Doctors: Freedom!

(Monday 23^rd – Wednesday 25^th March 2020)

Jimmi has been taken to hospital, having literally been stabbed in the back by Leon. Ruhma helps Valerie deliver a vase of flowers to his heavily guarded hospital room.

Meanwhile, Leon confesses that he was put up to the stabbing by Mr Butler, (Jimmi’s lawyer), who was blackmailing him. When Mr Butler then sneaks into Jimmi’s room and attempts to kill Jimmi again, Jimmi is thankfully alert enough to knock him out with the vase of flowers. Well done, Ruhma and Valerie!

Mr Butler is arrested, denying everything until the police trigger him with the mention of his dead son, George. He wouldn’t support him when he came out as gay. He stepped in when he was arrested for murder but it was too late by then. He held Jimmi responsible for turning him into the police. When he died by suicide, Mr Butler attacked Jimmi but when he fought back and didn’t die, he came up with the plan to take everything from him instead and set him up to go to prison.

Jimmi appears in court where the Crown Prosecution drop all charges against him and he is sent home a free man. Hooray! He is shocked upon his release to bump into old colleague, Julia Parsons (just in time for the 20^th anniversary!)

Meanwhile, Karen proves to be counterproductive at The Mill as Bear plans for a very important day. All she cares about is Jimmi.

Zara finds herself drawn to a Q&A with a far right speaker who denies his own heritage, spouting hideous racist language. She supports his sister, who he denies even having. Karen helps a woman realise that her boyfriend is using her and lying to her about having MS.

Ruhma has quite a day attempting to exchange a gift from a shop run by a rude, racist woman (played by none other than Kika Mirylees – Julie J from Bad Girls) who favours a posh, white pregnant woman and accuses another girl of stealing, just because she isn’t white. Actually, it’s the posh, white woman who is the thief. She is also lying about being pregnant, as Ruhma discovers, utterly broken over the fact that she has tried and failed to get pregnant for real so many times before. She ends up counselling the woman and persuading her to tell the truth. The woman then buys a £900 coat, which she gives to the girl who was accused of theft. She doesn’t want it but manages to exchange it for cash. The posh, white, non-pregnant woman is utterly bewildered over the concept of white privilege.

Ruhma finds herself embroiled in other people’s problems…

So, today (Thursday 26^th March), we are celebrating Doctors 20^th birthday! Congratulations! We have an hour long special coming up and it promises to be a good one…

Next week, despite Doctors ceasing filming due to the Coronavirus, the show does appear to still be airing every weekday on BBC1 at 1:45pm

Doctors: The Truth is Out There

(Monday 16^th – Friday 20^th March 2020)

Daniel, Zara, Izzy and Joe spend the day together and Izzy challenges the adults about their ‘secret relationship’, pointing out that Joe phoned her when he found them in bed together. Daniel and Zara decide to be honest with the kids but Joe doesn’t want to know. Izzy points out that it’s hard for Joe to trust them; he doesn’t want his world to be shattered again if they were to break up. On her advice, they go very gently with him. That kid has had a personality transplant since the last time she was in the show!

Sid spends more time with his brother, Lawrence but struggles not to tell him the truth. Lawrence is worried that Sid’s father is unhappy but Sid is dismissive over the problems that his parents have in their marriage. Lawrence’s mother objects to his friendship with Sid. Finally, someone has noticed their similarity!

Lawrence invites Sid to an open mic night at The Icon with his friend, Tony, who clearly doesn’t like him imposing on their friendship. Tony and Lawrence both successfully do some stand up comedy but Sid chokes when he reads poetry as he spots Lawrence’s mother glaring at him. Lawrence’s Mum gives Sid a stern warning and Sid promises that neither him, nor his father are out to upset Lawrence or disturb his life in any way, he just wants to get to know his brother.

Karen has a difficult visit with Jimmi, realising that he has assimilated with prison life now and given up hope for his future and his case. Thankfully, his friends have not given up and Al is still trying to find leads and explanations as to how on earth Jimmi got framed in the first place. SJ leads Al to a thug called Harvey who he manages to have a meeting with. He challenges him about SJ and the money being stashed at The Icon. He asks him about Jimmi and threatens him with the police. However, he is in way over his head and is escorted out before having the living daylights beaten out of him. Meanwhile, the guy he followed into the pub seems to have had an even worse fate…

Ayesha stitches Al up but he lies about having fallen down the stairs. Not buying it for a second, Karen challenges Al and then calls Rob in to speak to him. Al confesses everything, worrying Rob as Harvey is a serious criminal. He tells him he was lucky to get away. However, they do have some leads in Jimmi’s case now, thank goodness. I can’t help asking, surely this must be over soon?

