Letherbridge does Contest
I don't just love Eurovision. I love all sorts of things. I love my partner, I love the cat which decided it wanted to come and live with us about a year ago but still looks at us both as if we're a bit stupid. I love peanut butter and jam on toast.
And I also love Doctors, the criminally under-rated BBC lunchtime drama set in the fictional Birmingham satellite town of Letherbridge (it's brilliant - if a character wants a Mars bar, they go to Letherbridge Sweet Shop, if their car needs filling up, they go to Letherbridge Garage, if they're running short of isotopes, they head for Letherbridge Nuclear Power Station) it's an expertly written, occasionally experimental look at a health centre and the doctors and staff who are based there. This week, I am chuffed to say, the world of Eurovision has snook in to the storyline.
Doctors supercouple (they're not married yet but if they did, they'd have the service at Letherbridge Church), Dr Daniel Granger and Dr Zara Carmichael (pictured, above) have recently had a baby - despite the fact Zara has early onset menopause and was down to her last egg for IVF treatment.
Baby Joe is lovely but he has trouble settling down. There is no reason to fear as smashing receptionist Karen (there is another equally smashing receptionist called Mrs Tembe who deserves National Trust status) told Daniel how she used to sing the Fizz's Making Your Mind Up to her own kids (who must have been born at least 10 years after Cheryl and co won Eurovision) to soothe them to sleep. And it's only gone and worked for Joe too. Cue scenes of a furtive Daniel hoping and praying that nobody sees him as he leans over his son's crib cooing: "You've gotta speed it up... and then you've gotta slow it down..." complete with hand moves. It's lovely.
There is just one problem. Zara is Letherbridge's resident ice maiden and would be mortified to learn that her other half, who is also a bit of an alpha male, is singing a song from an event she can't possibly approve of to her firstborn. What will happen if she finds out? (She's bound to find out, isn't she?).
If you want to find out for yourself, it's on at 1.45pm every weekday on BBC One or you can do what we do and watch Doctors on iPlayer with your evening meal - you'll soon be addicted.
Of course, there is the more pressing storyline in Doctors this week of long-term character Julia Parsons leaving Letherbridge for good (there's a really scary car crash, will she survive?) - but it's been nice having two of my favourite TV things colliding for a few episodes. However, two things still puzzle me - as Eurovision winners go, surely you'd be better off singing Nocturne to a restless baby - and if you want to make a detachable skirt a'la Cheryl and Jay as part of a Doctors storyline, do you head for Letherbridge Velcro?


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