On the day of Elliot's surgery, Holby City's normally unflappable surgeon Jac Naylor spirals out of control, reveals Rosie Marcel…
Holby City star Rosie Marcel reveals to us exclusively how Jac Naylor suffers a major mental breakdown in next week's episode.
Jac Naylor is known for being Darwin ward's resident ice queen. But she hasn't been herself for weeks, what's at the root of it all?
Rosie Marcel: "I think it’s everything really. Being dumped as a kid, growing up in foster care, losing the love of her life, Joseph. Losing her sister, getting shot, nearly being paralysed. And then recently, on top of all that, letting her daughter Emma go. It’s been a build up for quite some time now and I think we're all guilty of ignoring change, when we know we're not well. That's basically what Jac’s been doing – but there's only so much someone can take."
Jac’s colleagues have expressed concern for her mental wellbeing in recent weeks but she’s refused to accept any help. Why is that?
RM: "Jac's a very stubborn person and we're all very guilty of saying: 'No, I'm fine, I can deal with it.' And Jac's the worst at that. She simply refuses to accept help from anybody and that's because of how she's been brought up, essentially alone, her entire life. She’s only ever been able to rely on herself, so it's very hard for her to hand the reins over to someone else and trust them with personal stuff.”
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The return of Jac’s friend and mentor Elliot Hope (Paul Bradley) seems to have had a major impact on her…
RM: "Elliot turning up has opened up some old wounds and opened up Jac's heart a little bit. He’s like the father she never had and I think the prospect of losing him is too much, on top of everything else. For Jac, Elliot’s upcoming surgery is like the straw that breaks the camel’s back – it tips her over the edge."
On the day of Elliot's operation, events spiral out of control very quickly for Jac. What happens?
RM: "Jac's building up to Elliot's operation and she's having a lot of ‘absentee’ moments. She’s not really sure what she's doing or where she's going. Or she ends up in places and doesn't know how she got there or she's starting a sentence and not finishing it. Jac's sure she can operate, but then she just loses her way in the middle of theatre - something goes wrong, she's not expecting it to go wrong and she just cannot focus. She's cracked. It's happened."
What happens then?
RM: "Jac doesn't know how to control herself and she just loses it! She ends up hurting people and storming out of theatre thinking Elliot's going to die and blames herself. She then thinks: ‘I've got to get away, I've got to get out of here’. So that's what she does…"
Jac heads out to the hospital car park, followed by pal Fletch, and that’s where she has an almighty mental breakdown…
RM: "The outcome of this episode will come as a shock to Jac fans – I’m not sure how happy they’ll be. Life is going to get significantly worse for Jac before it gets better and I’m not sure where it will leave her."
Tune into Holby City on Tuesday December 3 to see how Jac’s dramatic storyline unfolds…