We then have a seemingly random episode where Daniel is called to a fight in the prison. A clearly traumatised a prisoner attacks Jimmi’s old cellmate, Leon, triggered by him tapping his foot to music. It soon transpires that his previous cellmate, George, hanged himself and he woke up to the sound of his foot tapping the wall of the cell. The two men were in love with each other and he holds himself responsible for his suicide.

However, the episode isn’t as random as it seems. In the next episode, Daniel is working late at the prison, still troubled by the man’s tale and the date of his boyfriend’s suicide. It was the day before Jimmi was mugged. Remember that weird mugging when they didn’t take anything and it seemed more like an assault? It seemed very targeted and never really made any sense.

Meanwhile, Bear tackles Al who has blatantly skived off work. He finds him back in the dodgy pub he got beaten up in the day before. Al manages to send Bear away and the sneaks into the office and who should he see with Harvey? Jimmi’s lawyer! Well, he always looked a bit shifty… No wonder he never got anywhere with the case!

Back in the prison, Daniel continues to research George and finally comes up with an answer, calling reluctant Jimmi in to see him. George is the therapy patient he turned into the police for murder last year. Daniel suspects the assault was a reaction to George’s death and when it didn’t work, whoever was responsible, took things further. And as it turns out, George is the son of none other than Jimmi’s lawyer, John Butler.

Al turns to Rob with all his new information and they take everything to the police investigating Jimmi’s case. Al has also set Valerie on a mission to investigate John Butler’s law firm, all dressed up as her posh alter ego, Natasha Fitzsimmons. Oh, Valerie, you do provide the most delightful light relief. I adore you. Of course, John Butler has gone to ground. ‘Natasha’ manages to run rings around the receptionist though and snoops as much as possible. The police are not impressed but really, they are embarrassed to have made such a hash of their own operation. Al, Rob, Emma, Karen and Valerie have done more work on the case in a few days than the police have in months. No wonder this storyline has taken so long to resolve!

Back at the prison, Leon is acting very strangely. He makes a phone call, saying he has received ‘the signal’. Hanging up and spotting Jimmi, he stabs him! Everyone is shocked. Leon is visibly upset. I am upset! Jimmi and Leon were supposed to be friends. Maybe Leon had just been keeping an eye on him. I don’t know anything anymore!

Due to the Coronavirus, Doctors has suspended filming

For this week, Doctors is still on weekdays BBC1 at 1:45pm

There is an hour long episode on Thursday 26^th, celebrating Doctors 20^th Anniversary

Doctors: Unbelievable

(Monday 2^nd – Friday 13^th March 2020)

The big story of the fortnight surrounds Karen and Rob’s foster daughter, Abz who phones Karen in a state of distress, telling her that she has been raped after a night out. The story covers three episodes, calling into question whether Abz is a reliable victim as she has a history of telling stories. It’s a genuinely harrowing tale as eventually, it transpires that her friend’s boyfriend raped her but due to a bone marrow transplant from leukaemia, his DNA didn’t initially match blood left at the scene.

It’s an uncomfortable story, constantly calling into question what happened and the officer who interviews her all but forces her to retract her statement at first. My only criticism is that it’s almost identical to the Netflix drama, Unbelievable, down to the fact that Abz is in care and even the details of the rape itself. But it’s still very well done.

Karen’s devotion to Abz is brilliant and the addition of Zara to the story is fantastic. With her own recent experience still at the forefront of her mind, she very much comes through for Abz and gets things done when she needs to. The only distraction is Zara’s car storyline which is meant to be funny but is just a bit annoying.

Still upset with Zara, Daniel lets Jimmi down by failing supportive over his news that the security guard has backed out of being a witness in the case. Subsequently, Jimmi shuts Daniel out of his support network. Al, Emma and Rob all pull together to try and find a break in Jimmi’s case. When Al treats an old employee, he mentions another ex-employee called SJ who was stashing money behind the till. Al practically stalks her, convinced that she knows something that can save Jimmi. Personally, I am starting to find this story a little bit boring now. I wish they’d just get on with it. When Emma sneaks a peek at the computer of the officer in charge of Jimmi’s case, she gets caught and lands herself in trouble. But a conversation with Zara helps her manipulate her way out of it! Well, she is a pro!

