Daytime soap Doctors to take a three month break

BBC Doctors

Doctors will take an unprecedented three month transmission break from Friday 10th June.

The show routinely goes on hiatus from BBC One’s daytime schedule every summer during Wimbledon but will be off-air longer this year due to Euro 2016 and the Olympics, a post on the soap’s official Facebook page notes.

We’ve had a few questions about our summer break, which will start at the end of next week.

 

Each summer Doctors takes a break for Wimbledon. This year, so we can also bring viewers coverage of Euro 2016 and the Olympics whilst minimising further disruption to Doctors, the break will be longer than normal. – BBC Doctors

The announcement has unsurprisingly left some fans of the saga disgruntled, with ‘Raffe Jay’ commenting:  “I don’t know if you are aware, but not everyone in the country is addicted to watching 22 academic underachievers kicking about an inflated leather balloon, while spitting and then hugging each other, or falling over and pretending to hurt themselves. 12 weeks is a very long break. Wimbledon break every year, we are used to but all summer? I am guessing that the BBC doesn’t actually give a stuff about what the licence payers want to see.”

‘Karen Nelson’ said: “No. No I do not accept this at all. Doctors is about 28 minutes long. Are you seriously telling us that the BBC couldn’t squeeze it in on any of the other BBC channels? Even a different time we wouldn’t have minded but taking it off for three months shows the utter contempt you have for the show and us viewers”

Also annoyed by the news was ‘Felicity Black’ who replied: “Extremely disappointed. Such a long break, Doctors is the only soap I watch, all the others on tv are just the same story lines and just depressing.”

We look forward to Doctors returning to the BBC One schedule in September. We’ll still be filming during this time and bringing you behind the scene highlights. Let us know what kind of things you want to see from set! – BBC Doctors

Doctors is set in a busy Midlands practice and follows the turbulent lives and loves of the staff and patients. The series, which is produced by BBC Birmingham Drama Village, was recently recommissioned for a further two years.

In 1980 fellow former Midland soap opera Crossroads was the most complained about programme to the IBA – viewers were outraged when ITV removed the series from the schedules for the duration of the Olympic Games.