List of Doctors characters introduced in 2022


Doctors is a British medical soap opera which began broadcasting on BBC One on 26 March 2000. Set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff and patients of the Mill Health Centre, a fictional NHS doctor's surgery, as well as its two sister surgeries, the University of Letherbridge Campus Surgery and Sutton Vale Surgery. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in Doctors in 2022, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the programme's executive producer, Mike Hobson. Hazeem Durrani began appearing in January after he was introduced as a relative of Ruhma Carter's. Clare Wille then joined the cast in February as [|Davina Hargrove], a friend of Zara Carmichael's, as well as Rosie Colton being introduced as a receptionist at Sutton Vale. [|Princess Buchanan] made her first appearance in March as a trainee doctor from Sutton Vale, as well as nurse practitioner Maeve Ludlow. Kia Pegg then debuted in April as receptionist Scarlett Kiernan. Roxy Piper then joined in September as Emma Reid's neighbour. Then in October, Samuel Morgan-Davies joined the cast as police constable [|Gareth Lewis]. Additionally, multiple [|other characters] appear throughout the year.

Hazeem Durrani

Hazeem Durrani, portrayed by Ashraf Ejjbair, first appeared on 17 January 2022 and made his final appearance on 5 April 2022. Ejjbair announced via Instagram that he would be appearing in Doctors on a recurring basis and that he began filming for the soap in September 2021. Hazeem was introduced to the series as a relative of Ruhma Carter who stays with her following travelling in Thailand. He is followed by [|Daisha Rashid], with whom he shared a casual relationship with whilst travelling. Daisha tells Hazeem and Ruhma that she has nowhere to stay due to her relationship with her parents being tumultuous and informs them that she is set to stay in a hostel. Ruhma allows her to stay at hers alongside Hazeem, to his annoyance since he does not want a serious relationship. He eventually dumps her and after realising that Ruhma and Daisha have formed a close bond, he demands they cut contact with each other.
Ruhma introduces Hazeem to Bear Sylvester, who sets Hazeem up with various job interviews. However, he turns down potential jobs and misses an interview due to falling asleep, leading Ruhma to demand he gets a job and pays rent for living with her. She tells him to "get his act together" and gets him a temporary job on reception at the Mill Health Centre. What to Watchs Simon Timblick described Hazeem as "lazy". Receptionists Karen Hollins and Valerie Pitman show different attitudes towards having Hazeem work with them on reception. Karen is unhappy with his lack of work experience, while Valerie believes having him work at the Mill will be a good experience and trains him. However, Hazeem "is left shaken" after his first patient encounter. However, he eventually "finds his groove". After receiving an offer for a better job, Hazeem makes the decision to leave the Mill.

Davinia Hargrove

Davinia Hargrove, portrayed by Clare Wille, appeared between 8 and 22 February 2022. She was introduced as an old school friend of Zara Carmichael after she moves to the Midlands to pursue growth in her clothing company. Timblick described Davinia as a "high flying fashion businesswoman". It was confirmed by Timblick that her arrival in the fictional town would mean that she will share a lot of scenes with Zara. He also hinted that the rekindling of their friendship could mean the end of Zara's friendship with long-term friend Emma Reid. Zara is "thrilled" to have Davinia in town and she invites Zara to a fashion show where she admits that she does not have many friends.
Afterwards, Davinia asks Zara if she can act as a cover story by telling her husband, [|Julian Hargrove], that she is staying there. She explains that she is cheating on Julian and needs a cover for her secret relationship. Due to loving Davinia's "go-getter attitude", she agrees, which earns the disapproval of Zara's partner, Daniel Granger. Julian unexpectedly travels from London and turns up at Zara's house to find that Davinia is not there, and after she takes several hours to show up, he questions why she is lying to him. The two argue and he agrees to go back to London. Davinia and Zara meet up with fellow former classmate [|Belinda Cooper], who admits that she was nervous of the pair whilst at school. Davinia takes pride in her mean reputation, nastily reminding Belinda about an incident where a school teacher made her cry, leaving Zara to be "taken aback by her bitchy behaviour". Zara realises that Davinia has not grown up and decides to cut their friendship off.

