'The Indian Doctor' (Avatar Productions/Rondo Media for BBC One)
19 January, University of Glamorgan ATRiuM, Cardiff.
Producer Tom Ware (above left), assisted by director Lee Haven Jones (above right), gave a talk and showed clips from the first and second series of this networked daytime comedy drama. The series starred Sanjeev Bhaskar as a high-flying immigrant doctor who finds himself working in 1960s Wales. It focused on the Asian doctors who came to Britain following an invitation by the then health minister, Enoch Powell, only to find a less than welcoming country. The Indian Doctor tackled themes of ignorance and prejudice with a welcome lightness of touch.
Filming took place in the village of Blaenavon, in south Wales, and the stories were based on the real experiences of doctors and the local people who became their patients. In his talk, Tom Ware explained that the NHS would probably have collapsed had it not been for the support of immigrant doctors during this period.
Screened originally as part of the BBC's Sixties season, the 5 x 45 minute episodes of the first series were stripped across a week in mid-November 2010, and averaged 1.9 million viewers with a share of 24.4%, far higher than the 16.8% average for their 2.15pm slot. The series subsequently won an RTS 2010 Programme Award in the Daytime and Early-Peak Programme category, and more recently also won a Broadcast Magazine 2012 Award in the Best Daytime Programme category. As the judges noted, it was, "original and charming, and the lightness made it stand out from other daytime dramas. Brilliant and on a tiny budget".
A second series, set at a time when smallpox was prevalent in south Wales, will be shown on BBC One later this year.
Hywel Wiliam
(Adminstrator)