First-aiders say no to TV `recruit'

Aug 16 2002 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Nora Batty: First aider!

BATTLEAXE Nora Batty has been beaten - by St John Ambulance.

The first-aid organisation has refused to help the BBC in a plot for the new series of hit comedy Last Of The Summer Wine.

Show producers wanted Nora to join St John Ambulance and become an angel of mercy.

But the organisation was unhappy with some of the scripts.

Sitcom writer Roy Clarke had wanted to smarten up Nora, played by actress Kathy Staff, who has returned to the show.

St John members were keen to help until they saw the script and then backed out.

St John spokesman Louise French said: "We objected to two scenes.

"In the first, Nora started syringing ears, something our members are not trained to do. It is a medical procedure and we only do first aid.

"In the second scene Nora was to bandage a number of people in a church hall to look almost like mummies.

"We decided to say no to a request for a modern uniform and our assistance.

"We have 45,000 members who put in a good deal of voluntary time and are sometimes ridiculed for no good reason. We could not allow them to be portrayed as untrained and inefficient, even in a TV sitcom."