Sam Nicholls

"Sam" redirects here. For other uses, see Sam (disambiguation).

Sam Nicholls
Biographical information
Full name	Samantha Kent
Familial information
Spouse	Dylan Keogh (div. 2012) Tom Kent (m. 2013)
Professional information
Occupation	Army medic (until 2011) Registrar in emergency medicine (2011-)
Place of work	Afghanistan (until 2011) Emergency department, Holby City Hospital (2011-13)
Appearance information
Portrayed by	Charlotte Salt

Samantha "Sam" Kent (née Nicholls, formerly Keogh) is a doctor specialising in emergency medicine. She worked in the emergency department of Holby City Hospital from 2011 to 2013 as a registrar in emergency medicine. She became romantically involved with Tom Kent, when the couple ended up kissing after a night out in the pub. They married in December 2013, before leaving the ED together to start fresh.

Early life

Prior to joining the ED, Sam Nicholls worked as an army medic alongside corporal Iain Dean. In July 2011 they were positioned in Afghanistan together which led Sam to have an affair with him whilst married to Dylan. Sam was due to leave in 2011 but the medic who was due to replace her broke his leg so she decided to stay on for a bit longer. However, an incident occurred during a bombing where Sam mistook an injured man's inhaler for a bomb and shot him. This left her feeling guilty and she told Iain that she was going to leave after all to go and work at Holby ED. Knowing this was where Dylan worked, he realised she wanted to get back to her husband after all.

Time in the emergency department (2011-13)

Due to arrive for her first shift on 16 October, she arrived a day earlier planning to be able to spend a day out with the paramedics to gain more experience. Clinical Lead Nick Jordan was surprised to see her a day early but permitted her to go out with the paramedics. She went with Dixie and Jeff to the scene of the stabbing of a priest. The man who stabbed him thought he was to blame for his brother's suicide. They were eventually able to get him out, but the man who stabbed him rammed the ambulance off the road in his car as they were on their way to the hospital. Sam later spoke to the man who stabbed him, and it soon transpired that the priest had abused his brother.

The following week, Zoe soon caught on to the fact that Dylan and Sam had some kind of history when she mocked his attempts to be the Sherlock Holmes of the medical world. In December during the ED fire, Noel was in the process of calling Zoe and Dylan's next of kins as they were trapped in resus. However, when he rung Dylan's, Sam picked up her phone and walked in, identifying herself as Dylan's wife. Dylan was angry that this had been revealed, and took it out on her in the new year.

In February, Sam had a complaint lodged against her by a man, Keith Parr whom she had forcibly restrained in a headlock. When he returned complaining of neck problems, he attributed it to the incident with Sam which resulted in a GMC hearing being held. At the start of April, Sam and Dylan had to work together at the site of an accident at a woodland cave system. They were able to save the woman, Amanda Franks, although the man, David, didn't survive. Later in the month, the interviews for Sam's GMC hearing were being planned, and Zoe was called to give evidence against her. Sam took her anger out on Scarlett much to Lloyd's annoyance. The following week, the date of the hearing arrived and Sam was shocked to learn that her ex army colleague Iain Dean had been called to give evidence against her. Overwhelmed by the situation, Sam fired her defence team and was then confronted by damning evidence from Nick, Scarlett and Dylan. However, Keith collapsed during the hearing and Zoe realised that the source of the problems was a result of an underlying condition and not Sam's fault. She managed to inform the GMC panel and the board, and Sam was cleared of the allegations.

In May, Dylan started to get signals that Sam wanted to get back together with him and booked a table at a romantic restaurant. However, Sam actually wanted to serve him with divorce papers, and Zoe managed to convince Sam to finally tell him the truth. The following week, Dylan found it impossible to work alongside Sam, and it led to Sam making a bad impulse decision.

In July, Sam was preparing to go back to Afghanistan but when she failed a training exercise she was left wondering to herself whether she would ever be ready to go back. Sam and Dylan were still at a halt, with Dylan refusing to sign the divorce papers if Sam continued to work at Holby. They eventually got divorced and both remained working at Holby.

Sam and Tom at the scene of the festival disaster in August 2012.

In August, Sam and Tom were on alert at a local outdoor festival. However, when the stage caught fire, the crowds went rushing through the exit tunnels and it resulted in a crush and a wall collapse. Tom managed to rescue Sam when she was almost crushed by the crowds. Tamzin also asked Tom if he was single. However, in September Sam invited Tom out for a drink but it turned into a few and they shared a kiss. The following month, they shared another kiss in the staff room, unaware that Dylan had walked in. After he caught site of Sam and Tom kissing, Dylan started to become jealous and ignored his colleagues and ultimately left the department in December after a confrontation with Tom.

In March 2013, Tom became jealous when another doctor asked Sam out after their relationship had grown cold. When Tom later became dependant on diazepam, Sam falsified a prescription for him, and he became addicted to the drug, stealing further supplies from the department even while telling Sam he was no longer taking the pills. He came clean to Sam in June, and asked her for help to beat the addiction. He claimed to have flushed the pills as she told him to.

In August, Tom asked Sam to move in with him. The following week, she told him that he could move in, but with her. In October, Tom and Sam's relationship once again strengthened and he planned to propose to her. However the proposal plans were ruined when Robyn leaked them but eventually Sam proposed to Tom herself. In December on the day of their wedding, their plans were interrupted when they came across a man who had been electrocuted and needed help. However, they got married later in the day and decided to leave the ED together to start fresh and take an extended honeymoon. After leaving the ED, Sam and Tom were replaced with registrars Ethan Hardy and Caleb Knight in January 2014.

Personal life

Tom and Sam on their wedding day.

Before 2011, Sam married Dylan but when she went off to Afghanistan she began having an affair with her army colleague Iain Dean. She eventually broke up and went to work in Holby with Dylan, much to his disappointment. In 2012, she entered a relationship with Tom Kent which was partially the reason for Dylan leaving that December.

The arrival of Iain Dean as a student paramedic in August 2013 put a spanner in the works for Sam and Tom, but they continued dating anyway. Tom planned to propose to Sam but when things got in the way, she proposed to him instead and they left Holby in December after getting married.

Behind the scenes

Charlotte Salt portrayed Sam on Casualty from 2011 to 2013.