Tess Bateman

Tess Bateman is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Casualty, played by Suzanne Packer. She first appears in the series eighteen episode "End of the Line (Part 1)", originally broadcast on 13 September 2003. The character is introduced as an emergency nurse practitioner in the emergency department (ED) of Holby City Hospital, but was later promoted to clinical nurse manager. For the role, Packer relocated from New York City to her hometown of Cardiff, and commenced filming in April 2003. Tess is characterised as a "traditionalist" with a good work ethic. She is highly experienced in her field and will protect her staff at all times. Packer drew on her experience as a teacher and her mother's experience as a nurse to develop the character.

The character develops friendships with Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson) and Abs Denham (James Redmond). Producers introduced Tess's family – husband Mike Bateman (Louis Emerick) and son Sam Bateman (Luke Bailey) – to the series. Packer and Emerick had previously portrayed a married couple on Brookside and had a natural connection. The family's plots feature the breakdown of Tess and Mike's marriage and Sam's bipolar disorder. Writers have involved Tess in dangerous situations. On one occasion, she was drugged and held at knifepoint by Sam's girlfriend, Fleur Butler (Laura Donnelly), and on another, she became impaled on a metal girder after clashing with a teenage patient.

One of the character's later stories saw her have an affair with married nurse Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher (Alex Walkinshaw), a story which played out over two years. The story concludes with Fletch's exit after Tess is involved in a train crash. Packer quit the show in 2015 and Tess departs in the series twenty-nine episode "Forsaking All Others – Part One", originally broadcast on 22 August 2015. The actress reprised her role for a cameo appearance in the show's thirtieth anniversary episode "Too Old for This Shift", first broadcast on 27 August 2016. Packer returned again in 2021 for a two-part Christmas special. For her portrayal of Tess, Packer won the 2006 Screen Nation Award for Female Performance in television. The character has received a mostly positive response from critics, with a reporter from The Telegraph including her in the show's ten best characters.

Casting On 24 April 2003, it was announced that actress Suzanne Packer had joined the cast as Tess Bateman, an emergency nurse practitioner (ENP) in the emergency department (ED) of Holby City Hospital. Packer attended an audition for the role, where she was offered the part. The actress liked the security the regular role of Tess offered her. Packer began filming in April 2003 and for the role, she relocated from New York City to her hometown Cardiff, where her family are based. Her mother's job meant that she never watched Casualty, but since joining the drama, she began watching it. She is billed as "quite old school [and] quite strict". Her appearance as "a kill-joy and inflexible" can cause her to appear like "a bit of a stiff" to the younger members of her team. However, Tess wants to protect her staff and will be there for them in "their darkest hour". The character is also quite maternal; this led Packer to opine that Tess would choose nursing over becoming a doctor. Tess establishes good relationships with clinical lead Harry Harper (Simon MacCorkindale) and clinical nurse manager Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson), but clashes with registrar Simon Kaminski (Christopher Colquhoun).

Louis Emerick's casting as Tess's husband, Mike Bateman, was announced on 17 June 2003. Emerick revealed that he and Packer would appear in "a fantastic storyline, [which] we can really get our teeth into". Emerick was hired for four episodes. Tess and Mike are introduced in the same episode. Mike works at the scene of the accident as a fireman. He is suspended for negligence surrounding his work on the crash. Tess secures him a minimum wage position as a hospital cleaner, while she becomes the department's acting clinical nurse manager, which Packer called "a pretty demanding and stressful job". Producers used the character to explore bipolar disorder, something Tess struggles to accept. Emerick also reprised his role during the series. Mike is surprised to learn about Sam's illness and is annoyed that Tess did not tell him. They argue and he "storms off", before being involved in a car crash, leaving him critically injured. Tess is "shocked" when Mike later files for divorce from her,

