(Photo: BBC)

Doctors is coming to an end. BBC has announced that the long-running daytime drama will air its final episode in December 2024.  More than 4,300 episodes have aired thus far.

The British medical drama premiered in March 2000 and follows the staff and patients of a hospital in the West Midlands town of Letherbridge. The cast includes Adrian Lewis Morgan, Elisabeth Dermot Walsh, Chris Walker, Dido Miles, Ian Midlane, Ashley Rice, Bharti Patel, Dex Lee, Ross McLaren, Kia Pegg, Kiruna Stamell, Wendi Peters, and Rahul Arya.

BBC said the following about the cancellation of Doctors in a statement, per Radio Times:

We have taken the very difficult decision to bring daytime drama Doctors to an end after 23 years.

With super inflation in drama production, the cost of the programme has increased significantly, and further investment is also now required to refurbish the site where the show is made, or to relocate it to another home.

With a flat licence fee, the BBC’s funding challenges mean we have to make tough choices in order to deliver greater value to audiences.

We remain fully committed to the West Midlands and all of the funding for Doctors will be reinvested into new programming in the region.

We would like to thank all the Doctors cast and crew who have been involved in the show since 2000. We know the crucial role Doctors has played in nurturing talent, and we will work to develop new opportunities to support skills in scripted programming.

The final episode will screen in December 2024, and we are working closely with BBC Studios to give it the finale it deserves.

What do you think? Do you watch Doctors on BBC? Are you sad that this British daytime drama is ending?