As this episode of Malpractice begins, Lucinda Edwards (Niamh Algar) sits with Abi (Liberty Miller) at the hospital. Beth Relph (Hannah Walters) comes over to check on them. She wants to discuss the social services referral. Lucinda says she can’t send it. She worries that they’ll take Abi and the MIU could find out. Tom (Lorne MacFadyen) blames himself and asks Beth not to punish Abi for his mistake. Beth promises to deal with it. In private, she tells Lucinda that she needs to sort herself out. At home, Tom speaks to Lucinda and tries to find out where she was and why her phone was switched off.

Tom asks if she is still using diazepam and where Abi got the tablets. Lucinda claims she must’ve found an old strip. Tom wants to help, but he needs her to start telling the truth. Lucinda insists she stopped taking diazepam when she went back to work. She reminds him that he barely has a job so she has to pay for things around there. Tom says she needs help before he begins packing to leave. Lucinda swears on Abi’s life that she didn’t take drugs. Tom calls that low after what happened yesterday. Dr. Mike Willett (Tristan Sturrock) speaks to everyone about the inquest and other things.

He admits the report seriously damaged the trust’s reputation. The trust is at risk of losing its trainees if they don’t respond satisfactorily. Willett wants to raise the issue of Dr. Lucinda Edwards. He suggests terminating her now. If she remains in post and the MIU strikes her off, it will not look good. Beth says Lucinda is still technically a trainee. As a teaching hospital, they’re still responsible for her welfare. Dr. Willett thinks Lucinda is a liability. They take a vote and agree to leave Lucinda in her post. Meanwhile, Lucinda says goodbye to Tom and Abigail. Then, she gets an email from Wellspring Pharmacy about a prescribing error.

She goes there so she can amend the prescription. Lucinda meets Dr. Jubair Singh (Ash Tandon) who confirms they met at the Patient Care Awards. He asks her about coming in and accusing one of his dispensers of taking an extra payment. Lucinda claims Camilla is an addict and Jubair is illegally selling her prescription drugs. Lucinda threatens to report him to the MIU. Dr. Singh thinks she would’ve already done that. He tells her that he went to a board meeting in which her future was discussed. Her daughter’s accident is going to look a lot worse if she has been hiding a diazepam addiction. Jubair says he’ll keep quiet and she’ll keep quiet.

Before Lucinda leaves, she is told to throw Rob’s phone away. George Adjei (Jordan Kouame) joins Norma Callahan (Helen Behan) to talk about Lucinda possibly prescribing fentanyl to Edith and trying to make it look like a suicide attempt. Norma says Edith’s parents could bring a criminal case against Lucinda if she prescribed the drugs that killed her. George finds it odd that they didn’t find any drugs in the flat, yet Edith kept the prescription. Today, George is going to RH to get samples of Lucinda’s past prescriptions. He agrees to speak to Ramya while he is there. At the hospital, Lucinda speaks to Dr. Ramya Morgan (Priyanka Patel).

Dr. Oscar Beattie (Scott Chambers) sees George as he enters the hospital. Lucinda speaks to Sam Henry about Abi and ITU. Sam says Rob is showing signs of improvement and is having a repeat CT scan now. Sam takes Lucinda to Patient X who is awake and talking now. The boy admits he feels safer at the hospital than he would at home. Lucinda gives him her number in case he needs to contact her about anything. She pleads with Yussef to stay out of trouble. George tells Norma that he sent off for the handwriting samples. Lucinda calls about seeing Abi, but her phone call is ignored. Once she gets into her vehicle, she finds out that she has a mandatory interview with the MIU tomorrow.

Lucinda meets the MIU and is promptly asked about the prescription found in Edith’s flat. She quickly denies writing the prescription and thinks someone planted it there. Lucinda tells them about Rob Thornbury who was a supervisor at her medical school. They became good friends. Rob told her that Edith was an addiction patient he had been looking after. One day, he called her to say that Edith had accidentally overdosed on a drug he had prescribed. He asked her to look after Edith and code the overdose as deliberate so no one would look at his prescribing. Rob thought their investigation would blow over and no one would need to know the rest.

She didn’t think coding it as deliberate seemed like a big deal. Lucinda didn’t think Rob deserved to be investigated because of one prescribing error. George asks if the names Alexander Taylor and Camilla Woodham mean anything to her, but Lucinda claims they do not. She is shown the case notes and told that both patients were presented with deliberate opioid overdoses shortly after she received a call from Rob. Lucinda admits they were accidents and she knew they were coming because Rob called her. Lucinda argues that prescribing for addicts is hard to do safely. When they ask about Rob, Lucinda tells them that he is in the ITU at RH since he was in an accident a few weeks ago.

