Connie feels on top of her game, but when the stranger in her office turns out to be the new joint Director of Surgery, Hanssen, Connie is defiant - she doesn't job share. Setting out to make sure Hanssen knows who is top dog, she outlines her visionary presentation to the Board. But when Hanssen publically dismisses her plans, Connie is humiliated. When Connie watches from the wings as Hanssen gathers the hospital together, telling them that there will be tough times to come, she realises a new King of Holby has been born.

Michael basks in the luxury of Holby Care, leaving Penny in the lurch on the frontline on AAU. But with Hanssen arriving on AAU just in time to witness the mess, Michael realises he may have pushed his luck. Will Michael step up to be Penny's knight in shining armour?

Ric is clinging onto work, despite his declining health. His daughter Jess has important news, but he refuses to make time to listen. When his denial starts affecting his work and the people who love him most, can he swallow his pride and accept that he needs to slow down?

Penny is put out when Michael is completely distracted by a job interview, as she needs him to write her annual report.

Penny is put out when Michael is completely distracted by a job interview, as she needs him to write her annual report.

Hanssen warns Connie that cuts still have to be made on Darwin and he ends up putting Elliot in the firing line. Jac feels like she has to be completley indispensable so that Hanssen will be impressed. When she makes a wrong choice in theatre things don't go to plan. Frieda is encouraged by Penny and Michael to come back on to the day shift on a permanent basis.

After Faye goes into labour she refuses to leave the psyche ward which causes Joseph to panic. The baby is in a breeched position and Faye needs a Caesarean performed quickly. Jac ends up getting a call from Joseph asking for help. Chrissie looks forward to her date with Greg but she is worried that its not the right time to start dating again. Donna is determined not to give into Kieran's charms.

Elliot and Connie argue throughout a difficult shift, as Elliot attempts to remain detached from a patient and Connie's father is admitted to Keller ward. When Elliot walks out of an operation, Connie cannot defend him to Hanssen and admits that he has become a liability. Faye is injured attempting to leave the hospital. Joseph halts their divorce proceedings in an effort to support her, and Faye decides to name their son Harry, after Joseph's deceased brother. However, when Joseph realises that Faye intends to return to the psychiatric unit with Harry, he seeks comfort from Jac. The patient Jac almosthuged by neglecting his pre-op checks intends to make a formal complaint, and Chrissie panics, believing she is at fault after being set up by Jac.

Connie's father undergoes an operation which proves more difficult than expected. Struggling to deal with his worsening condition, Connie seeks respite in her work. Having completed his surgical rotation on Darwin, Oliver is posted to the AAU. He loses his confidence in theatre and embarrasses himself in front of Michael. Greg is frustrated to be working with Elliot on Darwin, but comes to respect him when Elliot diagnoses an obscure condition. He is shocked to learn of Connie's plan to push Elliot out of his job, and confronts her over her treatment of her former friend.

Chrissie, tired out from looking after Daniel, has to face the board over a mistake Jac framed her for. Sacha turns into Chrissie's knight in shining armour and she at long last wonders whether he could be her "Mr. Right". Penny gets above her station when filling in as registrar for the shift, upsetting Oliver in the process before coming back down to earth after a talk from Michael. Joseph tries to get Faye re-admitted to the psychiatric ward but she declines. Joseph, left with no choice, decides to invite Faye and Harry to spend Christmas with him, upsetting Jac after promising to spend Christmas with her. Faye makes a mysterious phone call.

Connie faces tough choices when her dad is rushed into Holby on Christmas Day and she is brought face-to-face with consequences of the cuts.

A new registrar, Antoine Malick, arrives at Holby and immediately rubs Penny and Michael the wrong way.

Joseph has it all figured out. He will pull back his hours to spend more time with his infant son, Harry. But when Hanssen offers Joseph a promotion, it becomes more difficult to put family first. Joseph avoids getting sucked back into long hours at the expense of his son when he decides to leave the hospital for good.

When Elliot discovers Greg and Mary-Claire in a compromising situation, Greg's position is in jeopardy. Greg goes out of his way to prove to Elliot how talented he is, but at the risk of a patient's life.

