BBC Doctors presents a week of Shakespeare

“By medicine life may be prolong’d, yet death
Will seize the Doctor too.”
Cymbeline (1609, publ. 1623), Act 5, Scene 5.

In a week of special episodes inspired by a Sonnet, BBC One drama series, Doctors, will be bringing the magic of Shakespeare to the small screen to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.

The Sonnets will form part of the narrative and will be heard in voice over at a key point in the story and the episodes will air from Monday 18th April through to Friday 22nd April at 1:45pm each day.

Peter Lloyd: “It’s not just romance we’re covering. Throughout the week there’ll be themes of death, lust, nightmares, loss, and ageing. We even managed to rope superstar singer Jamelia into featuring in one of the episodes.”

Talking of the reasons behind the idea, Peter Lloyd, Series Producer said: “As Shakespeare was a Midlands boy we wanted to play a part in the BBC’s celebrations to mark 400 years since his death. On Doctors we have the ability to do something a little different. A lot of people know one of the Sonnets, or lines from them and they can be a bit more digestible than entire plays.”

Peter confirmed that they didn’t consider repeating another ‘Austenland’ style episode for the special week, explaining, “It’s quite a big deal to do something period, it’s also very expensive and the BBC are doing a lot of more traditional Shakespeare so I want to do something a bit different and our regular viewers could see an episode and it was an ordinary episode but then you heard Shakespeare as part of it. For those that aren’t interested they can just watch the episode, but for those who are, hopefully they can appreciate the themes and the story from the original.”

“For one of the episodes we got to film at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Stratford-upon-Avon which was wonderful. One of the scenes we filmed there involved Heston reciting Sonnet 73 to Ruhma as a way of wooing her. It is terribly romantic.”

In between scenes filmed at the RSC, I managed to catch up with Owen Brenman (Heston Carter) and Bharti Patel (Rhuma Hanif) to ask them about their own thoughts on Shakespeare.

Dr. Heston Carter and Rhuma Hanif share a tender moment on stage at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon

Bharti started by sharing her previous experience of Shakespeare, “Much Ado About Nothing, here at the RSC in 2013, is the only Shakespeare I’ve ever done, which was great. I loved doing it. I played two characters, Verges and Ursula, but they combined the roles for the performance. I’ve been known to say, in the Evening Telegraph (Coventry), that I am not a Shakespeare girl and then I actually worked here and when you break the words down, and you do have to work at it, it’s very transforming.”

Owen spoke about his early acting career, “I did a very little bit of Shakespeare in my second job, I did Comedy of Errors. I also did the The Pocket Dream which is a play about a Shakespeare play going wrong, written by Sandy Tolksvig and I loved doing that. It’s one of those where the shows gone wrong and the backstage staff have to put it on [think Noises Off], which is more my natural home, the comedy side of things.  I always feel with Shakespeare that it’s this huge mountain that’s probably much bigger than it really is and I feel that if you’re a ‘proper’ actor you do Shakespeare, where my background is more comedy sitcom, but everyone thinks whatever someone else does is more important and difficult, it’s just the nature of doing anything creative.”

Standing at the side of the RSC stage, Owen continued, “I quite like Macbeth, oh I’m not supposed to say that” at which point he starts turning a full 360 degrees on stage, “I should call it the Scottish play. I’m no good with his comedies, I find them not that funny, for my taste, so I like the tragedies more. I wouldn’t mind performing Shakespeare on stage but my background is more comedy, through shows like Alexi Sayle and One Foot in the Grave, that’s just the way my career has gone. I do theatre, but I feel more at home on TV, but I do miss the audience of live theatre.”

I asked Bharti what it was like being the new girl on set, she explained, “I think I’ve settled in, they are really lovely. I started last July and everyone has been really lovely and it is a big team and you have to just get in there and get mucky and everybody is there supporting and helping and it feels a really good tight unit and I think because we work so quickly we have to be like that.”

Picking up on a BBC online interview with Bahrti, I asked about her first day prank when she joined Doctors. Immediately dropping into a, near perfect, deep Scottish brougue, she said “I’m nae saying anything noo, I’m just saying Bhhaarrti.”  Owen elaborated, “Oh yes, that’s some nerve. She spent the whole day pretending she was Scottish, on her first day. I went round telling everybody in the office that she was Scottish, and she said her name was Bhhaarrti.” Bharti added, “I only told him three days later.”

In the same interview Bharti ruled out any romance story lines, so I asked her if the story came as a surprise. Bharti confessed, “We know in advance and we know what’s going to happen a little bit so, Bharti the actor, knew. The character, Ruhma, wasn’t expecting anything, it was a bolt out the blue as much as it was for the audience so, definitely, she knew nothing about it. I think she’d just resigned herself to, I’ve got my kids, I’ve got a really great job, I’ve got good mates and that’s my lot.”

To end with I asked, after all the ups and downs of their romance so far, if it was going to be a case of ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ for Heston and Ruhma?

