What is your character’s favourite storyline?
After over 1600 episodes, there are seriously too many storylines to choose a favourite. But for me, it’s got to be Zara’s 12-year relationship with Daniel Granger (played by Matthew Chambers) which included everything from domestic bliss to the soap version of Greek-tragedy level crises, including -multiple dalliances from both parties, a long fertility journey and several break ups. As for Dr Zara Carmichael herself, she was a ‘piece of work’ and a joy to play. Somehow, she got away with behaving appallingly time and again and many viewers, especially women, told me that was what they envied; that she spoke her mind and didn’t suffer fools gladly. There was almost always a direct relationship between how well she was dressed and how badly she was behaved. Although many, many times she received her comeuppance by being, over the years, variously doused, squirted or drenched with water, mud, slurry, real ale, chocolate, bird poo, baby vomit, cream, red wine, pus, and more chocolate, to name but a few!
What is your favourite Doctors memory?
I think my favourite Doctors memory may be shooting an episode where The Mill Health Centre colleagues staged an am-dram production of A Christmas Carol. We were filming for what seemed like days in a ‘black box’ theatre location, where we lost all sense of time & reason. I remember laughing until my insides ached, specifically because the characters were all supposed to be taking themselves so seriously. There is almost no more alive a feeling than trying to suppress a ‘corpse’ (inappropriate laughter) during a take.
What is it that was so special about Doctors?
Who am I to say what made Doctors special? I will tell you what the fans tell me nearly every day when they stop me for a chat in the street. Letherbridge was ultimately a kind place. The characters were their friends, the stories were their gossip, the successes were their triumphs, and the tragedies were their sadnesses. You could put the kettle on after the lunchtime news and have a cup of tea with a story that would engage you, intrigue you, infuriate you, or simply entertain you and it would almost always be wrapped up by a quarter past two. But often too with a serial ‘cliffhanger’ to make you wonder what happens next? What next for the, in turn, engaging, diverse, professional, charming (in Zara’s case egomaniacal) flawed, sincere, hilarious & well-meaning staff at The Mill.
What will you miss the most?
ALL of the cast and crew, including, writers, directors, producers, runners, multiple departments, catering, cleaners, locations managers, post-production, security. Please forgive the ones I haven’t name-checked. In short, the amazing community we had in Birmingham; the respect we had for each other’s contributions, and the pride we had in the hard graft of every department. Also, Doctors had (I think) over 10,000 guest characters over the years – a conveyor belt of incredible actors: some on their first job out of drama school, others in the autumn years of long and feted careers. Parachuting in for a day or a week to people our Letherbridge universe was no mean feat, and we tried hard to treat our guest artists truly as our ‘guests.’ It was a privilege and pleasure to work with all those amazing people, it kept things fresh and kept us ‘regulars’ on our toes.
What can you tell us about the final episodes?
Zara wakes up on Monday & cannot move in her bed; seriously, CANNOT move. And as anyone following the show will know she is NEEDED at The Mill as the whole enterprise is in jeopardy at the hands of the Machiavellian Dr Graham Elton (Alex Avery). He seems hell-bent on destroying everything that is good about the practice and removing anyone and everyone who stands in the way of him controlling the whole place. He has slow-burn revealed himself to be racist, homophobic, manipulative, self-aggrandising and so over-flowing with dinosaur-attitudes and micro-aggressions that are escalating into macro-aggressions that he threatens the very survival of The Mill. Where is Zara when you need her? Struggling with a devastating diagnosis of FND (Functional Neurological Disorder) the doctor has become the patient and like the beating heart of a cyborg spaceship, her malaise seem to symbiotically reflect the decline of The Mill – well, that’s my take on things anyway!!
What’s next for you?
I can’t wait to see where the wind takes all my Doctors colleagues next, I hear of lots of exciting things in the pipeline. As for me, I’ve just filmed an episode of the Sister Boniface Mysteries where I had the joyful dilemma of playing twin sisters! A diva movie star visiting Great Slaughter to play “The Minx” (a Cat-Woman style super villain in a Batman-style 1960s TV Show) and her down-trodden sister; assistant dogsbody, stand-in and stunt woman. Inevitably, murder ensues, and the divine Sister Boniface takes on the case. It was, I admit, utterly delicious and a perfect antidote to 15 years of playing Dr Zara Carmichael.
Doctors airs on BBC One at 2pm from Monday to Thursday
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