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Doctor Foster (TV series)

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Doctor Foster
GenreDrama
Written byMike Bartlett
Starring
Opening theme"Fly" by Ludovico Einaudi
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes9
Production
Executive producers
Running time60 minutes
Production companyDrama Republic
Original release
Network
Release9 September 2015 (2015-09-09) –
present

Doctor Foster is a BBC One drama television series that was first broadcast on 9 September 2015. The five-part series, written by Mike Bartlett, is about Dr. Gemma Foster, who suspects that her husband has been having an affair. After she follows several lines of enquiry, far more in her life unravels, including a streak of violence below the surface.[1][2][3][4] The second series started on Tuesday 5 September 2017.[5]

Cast

Series one

  • Suranne Jones as Gemma Foster, a GP in the town of Parminster, who begins to suspect her husband, Simon, is having an affair.
  • Bertie Carvel as Simon Foster, a 40-year-old property developer and Gemma's husband.
  • Clare-Hope Ashitey as Carly Williams, a patient of Gemma's, who helps support Gemma, due to her suspicions of Simon. [6]
  • Cheryl Campbell as Helen Foster (episodes 1-3)
  • Jodie Comer as Kate Parks, a 23-year-old University Graduate who has been secretly having a two-year affair with Simon Foster. [7]
  • Navin Chowdhry as Anwar (episodes 2-3, 5)
  • Victoria Hamilton as Anna Baker (episodes 1-3, 5)
  • Tom Taylor as Tom Foster, Gemma and Simon's 11-year-old son.
  • Martha Howe-Douglas as Becky Hughes
  • Adam James as Neil Baker (episodes 1-3, 5)
  • Thusitha Jayasundera as Ros Mahendra. [8]
  • Sara Stewart as Susie Parks (episodes 1-2, 4-5)
  • Neil Stuke as Chris Parks (episodes 1-2, 4-5)
  • Robert Pugh as Jack Reynolds (episodes 1-2, 4)
  • Ricky Nixon[9] as Daniel Spencer (episodes 1,4)
  • Daniel Cerqueira as Gordon Ward, a Hypochondriac who regularly visits Gemma at the medical practice.
  • Megan Roberts as Isobel, a friend of Tom's

Series two

Episodes

Series Episodes Originally aired Average
viewership[10]
Series premiere Series finale
1 5 9 September 2015 (2015-09-09) 7 October 2015 (2015-10-07) 9.51 million
2 5 5 September 2017 (2017-09-05) 3 October 2017 (2017-10-03) TBA

Series 1 (2015)

