Doctor Foster (TV series)

Doctor Foster
Genre Drama
Written by Mike Bartlett
Starring
Opening theme "Fly" by Ludovico Einaudi
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 5
Production
Executive producer(s)
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) Drama Republic
Release
Original network
Picture format 16:9 1080i
Audio format Stereo
Original release 9 September 2015 (2015-09-09) – present
External links
Website

Doctor Foster is a British drama television series that was first broadcast on BBC One 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 enquiries, far more in her life unravels, including a streak of violence below the surface.[1][2][3][4] The drama was commissioned for a second series with stars Suranne Jones and Bertie Carvel returning.[5]

Production

The series was commissioned by Charlotte Moore and Ben Stephenson.[6] The executive producers are Roanna Benn, Greg Brenman, Jude Liknaitzky, and Matthew Read.[7][8] Filming took place in Green Lane, Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, Copse Wood Way, Northwood, London and Hitchin, Hertfordshire. The surgery location shoot was at the Chess Medical Centre. Chesham Bucks, renamed Parminster Medical Centre for the show. The train station featured in the show was Enfield Chase station.

Cast

Episodes

Series Episodes Originally aired Average
viewership[10]
Series premiere Series finale
1 5 9 September 2015 7 October 2015 9.51 million

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 whilst, 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)

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.[13] At the 21st National Television Awards Jones announced that the new series would begin filming in September 2016.

Reception

In general, the show has received acclaim.[14] 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 ".[15] 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".[16] 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[17]
2016 National Television Awards Drama Performance Suranne Jones Won[17]
2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Drama Doctor Foster Nominated[18]
2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Actress Suranne Jones Won[19]
2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Writer Mike Bartlett Nominated[18]
2016 Royal Television Society Awards Best Actress Suranne Jones Won[20]
2016 British Academy Television Awards Best Mini-series Doctor Foster Nominated[21]
2016 British Academy Television Awards Best Actress Suranne Jones Won[21]

Broadcast

Internationally, the series premiered in Australia on 17 November 2015 on BBC First,[22] in New Zealand on January 17, 2016 on TV One, 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.

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. ↑ "BBC One announces new drama series, Doctor Foster". BBC. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Considine, Pippa (28 February 2014). "BBC One orders Drama Republic drama series by Mike Bartlett". Televisual. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  8. ↑ Kanter, Jake (28 February 2014). "BBC signs Agatha Christie deal". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  9. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1635501/
  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. ↑ "Doctor Foster to return". BBC. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  14. ↑ Hastings, Chris (4 October 2015). "Doctor Foster draws to a close with explosive finale". Daily Mail. Daily Mail. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  15. ↑ Mangan, Lucy (10 September 2015). "Doctor Foster review – gripping portrait of a marriage slowly being poisoned". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. 1 2 National Television Awards. "Winners — National Television Awards". nationaltvawards.com.
  18. 1 2 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.
  19. ↑ Plunkett, John (11 March 2016). "Wolf Hall's Mark Rylance wins best actor at Broadcasting Press Guild awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. 1 2 "Doctor Foster's Suranne Jones wins TV Bafta for Leading Actress". Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  22. ↑ 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.
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