Casualty confirms Tess Bateman return for two-part Christmas special

Casualty is bringing back Tess Bateman for a two-part Christmas special, Digital Spy can now officially confirm.

Suzanne Packer has been tipped to reprise her popular role as Tess for a while now, but the BBC has now revealed full details about her comeback.

Tess will head back to the ED for two special Christmas episodes written by Barbara Machin.

suzanne packer as tess bateman in casualty

BBC

The first of the episodes, which airs on Saturday, December 4, will see a shocked Charlie (Derek Thompson) discover Tess has turned up on his doorstep.

Tess comes to tell him she is returning to the Emergency Department as a locum over the busy Christmas period. But with a clear strain on their friendship, will they be able to work things out?

derek thompson as charlie fairhead, casualty

BBC

Speaking about her return, Suzanne said: "I was so delighted to be asked back to Casualty for a couple of episodes.

"It was an absolute joy to work with the team again, especially Derek! Most of my scenes were with him, add that to a wonderful script by Barbara Machin and to work alongside Holly Aird, it was a dream return. I couldn’t have asked for anything more."

Suzanne played Tess for 12 years, from 2003 to 2015. She was last seen leaving Holby to spend more time with her son and grandchild.

suzanne packer as tess bateman, casualty

BBC

Suzanne recently contributed to a feature by Digital Spy celebrating Casualty, alongside other actors, directors and showrunners, and opened up about some of her favourite storylines while playing Tess.

"The storyline in which Megan Roach (Brenda Fricker) returned to die and Charlie and Tess assisted. What a joy to work so closely with two amazing actors," she said.

"And the FGM episode was such an important subject to cover and it really tapped into the show's strengths of being topical and bold, and that combined with a great script and solid acting and directing made it a very notable episode and deserving of the award and praise it got.

"On the other side, it was particularly satisfying to play the episodes in which Tess has an affair with her colleague and the fallout from that. It was great to play another side of her and to see her vulnerability in her personal life."

Casualty airs on Saturday nights on BBC One.