugh. Despite all his blustering, she isn't afraid of him. At break, he cleans and changes while she literally bumps into Sunny and they discuss their respective fathers. She sees it as a second chance for the Macintoshes. He is not convinced.

AJ's fling has returned, much to his horror. Having been abandoned and wanting to surprise him, she sneaks into Dr Nair's office, crossing paths with Sunny. She hides in the cupboard ready with leopard print bikini on full display. Of course it is Ram, not AJ, who she tries to seduce. AJ has lied, claiming to be a doctor. With no idea what's going on, Ram is embarrassed by AJs antics, losing his temper with his son for the disrespectful behaviour he has shown to Josie and demands he changes his ways, while both try to apologise to her. She is humiliated, crying as she leaves.

Maggie has seen Gabriel earlier in the day for another check up and made him smile again with her outlook. Now in town, Maggie gets her wish to try the mysterious Bhang with Paul. He soon realises what is in it, from experiences in his youth, and that they are high. She calls him a "bad boy" as a tease before admitting that she doesn't want to die and is having an amazing time. See Milk Publicity for promotional images [Couple | Dancers] from this scene.

The young mother has woken up and is able to give the staff her name. At first, Shobha denies knowing anything about having given birth. Gabriel is judgemental about her decision to leave the baby, but Ruby defends her patient saying that she's very scared and that he shouldn't be so arrogant. Abandonment of an infant is a criminal offence but Ruby feels the case is not so absolute. She continues to fight her cause and begs Gabriel not to call the police. He delays for a while but is forced to take action when the vulnerable Shobha and Ruby go missing. She has seen her baby and run away. Ruby goes after her but struggles to push through the crowded waiting room.

She eventually catches up and persuades the patient to return to the hospital on the condition that the police are not involved. When they return, both feel betrayed because the police are there for the missing person case. After a chastisement from Lydia, Ruby then calls in the parents, reluctantly agreeing that in Britain too the authorities must be informed. Shobha confides in her doctor that it wasn't her who left the baby and that she wants to keep him. The parents are pretending not to know anything about the situation, but it was them who took the child during the night while Shobha was sleeping. They are insisting on adoption, threatening to disown their daughter. With no prospects for income, she cannot take care of them both by herself so decides that it is for the best.

Discharged and dressed, Shobha must face police questioning and is not allowed to say goodbye. A guilty Gabriel looks on and soon apologises to Ruby for not listening to her advice. He offers to take her out drinking but she doesn't want to forget. Trying to be supportive, he leads her to the local Buddhist temple for contemplation instead. Here, she in turn confides in him why the case affected her so much. It is because of her own experience of being pregnant with a baby that she wished away, just before exams about 3 years earlier. Whether through miscarriage or abortion is not clear. Uncertain how to help, he holds her silently as she cries. She feels that she doesn't deserve another chance at motherhood.

Lydia diagnoses Desmond with dementia and the realisation crushes him. He does not remember writing the letter, or why, so Sunny has to provide the paper as proof. He wanted a reunion, to spend time with his estranged son while he still could. Frustrated by Desmond's activities and moods, Sunny agrees to spend some time helping him but it is a ruse to escape and he never returns to collect his father. Desmond just wants to go home. Lydia is not sure this is a good idea but relents and stocks a week's food in the fridge for him, intending to check in regularly. She then returns home after a long and emotional day to see that Greg has left her the pancakes to have later. Touched by his thoughtfulness, she goes to him as he is securing the bar and agrees to talk on the condition the conversation is interesting. Greg can respond with only silence, making Lydia laugh at his discomfort.

See IMDb. First broadcast: 19 Feb 2017 on ITV in UK.

Production Staff

 * Writer: Nancy Harris
 * Director: Bill Eagles
 * Producer: Stephen Smallwood

Guest Cast

 * Yasmin Paige as Josie Young
 * Mithila Palkar as Shobha Pereira
 * Shanaka Amarasinghe as Mr Pereira
 * Kanika Dang as Mrs Pereira
 * Rupert Young as Sunshine "Sunny" Macintosh -
 * Clive Russell as Desmond Macintosh -
 * Raja Ganeshan as Bhang Seller

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