BBC axes daytime drama Doctors after 23 years

The BBC has cancelled its daytime drama Doctors after 23 years, due to “funding challenges”.

In a statement, the corporation said that the “difficult decision” had been made after “super inflation in drama production”.

“The cost of the programme has increased significantly,” the statement said, “and further investment is also now required to refurbish the site where the show is made, or to relocate it to another home.”

The BBC added: “With a flat licence fee, the BBC’s funding challenges mean we have to make tough choices in order to deliver greater value to audiences.”

”We remain fully committed to the West Midlands and all of the funding for Doctors will be reinvested into new programming in the region.”

The final episode of Doctors will screen in December 2024 and the BBC is working “to give it the finale it deserves”.

“We would like to thank all the Doctors cast and crew who have been involved in the show since 2000,” the BBC said. “We know the crucial role Doctors has played in nurturing talent, and we will work to develop new opportunities to support skills in scripted programming.”

Doctors follows the lives of staff and patients at a Midlands GP practice in the fictional town of Letherbridge.

The show is known for having surprisingly wacky plotlines. One 2020 episode revolved around a patient who suffered from a condition that made her think every white man she saw was Noughties variety show comedian Joe Pasquale. In the series, she is taken for “neurological testing”, never to be seen again.

The medical drama has been a rite of passage for many British actors. Household names such as Eddie Redmayne, Sheridan Smith, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jodie Whittaker and Emilia Clarke are among those who starred in Doctors in the early years of their careers.

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Doctors has struggled in the ratings in recent years, and in February 2022, in a bid to improve viewing figures, bosses promoted the show to a primetime slot on BBC Two after cancelling Holby City.

However, ratings failed to improve, and after just two months the soap was pushed back to its usual lunchtime slot.

The Writers’ Guild called the decision to axe Doctors “a terrible loss to the UK writing community, and to audiences”.

It said it was essential the UK “continues to provide distinctive content and opportunities for our writers”.