Not just duvet-day viewing (Doctors)

Member Name: CTVicky

Product:	Doctors
Date:	24/08/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Overall superb acting and writing

Disadvantages: Sometimes it's not so good

I've started watching this since my mother started recording it on Sky Plus for when she gets home in the evening.

"Doctors" is a daytime drama about the goings-on at a G.P. surgery called The Mill Health Centre in a fictional town called Letherbridge.

Julia, who has been in it almost since the very beginning, is the practice manager. Jimmy, who has also been in it a very long time, is the senior partner.

Then we have a range of doctors who seem to have entered the soap opera over the past couple of years, including the camp, but straight, old boy Heston and a few others whose names I forget.

We also have two lovely young nurses; Michelle, who has been in the programme for several years, and Cherry, a beautiful, young, but eternally single lady.

Then there are the administrators. These seem to come and go quite regularly. Ruth has been in it quite a while. There was a huge storyline that ran for months, involving Ruth and Michelle. Michelle was always very loud, bubbly, but incredibly sweet and kind, always with a smile on her face and very professional. Then Ruth came along and befriended her. It seemed like a good friendship, until it became clear that Ruth had an unhealthy obsession with Michelle, and commenced a campaign of terror against Michelle which involved manipulating her, driving potential boyfriends of Michelle away and ruining her life, making her today a mere shadow of the person she once was.

Alongside big storylines revolving around the main cast, like the one above, every episode features a half-hour story revolving around a patient of the practice.

The programme, Doctors, can be a little hit-and-miss for myself. Overall, the writing is superb; on some days I feel that it's as good as any West-End play out there. Other days, it's not so good, and can seem contrived and even sub-standard.

Also, most of the main cast members are brilliant actors, but the bit-parts, the actors who play the patients are mostly quite bad, I'm afraid to say, and should stay within the realms of amateur dramatics societies.

A little 'niggle' I have about the programme is it seems to feature a lot of different homosexual male characters. I'm not homophobic - it's great that it portrays all walks of society - but almost every episode mentions gay men, which I'm sure is a tad disproportionate.

Apart from that, I enjoy watching every episode, even if it's just to criticise the writing or the acting! I think if the BBC paid more attention to this show, it could perhaps raise more money to fund higher-calibre cast members and scriptwriters. I think that Doctors deserves it because the whole premise is genius, and the storylines they run about the main characters are just brilliant pieces of work.

I am giving this three stars. I would give most soaps on television nowadays two or less. That should give one an indication of how highly I favour the programme.

Summary: Worth a watch