After Daniel and Joe end up being held hostage by a desperate man not allowed to see his son, Daniel and Zara finally confront their feelings for each other and get back together in secret. Well, it’s sort of a secret. They’re all over each other so much that Valerie almost hears them down the phone, they’re almost caught by Emma, prompting Zara to cover by slapping Daniel and Joe walks in on them in bed together!

After their disastrous date at The Icon, Jasmine shows up at The Mill with flowers and a better understanding of the menopause, wanting to make things work.

Sid and Valerie are forced to reach the sad conclusion that not everyone is ready for help when they fail to reach a woman trapped in an abusive relationship. Ruhma treats a very anxious mother who lost one of her twins the last time she gave birth. A vasectomy appointment leads Sid and Ayesha to look after a couple dealing with the aftermath of a terrible assault. There’s also a very strange episode about a woman who thinks she’s being stalked by Joe Pasquale. Yes, really.

Joe Pasquale makes one of the most bizarre cameos ever!

Doctors is on weekdays BBC1 at 1:45pm

Doctors: Hot Stuff!

(Monday 24^th – Friday 28^th February 2020)

Ayesha takes her concerns about Bear’s extracurricular activities to Zara and Daniel who reluctantly speak to him about them, having discovered that The Mill is thousands of pounds in credit. He explains that he has been busy doing deals on the side to make money for The Mill and is deeply offended when they are not impressed. He is further upset when he discovers that it was Ayesha who raised the alarm, as he is still deluded enough to think he stands a chance with her. Well, women love guys who ignore them for an entire date in favour of texting.

Karen continues to do good work with her foster daughter, Abz who is clearly getting very attached to her. Karen overhears her referring to her as her mother when talking to her new University friend and has to delicately encourage her to be open about her situation. Karen and Rob throw a party for Abz’s 18^th. Valerie and Ayesha pop over to celebrate and her new University friend comes too with her boyfriend, although they don’t stay. It’s all a bit overwhelming for Abz, who has never had people care about her before. Afterwards, Karen and Rob settle her into her new flat but it’s clear that it’s going to take her a long time to get used to living on her own.

Emma and Jasmine are the new hot couple!

Emma and Jasmine continue to get to know each other, ending up in bed after a ‘breakfast date’. However, Emma is alarmed to end up having a hot flush afterwards, alerting her to realise that alongside the flushes of romance, she is also potentially at the beginning of the menopause. While Zara tries and fails to be sympathetic, it’s a struggle to be honest with Jasmine, who is significantly younger than Emma.

Valerie is all dressed up for a night at The Icon!

To say goodbye to The Icon, Al holds a lock-in for his punters and his colleagues. Sid takes over by hosting a silent disco, much to Al’s annoyance. The night goes off with a bang when Daniel discovers that Zara has been watching his private video diaries. Well, he’s not pleased, as you can imagine.

Daniel and Zara’s night ends in a bitter row…

The witness in Jimmi’s case backtracks over identifying Jimmi, giving him hope for his freedom. He is also landed with a new cellmate, a police officer who killed his brother.

Doctors is on BBC1, weekdays at 1:45pm

Doctors: The Glory of Love

(Monday 17^th – Friday 21^st February 2020)

Emma bites the bullet and goes to lunch with Lena and the pair finally discuss the end of their relationship. Emma confronts her own sexuality and is regretful that she missed the chance to be with Lena now that she has moved on from her husband and into a relationship with another woman.

Enter: Jasmine, a police officer working on a hit and run case with Rob and Emma who is quick to flirt with Emma and is bold enough to ask her out on a date. My favourite line of the week is after she leaves a cream horn on her desk as a gift.

“Did you get the horn?”
Excellent, Doctors. Excellent.

Emma is a bag of nerves when she goes for dinner with Jasmine and the date mostly goes well, aside from some awkwardness over their age gap (Jasmine is only a little older than Emma’s son, Chris). There is definitely a kiss at the end of the night and the fledgling couple continue to spend time together through the week. Emma eagerly reports back to Zara.

