Christmas on Emmerdale always promises to be full of drama but this year’s Christmas storyline had an eerie taste of Groundhog Day for character Robert Sugden as viewers were left wondering if he’d live to see another day. The team from Medical Hire were thrilled to have been involved.
Robert’s life has never been plain sailing but since his split from Aaron Dingle and the birth of his baby son, Seb, things have been more difficult than ever.
With Christmas Day looming, Robert had bought gifts for little Seb and went to the Woolpak to give them to Lawrence and Chrissie to pass onto the baby. But they told him what he could do with the gifts which left Robert feeling devastated. He started to drown his sorrows and was just starting to feel a bit merry when Aaron walked in. Aaron was on a date with Dr Alex but this didn’t stop Robert from handing Aaron a Christmas gift that he’d bought for him. Robert was then swiftly persuaded to leave the pub before Aaron had chance to react.
Still in the partying mood and with a bottle of booze in hand, Robert walked off down a dark country lane where a car suddenly approached him but luckily managed to swerve out of the way. But sadly another car quickly followed and the driver doesn’t spot him in time. Lawrence was behind the wheel of the car and Robert was knocked to the ground.
On Christmas Day, the episode showed Robert waking up multi-times from his accident in a Groundhog Day-type sequence. The half-reality / half-dream scenario played out events in a number of different ways but eventually viewers saw Robert being rushed into hospital by the paramedic and A&E teams and then receiving emergency treatment to revive him.
The Medical Hire team were thrilled to have been involved in the filming of this dramatic episode, not only providing the hospital furniture and equipment, but also supporting the cast and crew on-set to ensure the storyline was as authentic as possible. One of the Medical Hire advisors even stepped in as an extra during a particular scene which involved a difficult medical procedure using a laryngoscope.
Despite the dramatic medical scenes, Robert is out of his hospital bed and up on his feet by the end of the episode and things are looking up.
Chloe Mitchell, Director for Medical Hire, said, “The Emmerdale Christmas Day episode was fantastic to work on and we were thrilled that one of our advisors was asked to appear as an extra. We are incredibly proud of the knowledge and skills that we are able to offer to television production companies to help them make their scenes completely realistic. The final cut of Emmerdale’s special Christmas Day episode looked fantastic on TV and we are excited to see what the writers have in store next for Robert and the rest of the characters.”
For more information about Medical Hire and the range of medical equipment and props for hire, call 0113 2628000 to discuss your needs.
(*Image courtesy of ITV)