BBC Casualty fans have unanimously praised the iconic medical drama for its hard-hitting storylines this evening.

Casualty returned on Saturday, May 3, with Stevie (played by Elinor Lawless) coming to terms with her Stage 2 ovarian cancer diagnosis.

While she is very likely to make a full recovery, her friend and mum-of-one Cara (Laura Pitt-Pulford) is not so lucky and just as she is about to leave the hospital, she collapses.

Cara tells her daughter Olive that she’s not going to be able to come home and the heartbroken little girl calls her a “liar” and storms out but before they can make up, her mum passes away.

Stevie and Olive have a heart-to-heart and as they part ways, the youngster thanks the doctor for “being our friend”.

Stevie also had an emotional moment with Siobhan (Melanie Hill) who said she was sorry that the former wasn’t able to say her final goodbye to Rich (Michael Keogh) who she had an affair with.

Elsewhere, Rida (Sarah Segarri) is still struggling to come to terms with being sexually abused by Russell (Robert Bathurst).

With some encouragement, she goes to Flynn (Olly Rix) to report what happened but just before going into details, he discloses that Russell is his father-in-law, prompting Rida to remain silent.

Then there is Ngozi (Adesuwa Oni), whose young son winds up at the hospital after getting into a fight that he started when another boy asked if he could kiss him.

He then stated he was “normal”, unlike Ngozi who is in a relationship with a woman, leaving her teary-eyed.

Indie (Naomi Wakszlak) also confessed that she had been living under a bridge for the past couple of months so fans were left feeling very emotional after tonight’s episode.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one fan wrote: “Oh my word #Casualty this evening…”, followed by a heartbreak emoji.

A second agreed: “OMG #Casualty is devastatingly sad tonight.”

“My face is gonna be a puffy mess tomorrow.”

Another said they wanted to give “Stevie Nash a hug” while referring to Stevie’s moment with Siobhan, a fan commented: “Tremendously executed by @MelanieJHil and @Elinor_Lawless. This scene was emotionally perfect.”

“Turned it on tonight and really impressed with the storylines & acting. It’s amazing!”, someone else wrote as another commented: “I’m in tears .”

Whereas, a fellow viewer simply stated: “So many heartbreaking scenes tonight.”