Dr. David Cheriton arrives at St. Aidan's Royal Free Hospital in Elsinby, newly qualified and keen to impress at his job interview - only to discover they aren't even expecting him. Meanwhile, Dr. Jill Weatherill's professional competence is called into question during a home visit, and hospital porter Ken Hopkirk's efforts to put up a television aerial end in disaster.

Ormerod rushes to help following a boating accident, but realises he's been sent to the wrong location, and when he finally arrives at the disaster scene, his efforts to save a man's life prove futile. On returning to the hospital, he angrily chastises Lizzie for the misinformation - only to realise he was too hasty in blaming her. Can he make amends? Meanwhile, PC Ventress comes to the Royal with two men who had been fighting over a girl, and one promptly collapses due to a brain haemorrhage. Weatherill faces a testing time when she helps deliver a baby which is tragically stillborn and nurse Meryl reveals she suspects she may be pregnant.

Ormerod faces a difficult dilemma when Caroline's father Henry turns up suggesting they turn off her life-support machine, having done all they can, but the guilt-ridden doctor wonders whether he'd only be letting her die so he can be with Weatherill. Meanwhile, Goodwin puts his career on the line when he allows a member of the public to cure a back injury, student nurse Samantha Beaumont is less than impressed by a date with theatre technician Alun Morris and a patient's pet parrot causes chaos in the hospital.

Ormerod faces a testing time when his father-in-law arrives demanding to know whether he was seeing Dr. Weatherill while his late daughter was still alive. Following a heated exchange, it emerges that the disgruntled patriarch has hired a private detective to investigate the couple - but the situation only serves to bring them closer together, culminating in a marriage proposal. At the Royal, a painfully thin girl causes concern for Goodwin - whose green-eyed monster emerges when student nurse Samantha Beaumont agrees to a date with a younger man - and the hospital is evacuated after a suicide victim's corpse is brought in emitting toxic fumes.

Dr. Weatherill is involved in an air rescue to save an unconscious girl and finds herself braving a cliff abseil to reach the youngster. Dr. Ormerod faces a difficult time when he misdiagnoses a patient who is left fighting for life later in hospital. Sister Brigid has an accident on her bike, while Harper faces a staff revolt.

A dangerous situation arises on board a sinking trawler and Matron hands in her resignation.

Dr. Goodwin is accused of taking sides when he goes too far to help a woman who claims her husband is hitting her, and there is a mystery to solve when a patient is admitted under a false name. Meanwhile, Dr. Ormerod's strange behaviour shows signs of becoming worse - and Frankie fears the surgeon is becoming addicted to his medication.

Dr Makri takes a crash course in dealing with Yorkshire folk. Stella deals with the confessions of a window cleaner.

When a mother falls seriously ill, staff at the hospital are faced with a dilemma.

A case of anthrax prompts an investigation from the Public Health Office.

Suspicion falls on Adam over missing hospital funds and Mike attends a meeting to assess the mental welfare of a 50-year-old man who still lives with his mother. Elsewhere, Gordon's ex-father-in-law pays an unexpected visit with some sobering news and Ken has a confession to make to his colleagues.

The train on which Marian was travelling crashes, trapping her in the wreckage. Although she cannot escape, she's free to move around the carriage to help those injured, assisted by fellow passenger Dr Nick Burnett - who turns out to be the Royal's new locum. Back at the hospital, a shortage of staff puts the casualty department under pressure when the crash victims begin to arrive.

Carnegie disapproves when Nick admits several homeless people from Elsinby to the hospital. Gordon is reluctant to let Jill take on heavy duties. However his plans fall apart when she is called to attend to road along the coast when a female victim of a car accident goes into labor. Meanwhile, Matron is stunned when she sees who is the new student nurse, and patient who enjoys gossip discloses where Ken is.

With Susie and Carnegie's relationship becoming the focus of talk in the hospital, Matron reaches the end of her patience and decides to suspend Susie when she's late for work. Mr Rose faces a personal test when a golfing friend of his has to into the operating theatre, Nick copes struggles with a dilemna and Gordon and Bobby are called to a farming accident where a man is trapped by a combine harvester.

Dr Ellis confronts local prejudice when he discovers one of his patients has contracted a rare disease abroad. Jack and Alun begin a crackpot scheme to raise chickens, Brigid makes a decision about baby Aisling's future, while Jean becomes more frustrated with Lizzie's incompetence.

A family outing causes trouble for the Ormerods and Lizzie attempts to improve her vocabulary.

The hospital’s future is in doubt following DHA's decision not to sanction a financial package to repair the Casualty department. The hospital is only offered an authorised high interest loan, that doesn’t cover all the costs of the everything that needs to be done. The hospital's budget for the year ahead has also been cut so that the Royal will need to dip into the Middleditch trust fund to keep the hospital open. Jean ends up announcing that the only way forward is to consider a a complete closure of Casualty. Ralph ends up taking some secret action to rectify the situation but also ends up bringing up some difficult issues in his past. Carol and Ralph finally end up getting together.