The stars who shot to fame on Doctors – from Eddie Redmayne to Jodie Comer – as axed BBC soap airs last episode TODAY
Including Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s first-ever television role
AS the BBC prepares to say goodbye to Doctors for the final time – there have been a multitude of household names who rose to fame thanks to the soap.
The programme launched the careers of several celebs, including a Harry Potter star, a Game of Thrones legend and several beloved Netflix stars.
Last year, it was confirmed that the Beeb had opted to axe the soap for good with its final ever episode reaching screens today.
In its initial decision to cancel the show, the BBC blamed “increased expenses,” as one of the main factors
The statement read: “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.”
However, having launched back in 2000, the show has definitely had a good run and produced some incredible stars of note during its 23-year run.
The Sun has rounded up some of the biggest names who found success in the acting world having started out in the daytime soap opera…
Eddie Redmayne
Early in his career, Eddie Redmayne played Rob Huntley in a 2003 episode of Doctors. While it was only a small part, it’s still a claim to fame for the soap as Eddie, 41, has gone on to achieve some incredible things.
His roles in The Other Boleyn Girl and My Week with Marilyn put him firmly on the map as a movie star, and was soon cast in 2012’s Les Misérables with other Hollywood heavy hitters like Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter and Amanda Seyfried.
For the next few years, Eddie churned out a series of critically acclaimed films, including The Theory of Everything. He won an Academy Award in 2015 for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking, before diving into the magical Harry Potter universe to play Newt Scamander.
Playing the magizoologist in the now-cancelled Fantastic Beasts franchise was a really special experience for the star as he really connected with his character. “I adore Newt,” he said in a 2022 interview. “There are various epithets, things that he said which I now try and live by. “
Another is “you can try and make things better … I love that the way he thinks is all about trying to make things better,” Eddie said.
Sheridan Smith
There’s no denying Sheridan Smith has had a very successful acting career thus far, racking up credits in TV, film and theatre roles.
One of the shows that kick-started her career was Doctors. The 42-year-old played two characters on the soap, Claire Mitchell and Jackie Leavis, in separate appearances in 2000 and 2004.
After that, it wasn’t long before she bagged the role of Rudi in the BBC’s hit comedy Gavin & Stacey. At the same time she dipped in and out of theatre roles, gaining high praise for her turn as Elle Woods in the stage adaptation of Legally Blonde, before returning to the screen to play Cilla Black in ITV’s miniseries and Sam in Cleaning Up.
Sheridan’s film roles also include 2022’s The Railway Children Return and starring alongside Chris Hemsworth and her Gavin & Stacey co-star Rob Brydon in The Huntsman: Winter’s War.
But, she’s jumping back to TV with her latest project, survival thriller The Castaways, which will take her on another new adventure after a plane crash leaves her character Lori stranded on a tropical island.
Sam Heughan
Scottish star Sam Heughan took a trip across the border to play Scott Nielson in 21 episodes of Doctors back in 2009.
Up until then, he’d done a couple of television films and small TV guest roles on shows like River City. But starring in Doctors marked the start of Sam’s upward career trajectory. Just a few years later, the 43-year-old landed the role of Jamie Fraser in the hit period drama Outlander.
The long-running role afforded him plenty of other career opportunities, too, and he has since gone on to launch the documentary travel show Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and Graham alongside his Outlander co-star Graham McTavish. In the show, the pair have travelled as far as New Zealand while exploring their Scottish roots.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s first-ever television role was playing Kate Burbridge in a 2009 episode of Doctors.
That led to roles in popular shows like Bad Education and Broadchurch, before she wrote and starred in her own comedy drama, Fleabag.
The 12-episode series was career defining, but Phoebe, 38, has still managed to reach new heights. Now she’s written episodes of beloved shows like Killing Eve, contributed to the script for No Time To Die and starred opposite Harrison Ford in the latest Indiana Jones adventure, Dial of Destiny.
Jodie Comer
Speaking of Killing Eve, star Jodie Comer also did a stint on Doctors. She only had a few acting credits to her name when she scored the part of Kelly Lowther in the BBC soap in 2012.
