The Indian Doctor Series 1 Created by Deep Sehgal and Tom Ware, written by Bill Armstrong, Nicholas Martin, Catrin Clarke, Sian Naiomi and Rob Gittins, directed by Deep Sehgal and Tim Whitby. It's a 5 episode series that aired November 2010. It was followed by two more series.
Sanjeev Bhaskar and Ayesha Dharker are Dr Prem Sharma and his wife Kamini. It's 1963 and they've come to this small Welsh mining town to take over the local surgery. Dr Sharma finds the town is mixed on his arrival. There were very few Indian doctors in the NHS at that time. Kamini isn't too happy with the two and talks of leaving and going back home. It's hard to make friends.
There are several patients with problems related to the coal mine. In a story that arcs through the series Mark Williams plays the mine manager who's been breaking safety regulations to increase production. It's increased the number of miners getting black lung and dying. The manager is hoping that increased production will look good to the head office and he can get promoted to a bigger and nicer town. He's a right bastard that deserves more punishment than he finally gets.
The Sharma's befriend a troubled boy who's father is a drunken miner. Kamini helps him with his schooling. Prem and the pub landlady develop a friendship that almost goes too far. She helps him with the last doctor's medical diary by translating the Welsh. It leads to more evidence of the miner's plight.
I really enjoyed the story, the scripts are well written, there's a great cast and plenty of beautiful locations. They capture the 60s quite well with good costumes and props. I'm looking forward to the next series.
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