No. Title Director Writer Original airdate Viewers (millions)[11][12]
1"Episode 1"Tom VaughanMike Bartlett9 September 2015 (2015-09-09)9.19
Gemma Foster, a doctor at the Parminster Medical Centre, is happily married to property developer Simon, with whom she has a young son, Tom. One day, she finds a blonde hair on Simon's scarf and suspects him of infidelity, possibly with his assistant Becky. Rather than confront him, she confides in her colleague Ros. At work, she forces elderly doctor Jack Reynolds, who has become an alcoholic, to retire. She also helps a young patient, Carly, to get rid of her abusive boyfriend and asks for her assistance in personal matters in return.
2"Episode 2"Tom VaughanMike Bartlett16 September 2015 (2015-09-16)9.19
Gemma has discovered that Simon's mistress is Kate Parks, the daughter of one of her patients and that Ros knew of the affair but was bound by patient confidentiality rules. She also establishes that Kate is now pregnant. At a bar, Gemma meets another patient, Anwar, a married lawyer who is keeping the fact that he might have a brain tumour from his family. Encouraged by Jack Reynolds, whom she has reconciled with and talked out of suicide, Gemma confronts Simon but he denies having an affair. But his ailing mother Helen, whose own husband cheated on her, tells Gemma the affair has been going on for two years, and not three months as he had told Ros. Gemma makes an appointment with Anwar, who specialises in divorce.
3"Episode 3"Tom VaughanMike Bartlett23 September 2015 (2015-09-23)9.26
On Anwar's advice, Gemma acts towards Simon as if everything is normal, while investigating his love life and financial affairs through other people. She gets Carly to befriend Kate, and sleeps with then blackmails Simon's accountant Neil. Neil reveals that Simon's big project, the re-development of a school, is a financial black hole and that their joint savings and home would be gone if it were not for a mysterious investor bailing him out. Simon's mother, who had been terminally ill and in pain, ends her life. Gemma decides against divorce because of Simon's distress and vulnerability.
4"Episode 4"Bruce GoodisonMike Bartlett30 September 2015 (2015-09-30)9.35
To Ros's surprise, Gemma stays with Simon, believing his affair is over after Kate had an abortion. However, her work life crumbles after negative comments about her get posted on the Internet, and the police suspect her of involvement in her mother-in-law's death. Carly's boyfriend has also filed a complaint about her for threatening him earlier. Gemma has a breakdown after discovering that Simon is seeing Kate again. She attempts suicide by drowning before finding new strength.
5"Episode 5"Bruce GoodisonMike Bartlett7 October 2015 (2015-10-07)10.57
Gemma contrives to embarrass Kate at an awkward dinner party with the woman's family - where she exposes Simon's infidelity and his financial chicanery. She also reveals that Kate's father, who knew nothing of the affair, is the mysterious investor in Simon's project despite a conflict of interest which makes his involvement unethical. She identifies the accountant Neil's wife as her mysterious online persecutor. When Simon refuses to leave their house and son, Gemma loses control, abducts the child, and returns alone and distressed.

Series 2 (2017)