Mark is torn between maintaining his friendships and his duty to the hospital when Hanssen tells him he must drop a consultant from the rota. However, when Elliot bends the rules to help a patient again, the choice appears to have been made for him. Meanwhile, Kieran returns, desperate to win Donna's affections before he leaves for Afghanistan.

After Malick is left in charge of the AAU, Michael thinks that he should use his team. Malick ends up managing to upset everyone and in particular Penny, whose diagnosis and advice he decides to ignore.

When patient Aislinn Marsh tells Malick she would like a consultant rather than a registrar, it soon becomes apparent that this is not entirely the truth when his replacement is Ric. Malick accuses her of being racist and she uses this as a reason to delay her operation by making a formal complaint against him, saying that he was aggressive towards her. Even though this isn't true, it is Malick's word against hers. Therefore Ric tells him that he isn't allowed to operate on her. However in theatre Aislinn goes into crisis and the team need his help. He walks out of theatre and they assume he's abandoning them, although he swiftly returns with a crash team and saves the day.

Jac is back at Holby and out to prove she can be a good leader, she bites her tongue and accepts the offer of mentoring new registrar, Sahira through her first day. But when Sahira proves not only is she a match for Jac but has history with Hanssen, Jac realises all may not be what it seems. Jac knows she has competition - but there's nothing she likes better - bring it on!

Sahira is pleased to be back working but is disturbed when it becomes clear that Hanssen wants to use her to snitch on her colleagues. Starring Guy Henry & Laila Rouass.

Jac has tried everything to get ahead: lying, cheating and manipulating. But Elliot suggests that she is better off just being a team player. Jac takes the advice, and helps Greg with one of his patients. But when the patient turns out to be a candidate for cutting-edge surgery, Jac reverts to her old tactics to lead the operation.

Donna wants to start a new life with Kieran but struggles with the prospect of leaving Ric and Michael and uprooting Mia. Elizabeth and Jess help her find the strength to let go.

Penny looses her rag with Ollie when she thinks he's not taking responsibility for landing her in it but when a patient dies unexpectedly, Ollie spirals out of control and admits something monumental about his past. When Greg tires of Sahira throwing her weight around he decides to get her back, by intimating that she can't juggle motherhood with her job. Hanssen is far from impressed when Sahira loses focus in an op and berates her, leaving Greg feeling guilty. Sacha has to do some serious back peddling when he is bamboozled into telling Dan about the first time he met Chrissie. He reveals way too much, and Dan gets the wrong impression of her.

Ric rallies the troops against Hanssen when the latter instructs that all Upper GI cases should be transferred to another hospital. Unwell with cancer, Ric fights on to save his livelihood but when Hanssen learns he's dying, he offers to save his life by removing his tumour. Elliot's efforts to keep a controversial patient's case from Hanssen goes awry and he creates waves when he mistrusts Jac thinking that she was largely to blame for a patient sawing his hand off on her watch. But it's not long before the tables are turned on him and he is stuck in the middle of a storm. Jac's fierce ambition to bag the consultant's jobs gets her into trouble when she goes above Sahira's head, and goes into theatre with a young patient. When the patient dies on the table, Jac has a lot of explaining to do.

As pressure on him mounts, will Ric finally accept he has to go under the knife?

It's the day of the consultant interviews. Sahira is tested when a patient, Gary, whom she's previously diagnosed with a benign tumour, is readmitted with serious complications. She soon discovers that the tumour is now malignant. When he demands a second opinion, Sahira turns to Jac, suggesting they operate immediately. Jac disagrees, arguing it is too late. Sahira has to accept this when Elliot reiterates the diagnosis. When Jac tells Gary that his days are numbered, he can't hide his disdain for Sahira. He leaves the ward, taking some drugs from the trolley, and Sahira discovers him slumped at the wheel of his car. She resuscitates him, and is then faced with the challenge of helping explain to Gary's son, Thomas, that his dad is going to die. Consequently she misses her interview slot, and Jac gets the consultant job.

When news of a train crash comes to Holby, Penny leaves to join the team onsite, leaving Ollie with an ultimatum: he must tell Hanssen he failed his exams, or Penny will. Ollie struggles to cope on AAU and gets himself into a sticky situation with a vulnerable patient. But how will that affect his decision to confess all?