Norma admits this is starting to sound like a pack of lies. Lucinda urges them to speak to Rob’s wife Eva Thornbury. She is a part of this since she was Edith’s doctor at the Guelder Clinic. She practices under her maiden name Tait. Lucinda is warned that she could face criminal charges. George reveals they’ve received information from a reliable source suggesting that she has been abusing diazepam and stealing it from A&E. Norma tells Lucinda they’d like her to undergo formal drug testing. Lucinda wants to know who the source is because she thinks she is a victim in this. Norma goes over everything that Lucinda has done.

George asks where she got the diazepam. Lucinda says Tom told A&E they were from a prescription for an old shoulder injury. Norma recommends complying with the drug testing. Lucinda says fine. Norma tells her that everything she said today doesn’t make sense. She thinks it would be best to suspend her for the time being. Lucinda is told that she must not enter any clinical area of the hospital. She should also return her ID and access cards immediately. George refuses to help. Lucinda is told she’ll receive a letter with a date for her tribunal hearing. In private, George and Norma discuss Lucinda’s story and whether they believe her.

George knows it all doesn’t make sense, but he thinks there was something off about the Guelder Clinic. Norma agrees they should speak to Eva Tait. However, she argues that whatever Lucinda says won’t be reliable if she is an addict. Kathy is asked to check with RH’s chief pharmacist to see whether they’re missing any prescriptions. Lucinda visits Tom so she can sit with Abi. She tells Tom that she was suspended. He spoke to Beth Relph earlier and she told him. When they discussed Abi and the social services referral, Tom told her to go ahead with it. He explains that he can’t cover for her all the time.

Lucinda reminds him that he was meant to be on her side. Tom explains that they want to do a social services assessment. Dr. Leo Harris (James Purefoy) is impressed with Oscar’s audit. Although Willett is over the purchases, Harris knows that most of their waste drugs go to a charity. Leo will talk to Mike about it and Oscar might even get a publication out of it. George and Norma visit Eva to speak about the investigation. Eva tells them that Lucinda was Rob’s student when he taught. She doesn’t recall her husband ever prescribing for any of her patients. Eva asks if Lucinda told them that she used to date her husband.

She claims Lucinda has been obsessed with him so she wouldn’t trust anything she says about him. Lucinda goes to the hospital to tell Rob she needs him to stay alive. She needs him to tell the MIU that he planted the prescription with her name on it in Edith’s flat. Lucinda knows he has been working for Jubair Singh prescribing for drug addicts. Rob says he can’t. Lucinda gets upset and accuses him of completely screwing her over. Rob begins coughing up blood. Lucinda has to flee. In the morning, Lucinda gets an email about the terms of her suspension. George finds out about Rob’s accident before receiving the handwriting analysis for Lucinda.

It was inconclusive. Lucinda manages to get a visitor’s pass. Dr. Leo Harris interrupts Ramya and Oscar as they work. He tells them that they have a new locum registrar joining the team named Dr. Sandeep Khan. They’re told about Lucinda being suspended before she enters the room. Lucinda says she is there to pick up her things before asking Beth if it was her. Then, she accuses Ramya of telling them the lie about her stealing diazepam. Ramya tells her that she did nothing wrong. Oscar confesses he told the MIU about the diazepam. He explains that he shouldn’t stand by and say nothing. Oscar thought they were going to offer her help and not suspend her.

Once Lucinda leaves, Ramya says she is glad she is being suspended because she is tired of being blamed for everything. Leo tells Oscar that he did the right thing and Lucinda will realize that once she has calmed down. Lucinda storms into Jubair’s office to say she wants to take Rob’s place working for him. In return, she wants diazepam. Jubair agrees to be her on trial for a month. She’ll get a phone so clients can contact her. Then, she’ll write them a prescription. They’ll take it to one of his pharmacies to fill it. She’ll get paid cash at the end of the month. She’ll receive a reduced rate until she can prove herself. Rob has problems once again. Lucinda takes diazepam as soon as she gets out to her vehicle.

 

Malpractice Review

The fourth episode of Malpractice possibly saw Lucinda Edwards hit rock bottom. She was suspended from her job, lost her family, and ultimately decided to go to work for Jubair Singh, but there could be a bigger plan in the works. The performances have been top-notch with Niamh Algar leading the way. The series is made well enough, but the story isn’t particularly compelling.

There has been no character development, there is no one to cheer for, and the investigation is a bit of a mess. Unfortunately, the story might’ve been too ambitious by trying to tackle so many topics simultaneously, including drug abuse, malpractice, corruption, the pandemic, and so on. Now, it looks like Lucinda is probably going to work on bringing down a drug operation.

It is a lot to take in and a lot of bending reality is needed to fully accept everything that is happening. Even then, the story is shallow making it impossible to genuinely care about the outcome. With this cast and a simpler, more grounded story, Malpractice could’ve been a gripping hit.

In its current shape, it can’t be anything other than mediocre at its best. This episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Malpractice are available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Find out more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.