The real doctor who’s very close to Dr Foster
HE STARS as the hunky teacher who is a handsome distraction for the BBC’s Doctor Foster in her quest for revenge on her ex-husband.
But Prasanna Puwanarajah, who plays James, the love interest for Suranne Jones’s GP Gemma Foster, harbours a surprising past of his own, having qualified as a doctor and worked in the NHS for several years before switching to acting.
After studying medicine at Oxford University, he worked as an ear, nose and throat specialist at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and also used his skills abroad for the charity Medecins du Monde.
But having kept up his love of drama while at college, he has put medicine behind him. Rapidly finding success, his roles have included playing a medic in Critical, the drama written and directed by Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, who is also a doctor. Puwanarajah said: ‘I stepped away from being a doctor to clear my head, really. It’s an intense working environment and I needed to reconnect with a different side of myself.’
His talents also extend to writing, and he is crafting his first screenplay for a film to be produced by Gandhi star Sir Ben Kingsley.