Michael is determined to up his game, and not let Penny's passing bring him down. In a bid to take a professional risk he aligns himself with an old classmate, but is he selling his soul to make a fast buck?

Michael sees his plastic surgery bid as a way of getting his life back on track - but will he step over his colleagues to get it?

Greg struggles to reconcile Ellie's bad feeling about the operation in the face of medical arguments to the contrary. Peter remains convinced that surgery is the best option for Ellie, and Greg finds it hard to speak up for her. Greg becomes more isolated when Jac decides to take him off the case. Will Greg do the right thing by Ellie and support her, or remain detached?

New to Keller ward, Malick goes out of his way to impress Ric, but things soon go awry.

Elizabeth is brought up short by the arrival of her gravely ill estranged grandmother.

Michael tries to impress Sir Fraser's representative. Sacha must toughen up to run AAU.

Dan must deal with the pressure of treating his best friend.

Elizabeth has trouble keeping her birthday quiet when her mother unexpectedly turns up.

Jac tries to secure a consultant's position at Holby, and Dan tries to avoid Malick.

Ollie struggles with grief, guilt and the burning question of his cheating past.

Darwin is on shaky ground, but Hanssen pushes Sahira to get behind the cardiac trauma unit in an effort to save the department and keep her job safe at Holby. After a visit from Sir Fraser, Hanssen chooses to showcase a multi-disciplinary operation. In doing so he ignores the real challenge, and when the showcase doesn't go his way he is forced to make some ruthless decisions about a way forward for the hospital.

Sahira is furious with Hanssen for snubbing the cardiac trauma unit before it has even got going. In an attempt to prove its worth, Sahira smuggles a patient into Holby without Hanssen's consent. Hanssen realises just how far she is willing to go to save Darwin, and he realises just how far he is willing to go to keep her at Holby.

Recoiling from Malick's punch, a bruised Dan struggles to conceal the true circumstances surrounding the unhappy dispute, especially when Chrissie goes to Hanssen with her concerns, leaving Malick resolute that he will not lose his career over this.

With the future of cardiothoracics on Darwin resting heavy on her shoulders, Sahira must ensure the success of the trial. But when she is forced to contend with a less-than-supportive Jac, as well as a series of severely critical cases, Sahira's leadership begins to fracture.

When Simone is transferred from St James's in a serious condition, Elizabeth forces Ric to do everything in his power to save her. The situation intensifies when Simone indicates that she doesn't want to be resuscitated if anything should go wrong in theatre. Aware that Elizabeth still blames him for his previous interference in the case, Ric must tread very carefully to ensure he does the right thing this time round.

Chrissie gets increasingly frustrated with Dan organising her life, and ends up telling him to back off when he accuses her of letting their personal differences cloud her professional judgement. Despite her denial, she knows she is in the wrong. When a patient has a crisis and Dan is forced to attempt a dangerous CT procedure, will Chrissie be able to put her feelings aside and stand by her man?

Greg tries to keep old friend and abuse victim Andy at a safe distance.

Malick must choose between a golden surgical opportunity and honouring a promise.

Following the passing of her father, Frieda struggles to keep her focus under pressure.

When Frieda is scheduled to assist Michael in surgery, Lulu is determined to fight her for it. But will she get away with her risky strategy?

When Hanssen demands that a business plan for the plastics ward be on his desk by the next day, Michael is torn between the needs of Sunil and his daughter, Jasmine. When a former patient then turns up with complications following a procedure which Michael performed, will Michael cover his tracks or do the right thing?

Dan struggles to keep focused while working on a night shift with Stephen, leading to the sloppy examination of a patient. Shaken by this and confused by Stephen's behaviour towards him, Dan makes a life-changing decision about his future with Chrissie.

Eddi's emotional involvement in Josh's recovery means that they both struggle with his transferral from Holby. Before he leaves, however, their friendship is threatened by Norah, Josh's girlfriend. When Eddi scares Norah away, how much will she risk to fix the situation?

Elizabeth struggles to deal with her mother's decision to refuse treatment. She isn't ready for her mother to die; before she can let her go she wants to understand why Simone abused her as a child. Ric and Chantelle offer Elizabeth their support, but are shocked when she makes a life-changing decision.