The BBC has named the two dramas that will replace its long-running Doctors series, which caused uproar following its cancelation after two decades in 2023.
Agatha Christie series The Detection Club, which we revealed several weeks back, and Sally Phillips-starrer The Hairdresser Mysteries will replace Doctors and both will be produced out of the Doctors hub in the West Midlands.
Set in 1930s London, The Detection Club for the BBC and BBC Studios is about a mysterious society of famous crime writers including Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and G.K. Chesterton who join forces to solve real-life murders. The team is in talks with BritBox International over a co-production deal.
The Hairdresser Mysteries is created by Jim Cartwright (Road) and follows a high-end hairdresser, Lily Petal, played by Bridget Jones star Phillips, who opts out of the competitive city scene to buy a small village hairdressers at the top of a cobbled street. It is produced by 53 Degrees Global-backed Mill Bay Media in association with Night Train Media, with Eccho Rights distributing internationally.
The BBC said the shows “demonstrate the BBC’s commitment to re-investing all of the Doctors spend into new scripted programming in the West Midlands.”
Helen Munson, Commissioning Editor for daytime, said: “The West Midlands has so much home-grown talent in the drama sector both on and off screen, commissioning The Detection Club and The Hairdresser Mysteries will offer more jobs to the region and showcase what the area has to offer. I’m excited to be working on these mysterious crime dramas which will be enjoyed by all ages of audiences at any time of the day.”
Doctors, which had acted as a training pipeline for some of the UK’s top creatives for over two decades, was axed in 2023 due to “super inflation in drama production,” the BBC said at the time.
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