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Character Profiles > Robbie O'Brien Shaun Goss

Robbie O'Brien 2012
Occupation: Surgical Intern

After failing to get a place on the surgical programme, Rhys Lawson was determined to still achieve his dream, and set about trying to get in, by taking the place of one of the other interns. His first target was Robbie O'Brien. Having failed to get Robbie into trouble by sending him to the wrong room, Rhys took him out for lunch and tried to plant doubts in his mind, distracting him by helping him to chat up girls. Robbie spoke about his father's work as a surgeon, and his own dream of working in paediatrics, but Rhys thought that his plan was working. Later, at the hospital, Robbie saw a newspaper article about Rhys, who had saved the life of mechanic Chris Pappas only days earlier, and said that he now realised the passion you needed to be a surgeon, and that he was ready for the challenge. Disappointed, Rhys moved on to his next target, Erin Salisbury, this time succeeding in making her leave and taking her place.

Later in the year, Rhys had been away from the surgical programme for a few weeks after injuring his hand, and Robbie was worried about him when he returned to work, but wasn't his usual forceful self during the operation. When Robbie then caught Rhys taking his name off the list for an operation that afternoon, Rhys explained that he didn't want to rush his rehab and make a mistake - with Robbie unaware that Rhys had actually changed the results of the tests on his hand, and he wasn't going to be able to operate again. Aware that Rhys wasn't quite as healthy as the test results had suggested, his girlfriend Vanessa met Robbie at the hospital later that day, where he mentioned that Rhys had dropped out of the surgery, further piquing her suspicions.