| Tess Bateman | |
|---|---|
| Casualty character | |
 | |
| First appearance | "End of the Line (Part 1)" 13 September 2003 |
| Last appearance | "Remember Me, Part Two" 11 December 2021 |
| Portrayed by | Suzanne Packer |
| Spin-off(s) | "Mistletoe and Rum" (2012) |
| In-universe information | |
| Occupation | |
| Spouse | Mike Bateman (until 2006) |
| Significant other | Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher |
| Children | Sam Bateman (son) Saskia Bateman (daughter) |
| Relatives | Charlie Bateman (grandson) |
Tess Bateman is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Casualty, played by Suzanne Packer. She first appears in the series eighteen episode "End of the Line (Part 1)", originally broadcast on 13 September 2003. The character is introduced as an emergency nurse practitioner in the emergency department (ED) of Holby City Hospital, but was later promoted to clinical nurse manager. For the role, Packer relocated from New York City to her hometown of Cardiff, and commenced filming in April 2003. Tess is characterised as a "traditionalist" with a good work ethic. She is highly experienced in her field and will protect her staff at all times. Packer drew on her experience as a teacher and her mother's experience as a nurse to develop the character.
The character develops friendships with Charlie Fairhead (Derek Thompson) and Abs Denham (James Redmond). Producers introduced Tess' family - husband Mike Bateman (Louis Emerick) and son Sam Bateman (Luke Bailey) - to the series. Packer and Emerick had previously portrayed a married couple on Brookside and had a natural connection. The family's plots feature the breakdown of Tess and Mike's marriage and Sam's bipolar disorder. Writers have involved Tess in dangerous situations. On one occasion, she was drugged and held at knifepoint by Sam's girlfriend, Fleur Butler (Laura Donnelly), and on another, she became impaled on a metal girder after clashing with a teenage patient.
One of the character's later stories saw her have an affair with married nurse Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher (Alex Walkinshaw), a story which played out over two years. The story concludes with Fletch's exit after Tess is involved in a train crash. Packer quit the show in 2015 and Tess departs in the series twenty-nine episode "Forsaking All Others – Part One", originally broadcast on 22 August 2015. The actress reprised her role for a cameo appearance in the show's thirtieth anniversary episode "Too Old for This Shift", first broadcast on 27 August 2016. Packer returned again in 2021 for a two-part Christmas special. For her portrayal of Tess, Packer won the 2006 Screen Nation Award for Female Performance in television. The character has received a mostly positive response from critics, with a reporter from The Telegraph including her in the show's ten best characters.