Has Holby City's Ric Griffin got dementia?

A series of clinical errors and a feeling of general forgetfulness resulted in Ric going online for answers. But does Ric's memory loss really mean that his brain function is in decline?

Someone who looks set to be provide answers in the weeks to come is new consultant neurosurgeon Max McGerry (Jo Martin), who can be seen in a recently released Holby City autumn trailer looking at what appears to be the results of Ric's brain scan and remarking, "it's a biggie".

So perhaps Ric will discover he has a brain tumour or an aneurysm? It would, after all, be unusual for Holby City to have one of its longest-serving characters diagnosed with dementia when we're currently following Duffy's experiences with the same degenerative disease in sister show Casualty.

What we can say for certain, though, is that things will become a lot more serious in the weeks and months to come. That same upcoming promo appears to show Ric flatlining on the operating table, while another clip sees him confronting the very-much-dead Diane Lloyd (Patricia Potter), who was killed off back in 2007.

So does this reunion suggest a dream sequence? Or – more worryingly – Ric entering some kind of afterlife?

Holby City returns next Tuesday on BBC1