Actress Lucy-Jo Hudson has shown gratitude to the cast and crew of the cancelled BBC TV series Doctors following its final day of production.
Hudson is most well-known for her breakthrough role as Katy Harris, the adolescent who killed her own father in Coronation Street and more recently as Donna-Marie Quinn, the mother of Romeo and Juliet Nightingale in Hollyoaks.
She also appeared in ITV’s Sunday night drama Wild at Heart for six seasons and had a guest role in Casualty.
Her recurring role as Rhiannon Davis in Doctors aired over two months in 2016 – a true soap opera queen, if we say so ourselves!
In October last year, following financial cuts across the entire corporation, it was announced that the daytime medical serial would come to an end after twenty four years on air.
Several weeks ago we reported that a director had requested fans stay away from their production base in Selly Oak, Birmingham, on the final day of filming (1st March).
Yesterday (12th March), Lucy-Jo took to Instagram to write a belated tribute to the show, saying it had ‘pushed [her] out of [her] comfort zone.’
The post, a compilation of clips from her time on the show, was shared with her 203,000 followers and was captioned: ‘I know I’m a little late in posting this… but from the bottom of my heart I am so very sorry to hear that after 24 years this wonderful TV series will be gone this year.’
‘My time on Doctors was one of my most memorable – the cast, the crew and production team were not only incredibly talented, and hard working but also so professional,’
‘They had to deal with so many actors coming and going through their doors daily as new patients, and they made each and every one of them feel so welcome.’
She continued: ‘My heart goes out to each and every one that worked tirelessly on this fantastic TV series…. you’re all incredibly lovely and talented people and you will no doubt continue to work in this industry!’
‘This show gave me a chance to show more of my work (generally tears and meltdowns) and pushed me out of my comfort zone… it gave me a platform… and I was honored to win “Villain of the Year” TV series award, back in 2017.’
Metro.co.uk understands that the final episode will air on BBC One in November, following Philip Ralph, a writer on the show for 19 years, taking to X/Twitter to express his concerns at the number of job losses.
‘I’m personally impacted along with hundreds by the disastrous decision to axe it’ he began.
‘Doctors filmed 200+ episodes every year, each one starring the regular cast plus up to 3 guest actors, each one written by a writer, each one made by a full production crew.’
The end of production was met with a double-blow for the industry the following week when Channel 4 announced it was cutting over 130 roles and reducing the number of Hollyoaks episodes that would be broadcast each week.