Drugging At the beginning of the twentieth series, in September 2005, Fleur Butler (Laura Donnelly) is introduced as a love interest for Sam. Fleur has a personality disorder, which makes her "highly manipulative" and chaotic. Packer explained that Tess dislikes Fleur and feels "very suspicious" of her and her intentions towards Sam, mainly because she is a "naturally overprotective" mother. On Sam's birthday, Tess and Fleur make plans to celebrate. While Tess plans for a small house party, Fleur turns the house into a "full-scale nightclub". Sam finds Fleur trying to strangle Tess and interjects. Fleur then grabs a knife, Packer enjoyed filming the scenes as she did not have learn any lines and had to lie in a bed for two days. She joked that it was "one of the most relaxing episodes" she had ever filmed. When teenager Sammy Malone (Finn Atkins) is admitted to the ED, she clashes with Tess and wrecks her office, before fleeing. Tess is unimpressed and goes to find her on her break. Packer explained that Tess is "furious" and "wants to tell this girl exactly what she thinks of her". Consequently, nobody knows where Tess is. Packer called this "a terrible twist". and saves her. Producers explored the relationship between the characters and it is developed into an affair across a long-running story. Walkinshaw opined that the story develops naturally and "just make sense". adding that Tess and Fletch share a mutual respect and understanding, and he relaxes Tess from her intensity of her position. Sunetra Sarker, who portrays Zoe Hanna, directed the special and praised the performances of Packer and Walkinshaw. She added that the special would be "a treat for all the fans". The story was challenged by Fletch's marriage and his family, who were introduced to the series. Walkinshaw thought this was important to portray, so the audience can get "a clearer picture of the triangle". However, she becomes distracted and administers another patient with the wrong medication, before leaving work. The error leaves the patient in danger. Fletch is ejected from the family home, but an incident involving his daughter reunites them. Walkinshaw said that Fletch acknowledges the "massive problems" created by the affair. The episode is set around an explosion and train derailment. The stunt was of a large scale and involved a train on its side, covered by debris, ladders and railway sleepers. It was filmed over multiple nights in cold weather. Phillips opined that the episode should "create a sense of what's at stake for these two characters" with the pivotal moment being the characters reconnecting amidst a dramatic situation. Writers used Fletch's departure to progress Tess's character as she deals with the aftermath of their affair. Hossington told Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy that Tess becomes "starchy and all about the work", which would have a negative impact on her team.

Departure and returns Emerick revealed, via social media, in April 2015 that Packer had left Casualty, although the news was not confirmed by the show. Hossington later explained that the character's departure was not announced, in tradition with other cast exits. The character also appears in a cameo during the following episode. Following criticism that Tess's exit was "low-key", Hossington responded that character exits varied based on other storylines in the show as sometimes, it does not feel appropriate to portray big exit stories alongside other prominent stories. Packer reprised the role for another cameo appearance in the show's thirtieth anniversary episode "Too Old for This Shift", first broadcast on 27 August 2016.

In 2021, the show's producers invited Packer to reprise her role as Tess for a two episode Christmas special, airing as part of series 36. The character's return was officially confirmed by the show on 23 November 2021, The special, "Remember Me", was written by Barbara Machin and was originally broadcast on 4 and 11 December 2021. It explores Tess and Charlie's now-estranged friendship. The actress was also pleased to work with Thompson and Holly Aird, who guest stars in the episodes, again under Machin's script. She dubbed it "a dream return". At the 19th National Television Awards in 2014, Packer was longlisted in the Drama Performance category for her role as Tess.

A reporter of The Telegraph included Tess in the ten best characters of Casualty. They wrote that "calm and firm" Tess "endured her fair share of drama". A Daily Post reporter dubbed Tess "sensible", In April 2020, she ranked her affair with Fletch sixth in the show's best romances. She called it "so-so-scandalous" and commented, "We shouldn't have been willing them to stay together, but we couldn't help it."

Tess's first episode was rated the best ever episode in an online poll ran by the show's website for its twenty-fifth anniversary in September 2011. In the same poll, the episode featuring the character's impalement was nominated. Tess's impalement story received criticism for its portrayal of council estates by Jules Birch of Inside Housing. Klabacher was not surprised that Tess survived her accident and dubbed the scene "a Tess kebab". The story also received complaints to Ofcom, who criticised the repeated use of "extreme scenes" aired pre-watershed. In a statement, they said that the scenes of Tess impaled, combined with a graphic car crash, led to "a sustained and concentrated run of distressing and shocking scenes". Tess's exit was included in The People television highlights for 15 August 2015. Radio Times Alison Graham criticised the realism of Tess leaving without a notice period. In March 2019, Sophie Dainty from Digital Spy expressed a wish for Tess to return to the show, which was echoed by series producer Loretta Preece in September 2019.