27th Sept 2017
Episode 2 - Sons and Lovers
With Janice the nanny having left, Martin and Louisa need to find a nursery for James Henry. He is accepted at Portwenn Tots, but not before Martin can insult the nursery manager, Mel Hendy (Rosie Ede).
Martin isn’t convinced recovering alcoholic Ken Hollister (Clive Russell), the landlord of the local pub theCrab & Lobster, hasn’t started drinking again, when he comes in for a consultation with fluid on the liver. When Ken collapses in the pub cellar Martin is able to diagnose Ken with Leptospirosis.
With the arrival in the pharmacy of a new blood pressure monitor Clive Tishell (Malcolm Storry) decides to test it on Al (Joe Absolom). Mrs Tishell (Selina Cadell) who doesn’t want Clive interfering with her customers, is shocked to see that Al has extremely high blood pressure and sends him to Martin with the warning of an impending heart attack.
Ruth (Dame Eileen Atkins) is approached about selling her farm. It is an appealing opportunity with the B & B and the whisky business in which she invested, not doing well.
Al is taken by surprise when he finds an unhappy B & B customer, John Rahmanzai (Art Malik), has been waiting in the cold to check in, after Bert (Ian McNeice) forgets to mention the booking. John has more of a connection to Portwenn than he thought, as he discovers that Ruth and his father knew each other better than they claimed. Martin saves John’s life, after his adult-onset asthma takes a turn for the worse.
Louisa helps with the diagnosis of a pupil, Astrid Trappett (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) after Astrid starts to behave strangely in class. This spurs Louisa on to explore a possible career change. This is not welcome news for Martin, who dislikes change of any kind – even if it could be for the better.