Scotsman Passions: I'm feeling sick at the demise of Doctors

BBC1 bosses are binning underappreciated daytime drama set at GP practice

Dex Lee (Bear), Dido Miles (Emma) and Ashley Rice (Sid) are just some of the excellent regulars on Doctors (Picture: BBC Pictures)

I’m feeling a little nauseous. The BBC have announced the cancellation of Doctors. I unironically love the lunchtime soap, which centres on a GP practice in the fictional West Midlands community of Letherbridge.

A gaggle of doctors, a trio of receptionists, a nurse, a midwife and a silent figure named Tash – think Tracy the EastEnders barmaid – live, laugh and love. Sometimes they even see patients. But usually no more than one a day. None of the diehard fans in the Facebook groups care about some random’s infected toe (well, apart from the chap who daily lusts over sex bomb Zara’s high heels, perhaps). Nope, we tune in for Zara and Daniel’s marital shenanigans. Emma and Luca’s dating disasters. Bear’s appalling wardrobe choices.

As with any soap you get the occasional big stunt. This year there was an explosion at a medical conference, burying Zara in the ladies’ loo, where she met future practice partner Nina. Handy.

An episode set at a comic convention saw Emma meet lookalike movie star Andrea Gardner - look for Series 24, episode 74, Darker Dimensions, on iPlayer! (Picture: BBC Pictures)

Any chance of a bump in viewers, mind, was derailed by BBC logic – the show was taken off air for several weeks as Turkey and Syria were hit by earthquakes.

Not that Doctors needed help, it’s gets over a million viewers in its post-lunchtime news slot. So it was a surprise when the BBC said it’s getting canned next year. It’s a money rather than a ratings thing, apparently – the sets need a refresh and they can’t justify such things (unless it’s a new Albert Square for London-set EastEnders at a cost of £87 million – with bricks shipped from India).

It’s a rotten shame. Since it began in 2000, as well as using such then up-and-coming actors as Eddie Redmayne, Jodie Comer, Nicholas Hoult and Scotland’s own Sam Heughan, Doctors has served as a training ground for new writers and directors. That means it gets experimental at times – you don’t get the regulars smashing a Bollywood number in Corrie, or encounter an Alice in Wonderland fantasy in Emmerdale.

Which isn’t to say Doctors doesn’t get serious – in 2020 a pandemic episode was filmed entirely on the actors’ phones, while the aftermath of receptionist Karen’s sudden death this year was heartbreaking.

Filming will go on until March next year with episodes airing until Christmas – like River City, it isn’t a year-round affair – so you’ve still time to catch Doctors. I prescribe a daily dose.