Laughter rang out and a few tears fell as hundreds of viewers, cast and crew gathered at an RTS Midlands event to bid farewell to the BBC soap Doctors.

Fans had travelled from as far afield as Essex and Wigan to celebrate the Birmingham-made daytime drama, set in a GP surgery and axed after nearly 25 years on screen. Memories were shared during an emotional evening, held the week before the final episode was broadcast.

On the panel were actors David Perks (security guard Barry Biglow, 2010-2024), Liz Bower (Dr Melody Bell, 2007-09), Stirling Gallacher (Dr George Woodson, 2003-09), Tom Butcher (Dr Marc Eliot, 2001-05), Kia Pegg (receptionist Scarlett Kiernan, 2022-24), Elisabeth Dermot Walsh (Dr Zara Carmichael, 2009-2024) and Joanna Bending (Dr Michelle Walton, 2024). They were joined by executive producer Mike Hobson, series producer Peter Lloyd and writer Claire Bennett.

The evening began with the highlights film, “24 Years in 14 Minutes”, which was played at the wrap party. It showed some of the actors who had their first roles on Doctors, including Eddie Redmayne, Emilia Clarke, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Claire Foy, and a few of the many guest stars from Richard Briers, Andrew Sachs and Sylvia Syms to Les Dennis and Anton du Beke.

Hobson said: “We got these brilliant people in who enjoyed doing the story of the day. Eric Sykes was a joy. With Lionel Blair, we couldn’t get a word in with all his showbiz stories or get him on set as he had the whole production office watching his song and dance routines. Brian Blessed’s wife actually said, ‘If Brian starts messing around, call me’. But he was great at recording people’s answerphone messages.”

Doctors employed more than 8,900 actors in 4,500 episodes, not counting all the non-speaking extras. Some played multiple characters, returning every couple of years. Joanna Bending had played six roles since 2007 before becoming a regular this year.

Lloyd said: “One of the fantastic things about working on the show was the breadth of stories we could do. We had wonderful actors who could pull off anything on a tiny budget. I’m proud that we took risks and did extraordinary things. My highlights include a real-time episode, two weeks based on Shakespeare, a pantomime, a Jane Austen week, “Valerie in Wonderland”, an entire production of A Christmas Carol, four music videos and one of the first pandemic episodes on Zoom.”

Kia Pegg picked the death of fellow receptionist Karen Hollins as her most memorable episode. Filming had to be paused when Jan Pearson, who otherwise was “a stellar corpse”, was visibly crying at the moving performance of her screen husband, Chris Walker. She added: “I was always teased about my Brummie accent and had never used it before at work. But Doctors gave me a real love of my city and how I actually talk, and gave me confidence.”

Stirling Gallacher recalled her very first scene. “We only did two takes and the director called cut and moved on. I turned to the late, great Andy Payne, on camera, and said, ‘I was shit!’ He said, ‘Yes, bab, but you’ll get better quicker.’”

Bennett added: “The thing that always astonished me as a writer was that there was literally nothing off the table. It could be hilarious or harrowing but there were never blinkers about any subject. And it was such a joyous place on set. It’s pretty amazing what we did, the little show out of Birmingham.”

‘Doctors: a celebration’ was held at Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham on 6 November. It was hosted and produced by Claire Bennett and Jayne Rae.