Doomed Doctors is in rude health

DEAR Editor, Whilst it is welcome news that the first sod has been turned in the transformation of the Tea Factory in Digbeth into a new regional office for the BBC, it does not signal that we have turned a corner yet.

In 2022, the Midlands and East of England only received a 2.7% share of the BBC network TV budget – lower than anywhere else in the UK, as was the case in eight of the last nine years. It is peculiar that Birmingham-made daytime soap Doctors is about to be issued with its death certificate. One day last week it achieved 1.35 million viewers. That was more than anything shown on Channel 4 or 5, including peak time that day, and was more than any programme on BBC Two except one broadcast in the early evening, and more than anything shown on ITV until teatime.

Doctors is achieving significant ratings by anybody’s standards. Despite that it suffers from frequent long breaks in transmission, is made on a very small drama budget, and receives no promotion or teaser trailers from BBC Continuity whatsoever. And yet the programme seems to survive in robust health – for which it should be getting universal support.

The programme is sometimes quirky, sometimes a little left field, and certainly creative. Sometimes it is not all of these things all at once, but whatever its formula is, it seems to be working with BBC daytime audiences. Indeed, there is only one non-news daytime offering on BBC1 itself that can beat Doctors, and that is Bargain Hunt, which is actually quite apt...

The Drama Unit at Selly Oak, where Doctors is made on a shoestring budget, is the last