Carrie Fairchild
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Not a show I watched at any stage but still sad to see another soap go.
-
There's still time to choose your spooky October username
Click here for more details
Daytime soap Doctors axed by BBC
- Thread starter Carrie Fairchild
- Start date
- Copy link Copy link
LMLDallas78
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Thanks for sharing, haven't seen anything about that.
Doctors was a great daytime series which I enjoyed for many years when it first began. Always enjoyed the mix of drama and funny with some great characters.
Not so good in recent years if I've managed to catch an episode. After 23 years it's sad to be ending.
Doctors was a great daytime series which I enjoyed for many years when it first began. Always enjoyed the mix of drama and funny with some great characters.
Not so good in recent years if I've managed to catch an episode. After 23 years it's sad to be ending.
Julia's Gun
Telly Talk Well-Known Member
Fantastic news, unwatchable garbage finally removed from our screens.
BBC should now replace it with a Knots or Falcon Crest re-run.
BBC should now replace it with a Knots or Falcon Crest re-run.
RandallAdams
Telly Talk Active Member
This is wonderful news. The BBC have the opportunity to create a decent daytime soap now!Not a show I watched at any stage but still sad to see another soap go.
Carrie Fairchild
Telly Talk Enthusiast
As I said, I’ve never watched it bar maybe the time Stefanie Powers showed up in it, so I can’t comment on the quality of the show but one recurring comment that I’ve seen online today is that the show was a great training ground for new writers who’ve come up through the BBC training schemes. One person even described it as “a training scheme that happened to be televised”. Replacing it with something cheaper (likely another daytime docuseries) will leave a gap. Not that that’s a strong enough reason to keep it going, given the cost.
In saying that, 24 years (by the time it ends next year) is pretty good innings for a UK daytime drama. With the exception of Emmerdale (which started in daytime before transitioning to evenings), only Crossroads (which danced between daytime and teatime depending on your region) ran for as long.
RandallAdams
Telly Talk Active Member
Last edited:
Carrie Fairchild
Telly Talk Enthusiast
I’d be surprised if they commit to another ongoing soap. They’ve done shorter run daytime dramas a few times in recent years, so we might see more of them.
I was a Family Affairs fan but it’s mostly forgotten nowadays unfortunately. In among the numerous revamps, it had some really good eras.
Carrie Fairchild
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Not a soap but I see that another daytime show Steph’s Packed Lunch has been axed by Channel 4 in order to reinvest it’s budget elsewhere as they focus on their “digital-first” strategy (the same strategy that saw Hollyoaks move from Channel 4 to online/E4 only). I think daytime is going to take the hit more and more now and we’ll be seeing a lot more cheap to make docuseries or reruns akin to what you see on digital.
Julia's Gun
Telly Talk Well-Known Member
Re-runs are fine, as long as its Dallas, Falcon Crest and Knots Landing.
Shame about Steph's Packed Lunch though, I quite like that as a Loose Women alternative. and John Whaite is cute.
Shame about Steph's Packed Lunch though, I quite like that as a Loose Women alternative. and John Whaite is cute.
Carrie Fairchild
Telly Talk Enthusiast
I’d imagine it’ll be reruns from their own back catalogue.
LMLDallas78
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Give me Doctors series any day over cheap reality or cookery programmes usually on offer. Steph's packed lunch had a really bad start, but it obviously picked up and now that's going.
When Doctors first began I really enjoyed it and actually looked forward to it when I was home on Maternity leave.
Oh how I wish it could be replaced by Dallas or Knots. But those re runs on CBS drama are a distant memory now.
But I do remember them very well, having to run to do the school pick up as Knots finished only 5 minutes before the end of school!
When Doctors first began I really enjoyed it and actually looked forward to it when I was home on Maternity leave.
Oh how I wish it could be replaced by Dallas or Knots. But those re runs on CBS drama are a distant memory now.
But I do remember them very well, having to run to do the school pick up as Knots finished only 5 minutes before the end of school!
