''The Good Karma Hospital'' is a medical drama series produced by

Tiger Aspect Productions Tiger Aspect Productions (formerly known as Tiger Television from 1988 until 1993 and also known as Tiger Aspect Films for theatrical films) is a British television and film production company, particularly noted for its situation comedy, situa ...

for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

about a disillusioned doctor, Ruby Walker, who travels to South India hoping to make a fresh start. It stars

Amanda Redman Amanda Jacqueline Redman, (born 12 August 1957) is an English actress, known for her roles as Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman in the BBC One series ''New Tricks'' (2003–2013) and as Dr. Lydia Fonseca in ''The Good Karma Hospital'' ( ...

Amrita Acharia Amrita Acharia ( ne, अमृता आचार्य, also spelled Acharya) is a Norwegian actress of NepaleseUkrainian origins. She is best known for her roles as Irri in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'' and as Dr. Ruby Walker in the IT ...

, James Krishna Floyd, and

Neil Morrissey Neil Anthony Morrissey (born 4 July 1962) is an English actor. He is known for his role as Tony in ''Men Behaving Badly''. Other notable acting roles include Deputy Head Eddie Lawson in the BBC One school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'', ...

. The series is shot in Unawatuna in southern Sri Lanka, Thiranagama Golden Beach Restaurant and some other places in Galle District. ''The Good Karma Hospital'' was recommissioned for a second and a third series. Filming for the second series started in August 2017 and it was broadcast from 18 March 2018. Series 3 first aired in October 2019 in Australia, with a UK premiere in March 2020. A fourth series started airing in the UK on 23 January 2022. In November 2022 it was announced that the show has been cancelled after its fourth series.

Plot

A medical drama about a junior doctor, Ruby Walker, who becomes disillusioned with her life and broken relationship, and decides to leave the UK. Seeing an advertisement for a hospital job in south India, she travels there hoping to make a fresh start and finds herself working at The Good Karma Hospital, an under-resourced and overworked cottage hospital run by an eccentric English expat, Dr. Lydia Fonseca.

Cast and characters

as Dr Lydia Fonseca *

as Dr Ruby Walker * James Floyd as Dr Gabriel Varma *

as Greg McConnell *

Darshan Jariwala Darshan Jariwala (born 29 September 1958) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films, television and stage. He won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Gandhi, My Father''. He is popular for his show in which he was seen as ...

as Dr Ram Nair * Sagar Radia as AJ Nair (Series 1–3) * Nimmi Harasgama as Mari Rodriguez * Phillip Jackson as Paul Smart (Series 1–2, 4) *

Phyllis Logan Phyllis Logan (born 11 January 1956) is a Scottish actress, known for playing Lady Jane Felsham in ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes (later Carson) in ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer f ...

as Maggie Smart (Series 1, cameo Series 2) *

Priyanka Bose Priyanka Bose is an Indian actress and model. Active on stage and in films, she is best known for her role in the Italian film '' Gangor,'' among others. Priyanka started her film career with small roles in '' Love Sex aur Dhokha'', ''Sorry Bha ...

as Dr Aisha Ray (Series 3) *

Scarlett Alice Johnson Scarlett Alice Johnson (born 7 April 1985) is an English actress, producer and drama teacher. She is best known for her roles as Vicki Fowler in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' and Laura Derbyshire in the BBC Three sitcom ''Pramface''. Early ...

as Tommy McConnell (Series 3) *

Kenneth Cranham Kenneth Cranham (born 12 December 1944) is a Scottish film, television, radio and stage actor. Early life Cranham was born in Dunfermline, Fife, the son of Lochgelly-born Margaret McKay Cranham (née Ferguson) and Ronald Cranham, a London-born ...

as Ted Dalrymple (Series 3) * Rebecca Ablack as Dr Nikita 'Niki' Sharma (Series 4) * Harki Bhambra as Dr Samir Hasan (Series 4) *

Raquel Cassidy Raquel Cassidy is an English actress. She played the role of Phyllis Baxter in the television series ''Downton Abbey'' (2013–2015), winning a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. She has re ...

as Frankie Martin (Series 4) *

Ritvik Sahore Ritvik Sahore is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi films and web shows. He made his acting debut with ''Ferrari Ki Sawaari'' (2012), for which he received Screen Award for Best Child Artist nomination. Sahore is best known for his po ...

as Atul Nadar (Series 1)

Episodes

Series 1 (2017)

Series 2 (2018)

Series 3 (2019)

Series 4 (2022)

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

season 1 received an 80% rating based on reviews from 5 critics. Gayle Pennington of the ''

St. Louis Post Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, serving the Greater St. Louis, St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpass ...

'' described the first season as “a magical combination of familiar and exotically foreign…. a drama you’ll remember long after you finish watching it.“ Writing for the Indian digital news publication

Scroll A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...

, Vikram Johri says: ”The series…has its heart in the right place even if it cannot entirely avoid tone-deaf generalisations… Ignore these irritants and the show can be engaging, especially when it is not trying to train the viewer in Indian mores… It is Walker who is the show’s beating heart. Unaware of Indian customs and rituals,..she takes to her new home and assignment with gusto, quickly imbibing that all-important Indian lesson of making do with what’s available. As a paediatrician, she finds herself performing minor surgical procedures. However, it is her deep reserves of empathy – and the gentle eyes of the actress who plays her – that make her the ideal doctor. “ Deborah Ross for Event Magazine says that the series, “…does not have an original bone in its body…. It’s intended as Sunday night ‘unchallenging’ fare but if you can sit through it without feeling so challenged you want to throw a shoe at the TV, you are made of stronger stuff than I. “

DVD releases

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Karma Hospital, The 2017 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series 2010s British medical television series 2020s British drama television series 2020s British medical television series English-language television shows ITV television dramas Television series by Banijay Television series by Tiger Aspect Productions Television shows set in India