Douglas Tickel was a nurse that became homeless after his key-worker housing was sold off due to a policy designed by Peter Mannion. He was often referred to as "Mr Tickle" by members of both the government and opposition due to his name's similarity to the title of the popular Mr Men book. The events that led to his death by suicide in Episode 3 of Season 4 was the subject of the Goolding Enquiry.
Background[]
Tickel was a nurse from London. He had a history of mental health issues inluding depression and bipolar disorder. Tickel was divorced.
Series 4[]
Episode 1[]
When the government passed a law fronted by Secretary of State for Social Affairs and Citizenship, Peter Mannion, in which the housing of key-workers was sold off in order to pay for PFI debts, Tickel lost his home. He was offered alternative accommodation but refused, being the only person affected by this policy to do so. He took up residence in a tent as a protest against the policy - by Episode 1 of Series 4, he had been protesting for three weeks.
Episode 3[]
It was decided that Tickel's eviction from his tent should be done on a bank holiday Monday as it would likely be quicker and kept more quiet from the press, however, when bailiffs showed up to evict him, he was not there. Later that day, Tickel was found dead in his car after committing suicide using the exhaust. A statement on his death was then made to the press by Fergus Williams.
Episode 4[]
Leader of the Opposition, Nicola Murray then called for an enquiry into the events leading to Tickel's death. Malcolm Tucker and Ollie Reeder then hatched a plan to oust the incompetent Murray by persuading Glenn Cullen to leak an email from two years previous which showed that both Nicola Murray and Ben Swain had been in favour of Mannion's policy which had led to Tickel's death. This led to the resignation of both Swain and Murray as Tucker had planned.
Episode 5[]
Realising that the enquiry would likely hold Mannion responsible for Tickel's death, Emma Messinger suggested that to get revenge on Murray, Peter Mannion should ask for the enquiry to be widened to include the issue of PFI contract procurement, as Murray's husband, James, worked in PFI. In order to absolve themselves of responsibility in Tickel's Death, Fergus Williams and Adam Kenyon persuaded Glenn Cullen to leak an email that Fergus had sent saying "The sell-off of key worker housing is possibly the worst idea since the invention of theatre". Glenn and Terri Coverley then sent the email to Geoffrey, a journalist at The Guardian. However, they accidentally sent the entire email chain instead of just the message they had been instructed to send, which included a number of offensive emails from members of the Government (Emma Messinger, Phil Smith, Adam Kenyon and Fergus Williams) targeted towards Tickel's mental troubles.
It was later revealed that Tickel's medical records had been illegally acquired by Malcolm Tucker, along with his NHS number, National Insurance number and his ex-wife's landline. Tucker had wanted to use this information to create media pressure against Peter Mannion and the Conservative government. This was known by Peter Mannion, who leaked information about the leak of the medical records to Alastair Leighton, a journalist at The Times, in order to direct media attention away from the leaked email chain.
The Prime Minister then called for the enquiry to be expanded again to include the culture of leaking within government, much to the dismay of both Malcolm Tucker and Stewart Pearson.