Zara somehow watches Daniel’s video diaries…

Zara secretly watches Daniel’s video diaries, although I’m not entirely sure how. The link between Joe’s iPad allowed him to see their phones and that was severed. How can Zara see Daniel’s phone? But anyway, Zara is absorbed by Daniel’s diaries and how he truly feels about her but she’s left disappointed when he eventually concludes that they work better as friends and he tells her as much himself. I like that they’re not rushing their reunion, even though it’s clearly going to happen. Once upon a time, I was of the opinion that Zara was too good for Daniel but actually, I feel like he has grown a lot over the past few months and earned his way back into her life.

Daniel continues to support Jimmi and other prisoners at the prison, including a murderer with a serious eye condition trying to reconnect with his daughter. However, things are halted rather abruptly as a complaint is made against Daniel and he is removed from the prison without much explanation. Feeling a lot of empathy for Daniel since watching his diaries, Zara goes into bat for Daniel at the prison and gets his job back, asking the Governor to keep her interference quiet.

After receiving the expensive bracelet, Ayesha becomes suspicious of Bear and follows him to a lockup where he sorts out a load of boxes and talks to a contact on the phone. I’m sure there will turn out to be some sort of reasonable explanation but I am still convinced that he is dodgy. I don’t like him. I don’t like him at all.

Sid gets caught up with a severely OCD man who has cut himself by accident and locks himself in his flat, terrified that his equally OCD mother will come home. Sadly, his mother died months previously and he needs a lot of mental health support. Al is left devastated when he delivers a homeless girl’s baby, only for the young woman to die during labour. Rob and Karen take on a new foster child.

Doctors is on BBC1, weekdays at 1:45pm

Doctors: The Spice of Life

(Monday 27^th – Friday 31^st January 2020)

Without consulting Zara or The Mill, Daniel takes up a job as a GP at the prison in a desperate bid to help Jimmi. He is horrified to find his friend spaced out on spice and desperate for anything else to numb the pain. It’s a heartbreaking scene as Jimmi breaks down and begs for help. With Daniel’s support, Jimmi resolves to get clean but it’s a difficult road of temptation, especially sharing a cell with the vile Bowser. Al is furious when he finds out about Daniel’s new role, purely out of jealous that Daniel is the central figure in helping Jimmi when he is his best friend. I mean, he doesn’t even ask after him! Surely it’s not about who does what as long as someone does something?

Ayesha has a plan for her dissertation that will bring together patients suffering with chronic conditions. Zara rejects it at first, of course but eventually comes round to the idea and all it really makes me think is that I wish my own surgery were even a quarter as good as The Mill!

Sid accuses Bear of not giving the MSU the same commitment that Becky did and invites him to see exactly the kind of work that goes into it. When Bear accidentally walks in on a treatment, he faints at the procedure. Denying that he has a blood phobia, he becomes entangled in a lie about being diabetic. It all tumbles out later with Emma when he faints at the sight of another patient’s blood and he gets a serious telling off for lying about having a very serious medical condition. His week gets worse when he and a girl in a café accidentally pick up each other’s phones, leading her and her boyfriend to refuse to give his back. When he tries to force their hand, he nearly gets arrested. He ends up supporting the girl who is in an abusive relationship. But I still don’t buy it. There is something dodgy about this guy…

Karen is shocked to find herself supporting a woman who has escaped a terrible marriage and now, feels she is improving her mental health by posting nude pictures online for likes and cash. In a similar story, we meet a mildly famous social media ‘influencer’ who has so much pressure on him to be perfect online that he cannot sleep and is horribly depressed.

Al is disappointed by a surprise University reunion. Sid uncovers a rare condition after a patient hits his head and develops a new skill of playing the piano. But his horrible partner demands that he supress his new skill and not live his dream. Zara backs out of learning BSL but an embarrassing translation moment for Ruhma leads to her being asked out on a date!

Doctors is on BBC1, weekdays at 1:45pm

Doctors: The Search for Truth

(Monday 20^th – Friday 24^th 2020)

Jimmi is struggling in the wake of the death of the inmate he so desperately tried to save last week. He is then told by Al that he is struggling to keep The Icon going. On top of that, he is landed with a new, less friendly cellmate. Not a great start to the week. His problems get worse when Rob comes to visit him, making him even more of a target for his bully cellmate.

Emma and Rob team up to figure out just who might have a grudge against Jimmi and want to set him up. They receive a call from Jimmi himself who tells them more about his childhood and confesses that he assaulted his Dad the last time he saw him. Could that be enough of a motive? They are also intrigued as to whether the mugging last year is connected to this. Well, it did seem a bit random and they didn’t revisit it so quite possibly. But Bear is not yet on the list and I remain convinced that he has something to do with all of this… He’s acting shadier and shadier by the day. However, he has problems of his own when a disgruntled woman causes mayhem in the waiting room!

