Dr Ormerod suggests adoption

Still in Ireland, Sister Brigid is reluctantly preparing to give up her life as a nun to raise her dead sister's daughter, but Dr Gordon Ormerod can see she's not happy. Alone with wife Jill, Gordon suggests that they adopt the baby. They put the idea to Brigid but it's not greeted enthusiastically. Brigid has doubts, plus the rest of the family has to agree. Then there's the baby's father, Sergeant O'Malley. Will he want his baby to leave Ireland?

Meanwhile, back at St Aidan's Royal Free Hospital in Elsinby, the continued absence of the doctors and Sister Brigid is causing its own problems. A locum, Dr Marsden, has been hired and Mr Rose and anaesthetist Ralph Ellis are helping out.

Ralph takes on the job of vaccinating local children. He notices that schoolgirl Tracey Wong has a rash, but her parents are suspicious of Western medicine. Ralph convinces them to have Tracey examined at the hospital and discovers she has leprosy. It's not contagious and her parents agree to treatment. But a racist parent claims his son's impetigo has been caught from Tracey and an angry Dr Marsden shouts that he's wrong because Tracey has leprosy!

Panic spreads in the community and new administrator Jean McAteer (Glynis Barber – also to be seen in New Tricks on 23 July) has her work cut out. Can she protect the Wongs from the angry mob?