‘Axing Doctors after 24 years is the end of an era’

As TV medical drama Doctors later bids farewell with its final episode, a petition with 9,000 signatures to try and save it shows just how much it resonated with audiences.

Set in the fictional town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of staff and patients at a Midlands GP practice for 24 years.

However, in October last year the BBC said it would be canceled after “superinflation in drama production” led to costs rising significantly.

The announcement prompted superfan Carys Ashby to set up a petition to try to save it, but when the last of more than 4,500 episodes aired, she has accepted defeat, saying the final bow represents the “end of an era” .

Ms Ashby says simply accepting the cancellation “wasn’t enough, so I felt like I had to try and do something”.

She told the BBC that many, often older, viewers spent “all day” watching the episodes.

“I’m only young, there will be new programs for me to watch, but I worry about the older generation who rely on the show’s fame,” Ms Ashby said.

The ones who worked on the show have also expressed their sadness before the soap comes to an end.

Writer and director Joy Wilkinson previously wrote: “I would have left TV drama if it hadn’t been for this beautiful, warm and creative show.”

Last year the BBC said it was faced with a choice: reinvest in the Birmingham location where the show was made, or fund new shows in the West Midlands region.

The daytime drama features household names including Eddie Redmayne and Sheridan Smith, and has won a total of 17 Baftas.

TV critic Scott Bryan, of the BBC podcast Must Watch, previously said on X that the show was “a training ground for a lot of actors”.

The company has thanked all cast and crew and stressed that it remains “fully committed” to TV production in the West Midlands.

The final episode will be shown at 2pm GMT on BBC One.

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