Rosie Colton

Rosie Colton, portrayed by Janice Connolly, first appeared on 24 February 2022. She was introduced as a receptionist at Sutton Vale Surgery, which the Mill take over. When she meets business manager Bear Sylvester and surgery partners Zara Carmichael and Daniel Granger, Rosie fills them in on the details of Sutton Vale. This includes the case of missing person Dr. Jacob Ashdown, who randomly went missing. Rosie gets emotional on several occasions over his disappearance. Rosie is shown to be hapless with technology and co-worker Princess Buchanan makes a comment that she is ready to retire, which new lead GP of Sutton Vale, Al Haskey, is disappointed about. Rosie warns Al that Princess is trouble and that there is something about her that he should watch out for.
Jimmi Clay takes over as lead GP at Sutton Vale due to Al prioritising the care of his mother, which Rosie struggles with. He "has concerns" about Rosie's inability to cope with changes at her surgery, such as being unable to operate the new computer system and the staff changes. He speaks to Rosie about her situation and unknowingly persuades Rosie to retire. He asks Rosie to arrange a staff meeting which she gets upset at; Maeve Ludlow informs Jimmi that it is Rosie's last day at Sutton Vale and hints that she may feel unappreciated. He then arranges a last-minute goodbye party for her. Months after her departure, she learns that Jacob has been found dead and arrives at the crime scene with flowers. She informs [|DI Mick Hartley] that she believes Princess murdered Jacob.
Rosie initially left in an episode broadcast on 6 September 2022. In March 2023, Connolly announced via Twitter that she would be returning to Doctors as Rosie later in the year. The character made an unexpected return in May 2023, with her hiring at the Mill kept a secret from everyone, since Bear decided to keep it private. Surgery partner Nina Bulsara worries that her hiring is a mistake. However, she proves herself to be capable and is later promoted to deputy business manager. Months later, Rosie takes another job after Zara speaks to her horribly.
After her second exit from the series, Connolly was told that she would be eventually reintroduced and promoted to a regular character. However, during her break from Doctors, the BBC cancelled the soap. However, Connolly was still reintroduced and promoted, with Rosie's return scenes airing on 26 September 2024. She was brought in as a replacement for Kiruna Stamell, who left her role as Kirsty Millar in the previous episode. As part of her return, writers introduced her daughter and grandson to the series: Lizzie Barnett and Max Barnett, respectively.

Princess Buchanan

Princess Buchanan, portrayed by Laura White, first appeared on 2 March 2022. She was introduced as a trainee doctor at Sutton Vale Surgery, which the Mill take over. When Bear Sylvester gives Princess a tour of the Mill, she likes what she sees, and it was noted by Timblick that Princess "makes an impression" upon her arrival at the Mill. Daniel Granger asks Sid Vere to become Princess' trainer. Sid is impressed by Princess' skills as a doctor, with it being noted by Timblick that she is a "hard and dedicated worker". Princess meets with Daniel and Zara Carmichael to discuss her future at the Mill. Despite them trying to have her situated at Sutton Vale, Princess pushes them to make her primarily working at the Mill, since she prefers the opportunities it has for her career. Princess begins to impress everybody at the Mill with how she has settled into the work regime, but her "cunning and manipulative side" comes into play when she starts "playing the staff for fools". After Sid becomes unreliable with her training, Princess visits her mother, [|Constance]. She asks Constance if her uncle Zach, a doctor, can help her finish her medical training instead of the Mill, to which Constance refuses. Princess blackmails receptionist Scarlett Kiernan for which she receives a two-week suspension. She is later at the centre of a murder investigation of her former boss, Dr. Jacob Ashdown, who she often clashed with prior to his death.
Over the duration of numerous months, Timblick noted that the character had made a conscious effort to "turn over a new leaf" and get on with her colleagues at the Mill. She becomes keen to impress them and pitches that an ultrasound machine be supplied for the Mill from the partners' budget, to which she gets told no. However, she secures an ultrasound using her uncle, to which Sid thanks her for. However, after Scarlett secretly breaks the machine, Princess goes "on the warpath" with a strong belief that Scarlett is responsible. After nobody believes Princess and become disinterested in her fury, she "realises that nobody is on her side and has decided... to hell with 'em all!" She starts being rude to her colleagues and patients again, as well as contacting a doctor from a different surgery about getting a job there. It was confirmed that this had formed the start of her exit, with Princess' final scenes set to air in January 2023 after being let go from the Mill.
Metros Chris Hallam felt that the addition of Princess to the cast had "generated fireworks" for Doctors and despite her "extremely manipulative personality", he was interested in learning more about the character. He found it hard to sympathise with the character but suggested that her unlikeable qualities may have been caused by a difficult childhood. After Princess' scheme with Scarlett, Hallam described her as "devilish", while his Metro colleague Duncan Lindsay tweeted that she is "such an icon". In May 2022, a viewer's comment about was published in TVTimes. They found Princess to be an unlikeable character and was surprised by her storyline. For her portrayal of the role, White was nominated for the British Soap Award for Villain of the Year. She has also received a nomination for Leading Acting Performance at the 2022 RTS Midlands Awards.