No. Title Director Writer Original airdate Viewers (millions)
1"Episode 1"Jeremy LoveringMike Bartlett5 September 2017 (2017-09-05)8.72
Two years after the events of series one, Tom receives a note from Simon and Kate which doubles up as both an announcement of their imminent return to Parminster and also an invitation to their wedding reception and housewarming party. Simon catches Gemma breaking into their new house, and attempts to reassure her that he was able to buy it because he had a change of circumstances rather than because he hid money from her during the divorce proceedings, but she storms out. Abandoning an awkward date with a patient to turn up at the party uninvited, Gemma is greeted with dismay by Simon, and later Tom who identifies Gemma's date James as one of his school teachers. It is revealed that Ros was lying about declining her own invite, and Kate dedicates a frosty speech to Gemma, which results in Gemma walking off to explore the house. After discovering that Tom has been given a room, Gemma is caught snooping around the master bedroom by Simon, and they almost kiss when he confesses that he's still attracted to her, but Gemma stops herself and tells him she'd rather slit her throat. Gemma attempts to leave but takes a while to find Tom, who eventually turns up, seemingly distressed and no longer accompanied by his friend Isobel. Upon arrival at work the next morning, Gemma assumes that flowers waiting for her are from her date, but upon opening the attached card it becomes clear they are from Simon. Angry, Gemma leaves work to confront Simon at his house, but upon arrival only finds Kate, who ridicules the idea that Simon would have confessed to still being attracted to Gemma before slamming the door in her face. Gemma goes home to find Simon has returned the favour and broken in, and they have another argument, which is only broken off when Tom returns from school and announces he's packing a bag. Despite Gemma's desperate attempts to stop him getting into Simon's car, Tom leaves to go and live with Simon and Kate, and they have dinner as a family while Gemma dissolves her old wedding ring in acid.
2"Episode 2"Jeremy LoveringMike Bartlett12 September 2017 (2017-09-12)8.75
Spying on Tom because he won't return her calls, Gemma discovers he has made an appointment with Siân, the mysteriously frosty new doctor at the surgery. Keen to glean any information she can, Gemma visits Siân for dinner and, after initial awkwardness, they bond over a cigarette, when Siân reveals Tom is experiencing anxieties over his family situation. After abruptly sneaking out through the back gate before dessert, Gemma goes on a tour of Parminster: visiting Tom's best friend Max, manipulating him into confessing everything he knows about her son; to Simon's house, watching through the window as Tom rejects her call and then as Kate kisses a mysterious man; and finally to a rave with James, where they confess their feelings for each other, before he leaves when she tries to have sex with him in the toilet. Meanwhile, Neil meets up for a drink with Simon to attempt to learn how he funded his new home but, correctly guessing Neil is working for Gemma, Simon lies that it was due to overseas investments, and then gets revenge for Neil and Gemma's night together by setting Neil up to cheat on Anna, knowing Anna will leave him for it. Bumping into Gemma on their respective journeys home, Simon takes a photo of her in her inebriated state, and attempts to use it for blackmail, but she falls asleep on the sofa before she can reply. The next morning, recharged after having made love with James over breakfast, Gemma confronts Siân about her secretive links to Simon noting that they were both students at the University of Warwick. Simon studied economics there and Siân (presumably) studied medicine. In two shots during this confrontation a University of Warwick mug can be seen briefly on Siân's desk. Siân duly reveals that Simon recommended the job to her on the basis Gemma would leave within a month of her arrival, but then convinces Gemma she's taking her side in the dispute. Finally, Gemma confronts Simon at his work, but the conversation is interrupted when Gemma is called to a meeting at Tom's school. After they race each other there, Simon and Gemma are told Tom has been excluded for beating up Max.
3"Episode 3"Jeremy LoveringMike Bartlett19 September 2017 (2017-09-19)8.28
Simon escalates his plan to push Gemma out of town, suggesting to Tom that he might like to get over his exclusion by moving schools to one in Simon's neighbourhood, but Tom reacts badly and storms over to Gemma's house. Simon invites himself over and ends up staying for dinner, and they have sex - proceeding even after Gemma's initial plan to blackmail him is foiled when Simon spots her phone filming them. Cornered by Gemma, Isobel reveals that Tom almost raped her at Simon and Kate's housewarming, and that it was Max finding out about this which had triggered his fight with Tom. After informing James about Simon and Gemma's hate sex, Tom attempts to move back to his Dad's house, only to find out Kate has banned him from there because she now perceives him as a potential threat to their child. With Anna moving to Edinburgh to live with her sister, and Ros beginning married life, Tom and Gemma agree that there is no reason for them to remain in Parminster, so they put their house up for sale and leave town.
4"Episode 4"Jeremy LoveringMike Bartlett26 September 2017 (2017-09-26)TBA
Kate opens a mysterious parcel to find a tie of Simon's, along with a note from Gemma stating he left it at her house. Snooping around Smon's office for possible further clues, Kate finds the picture of the inebriated Gemma still on Simon's camera roll. Kate books an estate agent viewing as a way of snooping around Gemma's house, and finds the address of Gemma and Tom's hotel written on a post-it, but Anna corners her, and recites her account of Simon and Gemma's sex. Kate tells Anna that she doesn't believe her, and leaves to visit Gemma in their hotel, but is surprised to find both her parents and her daughter waiting for her. Having been convinced of the story by Gemma, Susie and Chris attempt to convince Kate about Simon's infidelity, and she later manipulates him into confessing. Kate forces Simon to sleep in the spare room, telling him she'll be able to forgive him given time, but secretly meets up with Gemma where the latter details the numerous ways in which Simon has styled his entire second marriage to be a carbon copy of his first. The next morning, Simon discovers that his bank accounts are empty, and makes fruitless attempts to find out why. Eventually, summoned to Kate's house, Simon finds a removal van, which Chris is just finishing loading. Chris reveals that he never trusted Simon again after his infidelity with Gemma, and was very careful to ensure that - in the event of Simon cheating on Kate - Simon would be left without a claim to either his house or his business venture. Kate confronts Simon about their entire marriage being a sham styled on his marriage to Gemma, and leaves for France with Amelie. Gemma arrives at Kate's now-empty house to find Simon sitting on the doorstep, having been locked out, and he attacks her car. She drives away without speaking to him but, after a phone call with Tom quickly returns, offering Simon the use of their hotel room while he makes arrangements to leave Parminster. Simon, however, grabs Gemma's phone to obtain the address of the hotel where Tom is, and they race each other there.
5"Episode 5"UnknownUnknown3 October 2017 (2017-10-03)[13]TBA
Winning the race to the hospital, Gemma and Tom quickly pack their belongings and head home, leaving just as Simon pulls up in a taxi. Tom is dismayed to find that the house has been stripped of all its furnishings but nevertheless, when Simon turns up on the doorstep, makes it unequivocally clear that he doesn't want anything to do with his father. Later, in a confrontation in a restaurant car park, Simon begs Gemma to take him back, but she declines. Back at the house, James presents Gemma with earrings, and they agree to resume their relationship, but she panics into breaking up with him again when she later awakes in the middle of the night to find Tom having left in a taxi with Simon. Discovering Simon by the side of a motorway, Tom reveals Simon has declared his intentions to run in front of a car, but Gemma talks him out of it. Over breakfast, Gemma confirms that she worked out what Simon had told Tom to convince him to move in with him and Kate: namely that Gemma suffered post-natal depression after Tom's birth, and at one point expressed a wish that Tom would die. After bidding their goodbyes, Gemma and Tom leave Simon to commit suicide in his hotel room with drugs that Gemma has provided, but before he can go through with it Gemma turns the car around and talks him out of it. When she leaves Simon to begin his new life, there are three voicemails waiting for her. The first of these is that Tom's appeal against his exclusion from school has been upheld, but when she arrives at the car to tell him, he has gone for a walk. The third voicemail is an announcement from Tom that he has decided to begin his own life without the support of his parents, and the series ends with Gemma pleading for a resolution to his 'Missing Person' status.