AndyB2008
Telly Talk Well-Known Member
Doctors wasn't a success to start with - it aired before the One O'Clock News at 12.30pm.
The BBC were almost at the stage of axing it in 2001, until the 9/11 events happened and they used the 12.30pm slot for a BBC News Special.
Doctors was relocated to the post Neighbours slot and surprisingly, the ratings did better there, and eventually Doctors stayed on air.
Doctors moved to 1.45pm in mid 2007 swapping with Neighbours ahead of the latter going to Channel 5.
The BBC were almost at the stage of axing it in 2001, until the 9/11 events happened and they used the 12.30pm slot for a BBC News Special.
Doctors was relocated to the post Neighbours slot and surprisingly, the ratings did better there, and eventually Doctors stayed on air.
Doctors moved to 1.45pm in mid 2007 swapping with Neighbours ahead of the latter going to Channel 5.
ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989
Telly Talk TV Fanatic
Shame about Doctors going next year, I used to watch it during my A Levels in the mid 2000s, it was a good way for me to revise on my days off.
Pretty sure they had an early evening airing at one point very briefly but I could be misremembering.
Pretty sure they had an early evening airing at one point very briefly but I could be misremembering.
Carrie Fairchild
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Last year, they aired repeats at 7pm on BBC2, possibly after Emmerdale moved to 7.30pm, but it only lasted a matter of weeks if I remember correctly. I think they may have tried it in primetime in the 00’s briefly too.
AndyB2008
Telly Talk Well-Known Member
The 7pm Doctors repeats on BBC2 weren't helped by the war in Ukraine breaking out, with the BBC News at Six extended, and pushing the regional news programmes to 7pm.
As a result, The One Show, given it is broadcast live compared to pre-recorded Doctors, was given the priority. So those repeats never got much of a chance.
Last edited:
AndyB2008
Telly Talk Well-Known Member
The BBC got burnt with Eldorado and to a lesser extent, Castles and Out of The Blue. (Hence they increased the production on Casualty and Holby City from short term series to airing all year round).
So I doubt they would attempt another soap.
Last edited:
Carrie Fairchild
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Yes. I think we’re in the last days of soaps as we know them. The last English language soap to launch (to my knowledge) was Australia’s The Heights in 2019 but as good as it was, the broadcaster treated it halfheartedly in terms of how it was scheduled. The legacy soaps (EE, ED and Corrie) are still seen as central(ish) to the BBC and ITV schedules but it’s no longer felt that you must have a soap to prop up your schedule in the same way as when new channels like Channel 4 and Channel 5 launched back in the day. If you have a pre-existing soap that pulls in the viewers, that’s fine, but a new soap is seen as too much of a gamble and an expense these days I think.
Carrie Fairchild
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Doctors is the last daytime soap standing and was something of an exception as it was the only UK produced daytime soap for the last 15 years. There’d been a steady flow of them (albeit mostly shortlived and usually on ITV) between the 70’s (The Cedar Tree, Take the High Road, Emmerdale), the 80’s (Together, Gems) and the 90’s (Families). ITV tried a few in the early 00’s (Night & Day, the Crossroads revival) but abandoned ship after The Royal Today in 2008. As you’ve mentioned, when you compare a 90’s ITV schedule to one nowadays, those slots that had previously been filled by soaps (both UK & imported) are now filled with talk and game shows.
AndyB2008
Telly Talk Well-Known Member
Ref The Royal Today, ITV probably hoped for success with it because of how the original parent series had been.
Unfortunately it launched at the time ITV was considering the future of the parent series and Heartbeat due to cost cutting, so may not have helped either.
(A similar thing had happened in the US, when the Pax TV network, now Ion Television, and famous for the Sue Thomas series, launched a version of Ballykissangel in 1999 starring Cameron Daddo called Hope Island at the time the UK parent show was struggling ratings wise, having lost their two main leads and having another of the main cast die later on. Not surprisingly, Hope Island failed after one season and nor it was given a UK airing - don't think RTE aired it either).