Afterward, Jodie, 30, worked her way through several popular British shows, making appearances on Silent Witness, Casualty, Vera and Doctor Foster before landing the role of Villanelle in 2018.
While working on the hit series, she made time to cameo in Star Wars feature The Rise of Skywalker and star opposite Ryan Reynolds as Millie Rusk/Molotov Girl in Free Guy.
Now she’s continuing to focus on film roles, notably sharing the screen with Benedict Cumberbatch in the 2023 survival film The End We Start From, while picking up several BAFTAs, Emmys and a Tony Award.
Claire Foy
Playing Chloe Webster in a 2008 episode of Doctors was Claire Foy’s second ever professional acting role. Of course, she followed it up by quite literally becoming the Queen, less than a decade later. Claire, 39, played a younger version of the late Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s hit series The Crown — a show the former monarch reportedly quite enjoyed.
That’s certainly quite high praise, and the rest of the world obviously agreed as Claire won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for her performance.
She soon took another turn playing famous women from history, taking on the role of the infamous Duchess of Argyll in A Very British Scandal. She shared the screen with Marvel star Paul Bettany in the 2021 miniseries, which was a feminist retelling of the couple’s divorce.
Claire found a lot of inspiration in the character. She told Harper’s Bazaar: “It’s so interesting to see another woman navigate the world in a way that makes you go, ‘I want to do that. I want to be like that.’”
Nicholas Hoult
It’s widely known that Nicholas Hoult got his breakout role as a child alongside Hugh Grant in the 2002 film About a Boy. But, before that he had a role in Doctors.
Nicholas, 33, briefly played Connor Finch on the soap in 2001, before eventually taking on the role of teen heartthrob Tony Stonem in the first two seasons of the beloved drama Skins.
After that, Nicholas’ film career took off thanks to the role of Hank McCoy, which he played in six X-Men films.
But, the star also has a penchant for playing fictionalised versions of characters from history, having portrayed writers J. D. Salinger and J. R. R. Tolkein, before taking on the role of Peter III, Emperor of Russia, in The Great, a comedy drama that sees him star alongside Elle Fanning as his wife, Catherine the Great.
Emilia Clarke
Playing Saskia Mayer in Doctors in 2009 was a big deal for Emilia Clarke because it was her first professional acting job. However, it was only a minor role, and she quickly surpassed that, taking on bigger and bigger projects at every turn.
The 36-year-old star has now been a part of some of the biggest TV and movie franchises of all time.
She notably played Daenerys Targaryen in all eight seasons of the beloved fantasy drama Game of Thrones, which also starred the likes of Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams.
In between seasons on the show, Emilia starred in another major sci-fi franchise, playing Qi’ra in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
She moved onto another hit franchise earlier this year, playing G’iah in Marvel’s Secret Invasion alongside Samuel L. Jackson, who reprised his role as Nick Fury.
Claudia Jessie
Netflix star Claudie Jessie is best known as Eloise Brigerton in Netflix’s hit period romp Bridgerton.
But, the young star actually got her start in Doctors, first playing Kate Marshall briefly in 2012 before returning as Poppy Conroy in 2014. The recurring role lasted 14 episodes, before she moved onto other popular British TV shows like Call the Midwife, Father Brown, and Doctor Who.
Prior to Bridgerton, Claudia, 34, had a six episode arc in Line of Duty as Detective Constable Jodie Taylor. And, in preparation for her role on the hit Netflix series, she played Amelia Sedley in the ITV adaptation of the period drama Vanity Fair.
Ritu Arya
Ritu Arya is another star who actually did two stints on the British soap. She first appeared on Doctors in 2013 in a minor role, before returning in 2017 for a much bigger part.
Taking on the role of Dr Megan Sharma earned her a British Soap Award nomination and sent her career skyrocketing.
Now the 35-year-old is best known for playing Lila Pitts in Netflix’s hit series, The Umbrella Academy. She also landed a coveted role in the Margo Robbie-led Barbie movie as Journalist Barbie.
Ritu told W Magazine that filming the movie was a career high. “I had just an amazing time working with Greta [Gerwig] and Margot,” she gushed ahead of the film’s release.