Production

The series was commissioned by Charlotte Moore and Ben Stephenson.[14] The executive producers are Roanna Benn, Greg Brenman, Jude Liknaitzky, and Matthew Read.[15][16] Filming took place in Green Lane, Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, Copse Wood Way, Northwood, London, Enfield and the Market Square in Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The surgery location shoot was at the Chess Medical Centre, in Chesham in Bucks, renamed Parminster Medical Centre for the show. The railway station featured in the show was Enfield Chase station. The scene that features Tom playing football was filmed at the Southgate Hockey Centre, Enfield.

It was announced at the end of Series 1 that the show would return for a second series, with both Suranne Jones and Bertie Carvel.[17] At the 21st National Television Awards Jones announced that the new series began filming in September 2016.

The second series started on Tuesday 5 September 2017.

Reception

In general, the show has received acclaim.[18] The opening episode received generally positive reviews from critics, with Lucy Mangan from The Guardian calling it a "gripping portrait of a marriage slowly being poisoned," although Mangan expressed fears of the show descending into "melodrama in the not too distant future ".[19] In a review for The Telegraph, Michael Hogan gave the drama four stars out of five, describing it as "an edgy nail-biter", that was "sparkily written by Olivier Award-winner Mike Bartlett", despite a soundtrack that was "overbearing".[20] Victoria Segal of the Sunday Times wrote of the fourth episode that it 'clattered unsteadily to its denouement ...this episode is as desperately uneven as the rest of the series, thrashing about between high melodrama and muted misery." Catherine Blythe of the Daily Telegraph bemoaned its "absurd plot" and the lack of "emotional logic" in a series of "melodramatic contortions that required a character who was supposed to be brainy to act like an utter fool."

