''
Doctors'' is a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English ...
medical
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practi ...
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
which began broadcasting on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...
on 26 March 2000. Set in the fictional
West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff and patients of the Mill Health Centre, a fictional
NHS doctor's surgery, as well as its two sister surgeries, the University of Letherbridge Campus Surgery and Sutton Vale Surgery. The following is a list of characters who formerly appeared in the programme, listed in order of last appearance. In the case that more than one actor portrayed a character, the most recent actor portraying the character is listed last.
The original nine regular characters to be introduced in ''Doctors'' were
Mac McGuire (
Christopher Timothy
Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), " Christ" or " Anointed", and φέρ ...
),
Steve Rawlings (
Mark Frost
Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film-and-television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and was a writer and executive story ...
),
Helen Thompson (
Corrinne Wicks),
Rana Mistry
''Doctors'' is a British medical soap opera which began broadcasting on BBC One on 26 March 2000. Set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff and patients of the Riverside Health Centre, a ...
(Akbar Kurtha),
Caroline Powers
''Doctors'' is a British medical soap opera which began broadcasting on BBC One on 26 March 2000. Set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff and patients of the Riverside Health Centre, ...
(
Jacqueline Leonard
Jacqueline Jackie Leonard is a Scottish actress. She is known for playing Sarah Preston in the ITV drama '' Peak Practice'' from 1993 to 1996, Lorraine Wicks in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 1996 to 1997, Dr. Caroline Powers in the ...
),
Kate McGuire (
Maggie Cronin),
Anoushka Flynn (
Carli Norris
Carli Jo Norris (born 23 June 1974) is an English actress, known for her roles as Anoushka Flynn in '' Doctors'', Martha Kane in ''Hollyoaks'' and taking over the role of Belinda Peacock in '' EastEnders''.
Career
In June 1997, just before ...
),
Ruth Harding (
Yvonne Brewster
Yvonne Jones Brewster (née Clarke; born 7 October 1938) is a Jamaican actress, theatre director and businesswoman, known for her role as Ruth Harding in the BBC television soap opera '' Doctors''. She co-founded the theatre companies Talawa ...
) and
Joanna Helm
'' Doctors'' is a British medical soap opera which began broadcasting on BBC One on 26 March 2000. Set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff and patients of the Riverside Health Centre, a ...
(
Sarah Manners
Sarah Manners (born 25 August 1975) is an English actress and entrepreneur known for her roles in '' Casualty, Strictly Come Dancing,'' The Bill, '' Doctors'' and creating her Pilates app, Pilates On Tap.
Early and personal life
Manners was educ ...
), all of whom have since left. In the early 2000s, the Woodson family consisting of
Ronnie (
Seán Gleeson),
George (
Stirling Gallacher) and
Bracken
Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produ ...
(Jessica Gallacher) were introduced, with the family appearing until the later half of the decade. The late 2000s also saw the departures of regulars
Vivien March (
Anita Carey
Anita Carey (born 16 April 1948) is an English actress, best known for playing Joyce Smedley in ''Coronation Street'' and later for playing Vivien March in '' Doctors''. Carey has appeared in British television programmes since the 1970s.
Care ...
),
Archie Hallam
Archie is a masculine given name, a diminutive of Archibald. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
*Archie Alexander (1888–1958), African-American mathematician, engineer and governor of the US Virgin Islands
* Archie Blake (mathemati ...
(
Matt Kennard) and
Melody Bell
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinat ...
(
Elizabeth Bower
Elizabeth Bower (born 1 August 1976) is an English actress, best known for starring as Dr Melody Bell in '' Doctors'' from 2007 to 2009.
Life and career
Bower was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Educated in Solihull, Bower attended Langley Schoo ...
). The early 2010s featured the exits of several regular characters, including
Michelle Corrigan (
Donnaleigh Bailey),
Lily Hassan
Dr. Lily Hassan is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''Doctors'', portrayed by Seeta Indrani, who made her first appearance on 28 October 2008. Her backstory involves going from a rebel in her youth to reinventing herself and achie ...
(
Seeta Indrani
Seeta Indrani (born 20 April 1963) is an English dancer and actress.
Biography
Performance
After graduation as a dancer from the London Contemporary Dance School, Indrani took the role of Cassandra in the original 1981 West End production of ...