Bharti: “Well, that would be telling.”
Owen: “Go and get your coat, no well done. Is it a case of that, we hope it is, we don’t know for sure do we.”
Bharti: “What ups and downs or a happy ending.”
Owen: “We’ll have to wait and see.”
Bharti: “Oh we’re back on.”

…and with that they were whisked away for another scene.

These special Sonnet-inspired episodes of Doctors will broadcast on BBC One from Monday 18th April – Friday 22nd April at 1.45pm.

BBC One drama series, Doctors, will be bringing the magic of Shakespeare to the small screen with a week of Sonnet based episodes to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.

Monday 18 Apr ‘When in disgrace’ by Dale Overton (Sonnet 29)

A chauffeur faces divorce, unemployment and ill health, but the one shining light in his life keeps him going – his young daughter. Emma visits mum-to-be Rhiannon, who is facing the prospect of Social Services taking away her baby as soon as it’s born. Does Rhiannon deserve this?

Tuesday 19 Apr ‘In ghastly night’ by Ray Brooking (Sonnet 27)

A young student is mourning his failed relationship, and his nights are filled with pain and grief. Will these night terrors force him into drastic action?Rob returns home after a terrible night shift at the station, his sleep constantly disturbed by Karen wanting to discuss her idea to foster difficult kids.

Wednesday 20 Apr ‘Past reason hunted’ by Steph Lloyd Jones (Sonnet 129)

Rob investigates a case of stalking, fuelled by a dangerous lust. But has he got the right man? Anthony’s lust for power and money finally gets the better of him as Daniel frames him for embezzlement and the slippery Practice Manager is finally fired.

Thursday 21 Apr ‘I know she lies’ by Bill Armstrong (Sonnet 138)

Adam and Michelle have a marriage that works, despite the lies. But people can get caught in the crossfire, and when Michelle gets pregnant, events become rather dangerous. Heston takes Ruhma to Stratford for their minibreak, but they argue about Shakespeare, government policy on the Arts and ultimately, fidelity. Heston ruminates that all the women he has been with have lied to him; she is just part of a long line …

Friday 22 Apr ‘Where late the sweet birds sang’ by Hiser & Colgan (Sonnet 73)

Tom and Jerry have been together for fifty years, but as they face death, can they do it together or will they be torn apart? Heston makes his apologies to Ruhma in dramatic fashion. As they explore the RSC on a backstage tour, he’s invited to take to the stage and he recites Sonnet 73, which moves her to tears.

BBC Doctors on Location at The RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon

@OwenBrenman on Twitter: Filming at Stratford #BBCDoctors #RSC

“….give me leave
To speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foul body of the infected world,
If they will patiently receive my medicine.”
–  (As You Like It. Act 2. Scene 7. Jacques.)

To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death the BBC daytime soap, Doctors, is currently filming episodes that incorporate Shakespeare into its story lines. During a special Shakespeare Week (18th – 22nd April 2016) each episode will feature a story and theme inspired by a Shakespeare Sonnet.

On Friday 29th January 2016 the cast and crew were busy filming at The RSC Stratford-upon-Avon, where I managed to speak to series producer Peter Lloyd about what inspired the forthcoming week of Shakespeare at the Letherbridge Doctors practice.

Peter explained, “It’s part of BBC celebrations this year for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and we wanted to play in it. We are one of the few shows that are made in the Midlands and Shakespeare is a Midlands boy and on Doctors we have the capacity to do something a little bit different.

I was looking at what the other departments in the BBC were doing and nobody was doing the Sonnets and I’ve always thought the Sonnets are bits of Shakespeare that a lot of people know, or people know lines from and people have them read at weddings and I thought it would be nice to do it for our audience, so all the episodes during the week leading up to the anniversary are based on a Sonnet and the story is inspired by a Sonnet.

We had a huge amount of response from our writers, who all wanted to do one, so I had to choose five.”

Speaking about picking the five episodes that will form the week long celebration of Shakespeare, Peter admitted, “It was very difficult to pick just five episodes as the interpretations were so different. You’d think with the Sonnets it would all be love poems, either to a young boy or a dark lady, but they weren’t. I did some research last summer and found one that was really dark, about rape and lust, and another one about insomnia, it’s a huge variety which I hadn’t really appreciated before. I did nudge the writers to not just think about romance and love and they did, with each episode written by a different writer.

Peter admitted that filming at the RSC is ‘a huge thrill’ and fulfills a boyhood dream, as he used to come to the RSC as a child and remembers being totally overawed by the place so he’s terribly excited to be featuring the RSC in one of the special episodes.

Jamelia features in an episode called  ‘Past reason hunted’ by Steph Lloyd Jones inspired by Sonnet 129. Image © BBC

Revealing a Doctors exclusive Peter confirmed that, Birmingham singer and Loose Women host, Jamelia has been cast in one of the special Shakespeare episodes which is due to be filmed in February 2016.

The location shoot, over two days, is also taking to the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon and there are plans to also film at The Fourteas on Sheep Street which will add to the scenes filmed inside the theatre.

BBC Doctors is on BBC One every weekday at 13:45