BBC Doctors - Return of the Mac

[MadisonAvenue]

New thread

I'm here, but late, so will catch up on today's later when I've got more time!

Budget cuts really showing on the casting today.

I really cba with this episode. All the screaming and shouting has really pissed my cats off.

Agree, shouty blonde woman is annoying, shouty Zara is annoying.

Oh Zara!

Not the best episode.

Is Zara short for Alexandra? Is that the first time that's been mentioned?

Zara jacking the Mill in for a quiet life?

Looking at the trailer for tomorrow, I think Graham definitely has some sort of problem with Luca…..

Alexandra is her first name, something to do with her father I think why she’s always gone by Zara.

Bloody daft episode. Only person there — door would be locked. She’s given the woman a card to use that's not hers, she could be arrested just for possessing that. And if she goes to her sister’s, son will still be an addict, new drug dealer, history repeats itself.

Didn’t she change her name from Alexandra (Grey?) to hide links to her past?

I know an Alexandra who prefers to be called Xana (pronounced Shanna).

Just catching up.

I thought after what happened with Al (even though it was at the Mill) Zara wouldn't be left to lock up alone at the Campus.

And yes, they obviously decided to cut back on cast costs once the axe fell. Lots of non-speaking extras, and episodes featuring hardly any cast members.

I think Alex/Zara changed her name when her father was arrested/imprisoned (wrongly, for manslaughter, he took thr fall for something he didn't do) and she wanted to distance herself from that.

Elisabeth Dermot Walsh has said on Twitter that this was filmed nearly a year ago and before they knew that it was being axed.
Interesting as I was only wondering earlier this week if we’d yet got to the episodes where the cast knew it was finishing.

All the shouting is annoying- and given all the things that have happened in the past, I really don't get why Zara didn't get security.

Thanks for all the clarifications on Alexandra/Zara. Before my time - although have started watching he old episodes, so will not doubt get there in a couple of years' time! 😅

That seems a bit odd, since they filmed the last episodes in March - and there can't be many episodes left (with the gaps in filming etc) - they don't film that far ahead, usually only a few months .

Every so often, they have re-visited the Alex/Zara thing (when old school friends have turned up , or there was a mh week, and it brought up old issues for Zara)- but it never gets properly explained.

Well it was a bit odd, her losing it about being the only one keeping the surgery together, when that doesn't exactly seem to be the case at the moment. So I wonder if it was an older episode not used at the time of filming, and deployed for this series as it is an easy stand alone not interfering with other storylines.

That would make more sense- an episode left over from her time during her split with Daniel when everything was a bit more up in the air/ Al was absent / before Michelle.

It didn't reference anything else, and could easily have been one that had been left over and postponed because of something. Which seems to happen a lot with Doctors episodes!

I thought that too, and there were no curtains open to see if leaves were on trees, snow on the ground or daffodils blooming to find a clue to when it was filmed.

Not sure why Zara was so shocked by her name though- Alex is a not that unusual a name.

And she was an idiot to give her the card.

Did they not have some episodes that were not shown after Daniel left because of a real life story in the news or something or am I getting confused?

Misthios I'm not sure, there may have been- but I get a bit confused with when the explosion happened (and Nina turned up) because that was when the earthquake happened in Turkey and a lot of episodes were cancelled.

I do think they must film a few 'filler' epsodes though- because every now and then an episode is on that is nothing to do with what has been going on before (and not in a 'Halloween special' way, but like today, completely random).

And will Emma ever come back? I thought she was doing - but she's cutting it fine- and if she doesn't come back, it's unusual there was never any announcement of the actress leaving for good , she just...went. .

I’m sure I read that Emma is back very soon. Whether it was just speculation as she’s still in the titles and time’s running out though I don’t know.

It was just before Christmas wasn’t it that she went off to Australia, just as they were each holding a dinner party.