),
Ruth Pearce Ruth Pearce may refer to:
*Ruth Pearce (diplomat)
Ruth Pearce is an Australian diplomat ambassador in Honiara, Moscow - with accreditation to 12 former Soviet republics - Manila and Warsaw.”
Her years of service were: Ambassador to Poland (20 ...
(
Selina Chilton),
Simon Bond (
David Sturzaker) and
Freya Wilson (
Lu Corfield
Lucy "Lu" Corfield (born 1979 or 1980) is a Welsh actress, known for her roles as Freya Wilson in '' Doctors'', Ruth in ''Last Tango in Halifax'' and Joyce Edevan in '' Clink''. In 2020, she appeared in the BBC Three series '' In My Skin''.
Ca ...
). In 2013, producers wrote three characters out of the series, with
Jack Hollins
Jack Hollins is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'', portrayed by Nicolas Woodman. Jack first appeared on 4 August 2009 and left ''Doctors'' on 21 September 2012. He returned for brief stints in 2013 and 2014. His storylin ...
(
Nicolas Woodman
Nicolas Woodman (born 21 March 1986) is an English actor best known for playing Jack Hollins in the BBC soap, '' Doctors'' from 2009 to 2012.
Television career
Woodman started acting professionally in 2001 when he appeared at the Royal Festiva ...
),
Imogen Hollins (
Charlie Clemmow) and
Elaine Cassidy
Elaine Cassidy (born 31 December 1979) is an Irish actress. She is best known for playing DC Dinah Kowalska in ''No Offence'', Abby Mills in the American television series ''Harper's Island'' for CBS, Felicia in '' Felicia's Journey'', Runt i ...
(
Janet Dibley
Janet Dibley (born 13 December 1958) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Elaine Walker in the 1980s sitcom '' The Two of Us'', Lorna Cartwright in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', and Elaine Cassidy in the BBC soap opera ''Doct ...
) exiting.
2015 saw
Ian Kelsey
Ian Kelsey (born 17 December 1966) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Dave Glover in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', Patrick Spiller in the BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', DI Richard Mayne in the ITV crime drama '' Blue Murder'' ...
leave his role as
Howard Bellamy after three years due to the heavy filming schedule; his exit saw his character
killed off
The killing off of a character is a device in fiction, whereby a character dies, but the story continues. The term, frequently applied to television, film, video game, anime, manga and chronological series, often denotes an untimely or unexpect ...
. 2019 saw the exit of mainstay character
Mrs Tembe (
Lorna Laidlaw), who had gone from the receptionist to the practice manager of the Mill during her tenure. She was replaced by manager
Becky Clarke (
Ali Bastian
Alexandra Louise Bastian (born 27 February 1982) is an English actress, known for her roles as Becca Dean in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', Sally Armstrong in the ITV drama series ''The Bill'' and Becky Clarke in the BBC soap opera ...
), who left nine months into her tenure so that Bastian could focus on getting pregnant in real life.
2020 saw a brief guest appearance from former regular
Julia Parsons
Julia Parsons (also McGuire) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'', portrayed by Diane Keen. She made her first appearance on 13 January 2003, and departed the show on 18 May 2012, after nine years of appearing in the se ...
(
Diane Keen
Diane Keen (born 29 July 1946) is an English actress, known for her portrayal of Fliss Hawthorne in the Granada sitcom ''The Cuckoo Waltz'' and Julia Parsons on the BBC soap opera '' Doctors''. She also appeared in Nescafé advertisements from ...
), who had originally appeared in ''Doctors'' from 2003 to 2012. Later that year, another mainstay,
Ayesha Lee
Ayesha Lee is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'', portrayed by Laura Rollins. Ayesha was introduced as a Practice Nurse at The Mill, and made her first appearance on 30 September 2014. Since her arrival in the series, Ay ...
(
Laura Rollins
Laura Rollins (born 20 December) is a British-Bajan actress, known for portraying the role of Ayesha Lee on the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'', a role which she played from September 2014 to June 2020. For her portrayal of Ayesha, she won the awa ...
), left the soap. 2022 then saw the exits of
Izzie Torres (Bethan Moore) and
Valerie Pitman (
Sarah Moyle)
2000s
2010s
2020s
References
External links
Former characterson
BBC Online
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, the childr ...
Cast and characterson
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...
{{Doctors
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Doctors