Doctors celebrates its 22nd anniversary today (March 26).
The medical soap opera began broadcasting on BBC One 2000.
Set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff of both an NHS doctor’s surgery and a university campus surgery, as well as the lives of their families and friends.
Initially, only 41 episodes of the programme were ordered, but due to the positive reception, the BBC ordered it as a continuing soap opera.
The soap is broadcast at 1.45pm on BBC One and since March 2022, episodes began receiving a repeat on BBC Two at 7pm.
As the show turns another year older, Daily Star has taken a look inside some of the cast members who’ve appeared in rival soap operas.
Elisabeth Dermot Walsh
(Image: TV Grab)
Elisabeth has played Dr. Zara Carmichael for over 11 years.
The 47-year-old actress joined the cast as the general practitioner in June 2009.
She has also made appearances in television series such as Love in a Cold Climate, Unfinished Business,Midsomer Murders and Love Soup.
She also played the lead role of Elinor Carlisle in the 2003 ITV adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Sad Cypress.
In 2009, Zara appeared in an episode of BBC medical drama Holby City as Elizabeth Farrington.
She joined the regular cast of Doctors in the role of Zara the same year.
Adrian Lewis Morgan
(Image: TV Grab)
Before joining Doctors as Jimmi Clay, Adrian played Liam Evans in Holby City from 2001 until 2002.
The character originally worked on Keller ward as an agency nurse and planned to leave the hospital to get married and move to Australia, but when he was jilted on his wedding day, he applied for a permanent position.
When Liam overheard his neighbours arguing, he intervened in an instance of domestic violence and got pushed off a balcony.
He was left paralysed from the waist down and became depressed.
When his ex-fiancée returned to Holby, she and Liam reconciled and moved to Australia.
Jan Pearson
(Image: BBC)
Jan is known for her role as Karen Hollins in Doctors, which she joined in February 2009.
However, before she appeared on the soap, she appeared in another medical drama.
The actress played Kath Fox in Holby City from 1999 until 2004.
Following the succession of bleak stories for her character, Jan decided to leave Holby City.
She had made her intentions clear to producers in 2003 and they convinced her to stay for an extra year.
The actress requested her unlucky character leave the show amidst a happy ending.
Writers introduced Larry Phillips (Dominic Mafham) as Kath’s love interest and they moved away together.
Sarah Moyle
(Image: BBC/James Stack)
Sarah is best known for her roles as Linda Fawcett in various stage productions of Jerusalem and Valerie Pitman in the BBC soap opera Doctors.
She also portrayed the recurring role of Caroline Swann in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.
Caroline is the sister of Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy and first appeared in 2007, at the hospital when her mother Hilary (Paula Wilcox) woke up from a coma caused by a car crash.
For her role as Valerie in Doctors, she won the award for Best Comedic Performance at the 2019 British Soap Awards.
Stirling Gallacher
(Image: BBC)
Stirling made a name for herself in Doctors as George Woodson before appearing in ITV soap Coronation Street as Paula Martin.
She appeared in the BBC medical show from 2003 until her departure 2009 and joined the cast of Corrie in August 2018 as Sophie Webster’s new love interest.
In February 2020, it was announced that Stirling had joined medical drama Casualty as police officer Ffion Morgan, the wife of established character Jan Jenning (Di Botcher).
For her role as Ffion, the actress stated that she wanted to appear different to her Coronation Street character, so she wears a wig due to having an allergy to hair dye.
Christopher Timothy
(Image: Kieron McCarron/BBC)
Christopher played Dr. Brendan ‘Mac’ McGuire in Doctors from 2000 until 2006.
The character left Letherbridge to move to Ireland after his wife Julia Parsons (Diane Keen) discovered he had an affair with Kate (Maggie Cronin).
The actor has since appeared in EastEnders as Ted Murray.
Ted first arrived in Albert Square with his wife Joyce in 2017.
His last appearance aired back in 2019 when Ted decided to leave Walford for food.
When Sheree Trueman (Suzette Llewellyn) sets Ted up with her mother Wanda Baptiste (Anni Domingo), Wanda announces that she has two tickets to travel the world for a year, and invites Ted.
At first, he was reluctant due to Denise Fox (Diane Parish) making an effort to dissuade him, but he later comes round to the idea.
After saying goodbye to his friends, he left with Wanda.
Doctors airs Monday to Thursday at 7pm on BBC Two, as well as the usual afternoon slot of 1.45pm on BBC One
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