Accolades
Year Association Category Nominated work Result
2016 National Television Awards New Drama Doctor Foster Won[21]
2016 National Television Awards Drama Performance Suranne Jones Won[21]
2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Drama Doctor Foster Nominated[22]
2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Actress Suranne Jones Won[23]
2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Writer Mike Bartlett Nominated[22]
2016 Royal Television Society Awards Best Actress Suranne Jones Won[24]
2016 British Academy Television Awards Best Mini-series Doctor Foster Nominated[25]
2016 British Academy Television Awards Best Actress Suranne Jones Won[25]

Broadcast

Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on 17 November 2015 on BBC First,[26] in New Zealand on January 17, 2016 on TV One,[citation needed] in France on 15 June 2016 on D8, in Poland on 3 August 2016 on Ale Kino+, and in Sweden on 15 August 2016 on SVT1.[citation needed] The series aired in the US on Lifetime in April 2016 as Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned[27] and began streaming on Netflix in October 2016.[28]

References

  1. ^ Lambert, Doug (28 February 2014). "BBC Drama unveil new commissions". ATV Today. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  2. ^ Dowell, Ben (28 February 2014). "Lenny Henry to make film about his early life for BBC1". Radio Times. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  3. ^ Hemley, Matthew (28 February 2014). "BBC1 orders new dramas from Lenny Henry and Mike Bartlett". The Stage. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  4. ^ Plunkett, John (28 February 2014). "David Walliams to star as BBC bags Agatha Christie drama deal". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  5. ^ "Doctor Foster set to return for second series", BBC, 3 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Doctor Foster - Carly Williams - BBC One". BBC.
  7. ^ "Doctor Foster - Kate Parks - BBC One". BBC.
  8. ^ "Doctor Foster - Ros Mahendra - BBC One". BBC.
  9. ^ "Ricky Nixon". IMDb.
  10. ^ 28 day data
  11. ^ "BARB weekly top 30 programmes". BARB. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  12. ^ Based on 28 day consolidated data from BARB
  13. ^ "BBC - Doctor Foster - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
  14. ^ "BBC One announces new drama series, Doctor Foster". BBC. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  15. ^ Considine, Pippa (28 February 2014). "BBC One orders Drama Republic drama series by Mike Bartlett". Televisual. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  16. ^ Kanter, Jake (28 February 2014). "BBC signs Agatha Christie deal". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  17. ^ "Doctor Foster to return". BBC. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  18. ^ Hastings, Chris (4 October 2015). "Doctor Foster draws to a close with explosive finale". Daily Mail. Daily Mail. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  19. ^ Mangan, Lucy (10 September 2015). "Doctor Foster review – gripping portrait of a marriage slowly being poisoned". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  20. ^ Hogan, Michael (9 September 2015). "Doctor Foster, episode one, BBC One, review: 'an edgy nail-biter'". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  21. ^ a b National Television Awards. "Winners — National Television Awards". nationaltvawards.com.
  22. ^ a b Kanter, Jake. "Broadcasting Press Guild Awards: Why in the Age Of Netflix, TV Has Still Got Its Mojo". Huffington Postdate=11 February 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  23. ^ Plunkett, John (11 March 2016). "Wolf Hall's Mark Rylance wins best actor at Broadcasting Press Guild awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  24. ^ Delgado, Kasia (23 March 2016). "Lenny Henry, Michaela Coel and Suranne Jones triumph at the Royal Television Society Awards 2016". Radio Times. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  25. ^ a b "Doctor Foster's Suranne Jones wins TV Bafta for Leading Actress". Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  26. ^ Purcell, Charles (12 November 2015). "New This Week (Nov 16): Into The Badlands, Jane The Virgin, Kardashians, V8s and live sports". The Green Room. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  27. ^ Hale, Mike (8 April 2016). "Review: 'Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned,' an Infidelity Drama From Lifetime". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  28. ^ "Is 'Doctor Foster' on Netflix in America?". New on Netflix. October 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
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