Jimmi takes matters into his own hands by meeting up with his father who is shocked to find him in prison. He was on holiday at the time of his arrest, which checks out with Rob and denies having anything to do with setting him up. He is deeply unkind to Jimmi and still denies child abuse. Jimmi meanwhile, is struggling with other prisoners needing him to be their Doctor and his vile cellmate harassing him and getting off his face on spice each day. Life behind bars is getting harder as each day passes and he is beginning to lose hope. Feeling like he has no options left, Jimmi turns to spice to get him through. An inmate he refused to help gets badly assaulted, although by this point, I think he has actually stopped caring.

Valerie meets up with Rabbi David to learn more about her ‘Jewish Heritage’ and I am possibly about to eat the words from my previous blog about it being an annoying, daft Valerie storyline as it looks like there a genuine spark between them. And I am all for Valerie finding some love in her life! They even meet up a second time and go for lunch where they continue to bond. But alas, Valerie and I both have our hearts broken when David decides it’s too soon after the breakdown of his marriage to start another relationship and he doesn’t want to hurt her (or me, of course) by making false promises. I really do hope they return to this storyline at some point. There was a genuine connection here.

Ruhma decides to learn BSL after struggling to communicate with a deaf patient in labour the previous week and also being that she too is losing her hearing. After a misunderstanding, Zara decides to join her on the course. This could be a potential disaster or a new friendship. The first lesson doesn’t get off to a great start for their friendship though when the teacher points Ruhma out as a gifted student, putting Zara’s nose right out of joint!

I don’t often report the ‘side stories’ but I liked this one: Rob teams up with a junior police officer who is intent on solving a spate of burglaries on a particular estate. She shows a particular interest in a known criminal who has been recently released from prison and is dating a young, single mother who she is also particularly interested in. Rob digs a little deeper and the police officer admits that the young woman, Paige is actually her daughter, who she gave up when she was a baby. She eventually admits it to Paige herself and the pair begin to bond.

Doctors is on BBC1, weekdays at 1:45pm

Doctors: Acts of Kindness

(Monday 13^th – Friday 17^th 2020)

We appear to be landed with one of those stupid Valerie storylines. Don’t get me wrong, I love quirky Valerie. She is absolutely one of my favourite characters. But sometimes I feel like they go a bit too daft with her. Case in point, she is currently obsessed with this DNA testing where she has poor Sid going through every single test result, she is deeply concerned about conditions she might carry genes for and is convinced she is now Jewish. She also fails to recognise that it’s a load of rubbish as the results show that she has the body of an athlete and is unlikely to get cancer. And of course one of the strongest Valerie storylines ever and indeed Doctors storylines ever was Valerie’s cancer.

Rob assists with giving guidance on the perils of crime to an Intervention group but recognises some of the boys as being behind some bike thefts. However, the group leader persuades him not to follow it up, as the boys have had extremely difficult lives and are not desperate to turn their lives around. Speaking of crime, Zara and Emma receive the news that Gareth is pleading not guilty and his case is going to trial.

During evening surgery, Karen and Bear are at loggerheads as Bear fails to respect the depth of the work Karen is required to do as a receptionist. When a frightened fifteen year old Muslim girl comes into the surgery, desperate for help, not only from Emma as a Doctor but also from Karen as a Mum and just as a kind woman who will listen and help her work through things, Bear demands to know what she is doing and why she is away from the desk. He also gets mistaken for a junior receptionist while he is holding the forte! At the end of the night, the young woman manages to sort things out with her family and commends Karen to Bear. Karen, who is beside herself about Jimmi finally gets a visiting order to go and see him.

Karen and Bear clash during evening surgery…

Behind bars and against Emma’s advice, Jimmi finds himself providing more and more medical support for his fellow inmates. He provides one man with a new mental health diagnosis that could potentially change his life and begs a prison officer to get urgent care for another inmate whose life could be in danger. Instead, the officer assaults him… not quite what Jimmi had in mind.

Emma has her own battle on her hands when a man rushes into the Campus Surgery in desperate need of mental health support. Instead, he receives suspicion and fear based on race from other patients.

Doctors is on BBC1, weekdays at 1:45pm