Revenge-crazed Doctor Foster is the poster girl for every wife dumped by a vain, straying husband
DOCTOR Foster is back, and from Tuesday’s opener the BBC drama promises to be just as thrilling and enticingly toxic as the first series.
Episode one, watched by 6.4million viewers, caught up with GP Gemma Foster, played by Suranne Jones, two years after her world fell apart – her seemingly perfect marriage to shifty Simon unravelled when she discovered his affair with Kate, the daughter of their close friends.
Time has not dulled Gemma’s fury or her desire for revenge.
But is she as crazed as she appears or just a strong woman giving her love rat ex his comeuppance? Here, a Sun writer and superfan gives her view of the ultimate anti-heroine…
I HAVE a confession to make: I’m in love with Gemma Foster.
While men the length of Britain winced as the spurned ex-wife plotted her syringe-toting revenge, I punched the air in triumph.
Finally, smug shagger Simon will get what’s coming to him.
After a whole series of humiliation and misery, Gemma is going thermo-nuclear. And I loved it.
Of course, I don’t really want her to kill Simon and Kate — something that was hinted at late in the first episode. But as a far-fetched revenge fantasy, that final scene will resonate with every woman who has ever been dumped.
With steely, terrifying precision, she laid out syringes and drugs like a woman with a plan.
And just like that, Gemma became the guilty-pleasure poster girl for every spurned wife supposed to just lump it after being thrown on life’s scrapheap by a vain, straying husband.
I howled at the unfairness of Simon’s “perfect” new life — the millionaire’s mansion, the trophy wife, the youth-boosting baby daughter.
He seems to have everything while Gemma is stuck in a rut. And then he added insult to injury, literally.
I felt like I’d been punched as he made jibes about her old blouse and how she hadn’t moved on.
The barbs were crushing — like a final, unnecessary kick to the confidence he had already destroyed.
And why was Gemma in Simon’s new house anyway? My theory is that the manipulative sleazebag left that patio door open deliberately, knowing she’d be unable to resist the urge to snoop.
Just as he knew she would be unable to resist the urge to take a peak at his new home once he’d texted her the address “just to let you know”.
You could see the sick triumph on his face — with not a flicker of surprise — as he busted her from the other side of the glass near the front door.
So I felt not disgust for Gemma, but sympathy.
Every woman is obsessively curious about their replacement, and what woman hasn’t looked up an ex’s new girlfriend on Facebook?
I know a mate who sat outside her ex-husband’s new marital home crying every night for a week.
Gemma just takes that snooping to a whole new level. And if that makes her crazy, so be it.
Betrayal from a man you once loved is a very real — if temporary — route to insanity.
Show's big question marks
FROM this week’s gripping first episode of Doctor Foster it is clear that the dark drama is going to be explosive. But apart from that, it sparked more questions than answers. So what does series two have in store? EMILY FAIRBAIRN looks at the riddles it set for fans.
IS Gemma mad, or being manipulated?
It seems insane for Gemma to break into ex Simon’s new house then turn up uninvited at his wedding party. But is Simon (Bertie Carvel) just pulling her strings? He sent her his new address and left the door ajar – and is not in the least surprised to see her there.
Perhaps he is trying to make her look mad and enjoying every minute.
WHERE did Simon’s money come from?
Two years ago Simon and Kate left town in a Ford Fiesta with very little to their name.
So how can they afford a plush house, designer threads and flash cars?
Kate’s dad Chris is minted, but he tells Gemma he kept his word not to give them a penny.
Simon is a bad businessman and a fraudster. Has he been up to no good?
WHAT’S going on with the neighbours?
Last time Gemma slept with Neil then told his wife Anna – who already knew and was waging an online hate campaign against the GP.
They made up after Anna helped Gemma when Simon hit her, but it’s strange they are so friendly now.
Neil is still leering at Gemma in front of Anna, hinting at some complicated sexual politics.
WHAT’S in the box?
It is bizarre that Gemma would give a present to Kate (Jodie Comer), the woman she hates, so presumably there’s something sinister inside.
The box is phone-sized and Gemma told Kate “don’t show Simon”.
Perhaps Gemma plans to blackmail Kate with the help of the phone, using the information she still has on her dad Chris’s dodgy dealings.
WHAT’S up with Tom?
The teen was having a great time at the party, but then disappears.
Mum Gemma’s search for him is increasingly frantic. Tom (Tom Taylor) later turns up unharmed – physically – but moody and distant.
Up until now, he and Gemma have been close, but the day after the party he goes off to stay with his dad Simon. What triggered this?
WHAT’S the deal with Dr Sian?
The new GP is an irritating goodie-two-shoes who passively-aggressively attacks Gemma while looking as if butter wouldn’t melt.
But she’s more than just a busy-body. Writer Mike Barlett said Sian (Sian Brooke) is important to the plot, adding: “She’s seen as a rival. She seems to know more about Gemma than one might expect.”
WHAT’S Simon’s game?
He says he’s moved on and he should be happy.
Yes, Gemma drove him out of town for two years, but he’s done well for himself in the meantime.
So why can’t he leave her alone? Perhaps his life is nowhere near as perfect as it appears, he blames Gemma and wants to punish her.
What better way to do this than to take their son away from her?
WILL Gemma have sex with Simon?
They may hate each other but you could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife.
He asks: “D’you think about me?” revealing he still dreams about her.
Gemma claims she would rather “slit my own throat” than sleep with him, but it would be a brilliant way of wrecking his marriage to her much younger rival Kate.
WHY does James not run for the hills?
It has to be the worst first date ever.
Gemma spends the first ten minutes ignoring hunky teacher James (Prasanna Puwanarajah) while checking her phone, then drags him off to gatecrash her ex’s wedding party and ditches him while she sneaks around upstairs with Simon.
So why on earth does James ask if he can call her again?
WILL Gemma kill Simon?
The opening shot of a paper guillotine hints at violence – the menacing final scene even more so.
After dissolving her wedding ring in acid, Gemma lays out four syringes as the show cuts to Simon, Kate, their baby daughter and Tom enjoying a cosy family dinner.
Does this mean one syringe for each of them? If so, whatever is in Simon’s is likely to be lethal.