Save BBC Doctors

The continuing drama series BBC Doctors closed in 2024 after 23 years – a terrible loss to the UK writing community and to audiences

WGGB believes that the closure of another drama series following the cancellation of Holby City two years ago leaves a big hole in the drama slate and in the pockets of Doctors writers, some of whom have written for the show for years.

Following the announcement of the closure in 2023, we have been in regular dialogue with the BBC and agreed two development programmes to support writers who have been directly affected by the closure of Doctors. We have been talking to the BBC about the treatment of writers on continuing drama in general, as we believe there is lots of work to be done in this area. We have also had a productive meeting with BBC Studios to discuss best practice in the commissioning process of writers.

Campaign resources

• If you are a Doctors writer who has been affected, you can contact casework@writersguild.org.uk for support and advice.
• If you’d like to get involved in future campaigning activity around writers on continuing drama, drop a line to john@writersguild.org.uk
• Watch the video of our event ‘Life after soaps’ which explored advice for continuing drama writers who want to move into writing for other forms of TV or other craft areas.
• Read our statement here.

BBC West Midlands Rep Tim Stimpson spoke to BBC Midlands Today about the closure of BBC Doctors and the impact on the region, on 30 October 2023