List of Doctors characters introduced in 2020
In February, police officer Jasmine Dajani (Lara Sawalha) was introduced as a love interest for Emma Reid (Dido Miles), as well as Abz Baker (Amy Bowden), a foster child, and university students Lex Whitmore (Eleanor House) and Jaime Mallinson (Joe Ashman).
Businessman Harvey Marshall (Louis Dempsey) appears in March, and April sees Jayden Hunt (Ciaran Stow) introduced as a foster child of Rob (Chris Walker) and Karen Hollins (Jan Pearson).
Married couple Tanya (Leila Mimmack) and Mark Rees (Kiefer Moriarty) are introduced in May, as well as temporary midwife Deborah Kovak (Jamie-Rose Monk).
Aashiq Sawney (Raj Ghatak) is introduced in November as another love interest for Emma, as well as foster children Tom (Max True) and Ella Robson (Lily-Mae Evans).
When Scott Lewis (Daniel-John Williams) is due for release, he punches Vincent, in hoping that it will lead to an extra charge so that he can stay in prison.
Gang leader Blake Atkins (Louis Stannett) makes sexually inappropriate comments, and when Jasmine threatens him, he grabs hold of Emma and assaults her, punching and kicking her.
Jasmine was reintroduced by the soap for an episode in June 2022 after both herself and Emma hear that Blake wants to speak with them as part of a restorative justice programme in his prison.
[19] Abz is the temporary foster child of Karen (Jan Pearson) and Rob Hollins (Chris Walker), who is staying with the pair before leaving for university.
Emma Reid (Dido Miles) performs a medical examination on Abz, but as she showered since the incident, little physical evidence can be found.
Jaime's girlfriend, Lex Whitmore (Eleanor House), is disgusted and ends the campaign she started to raise awareness on rape.
Abz remembers that her attacker has a scar on his neck, and Lex reveals that when her boyfriend Jaime Mallinson (Joe Ashman) was young, he had operations for leukaemia.
[24] Harvey owns a nightclub in Letherbridge called The Burlow,[24] which Al Haskey (Ian Midlane) visits to question him about his involvement in the imprisonment of Jimmi Clay (Adrian Lewis Morgan).
[25] Al sees Harvey with John Butler (Richard Huw), who has a grudge against Jimmi, and takes the information to the police.
Jayden was introduced as a 14-year-old foster child with epilepsy that Karen (Jan Pearson) and Rob Hollins (Chris Walker) take in after the death of both of his parents.
Jimmi prescribes him new medication that has been shown to be beneficial to people with epilepsy, and he tells to Karen that the seizures affect his mental health, suggesting he may have depression, especially due to the death of his parents.
Deborah accidentally reveals that Ruhma was suspended due to kissing Doug Machin (Michael Hobbs), which only Bear, Zara Carmichael (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) and Daniel Granger (Matthew Chambers) knew.
Al accuses her of purposely alienating herself from colleagues, which upsets Deborah, and she responds by putting on a spread of food for the staff at The Mill.
Al sees Lily setting out the appointments with post-it notes, and pokes fun at her organisation system, and the pair then eat lunch together.
The next day, Lily meets Sid Vere (Ashley Rice) outside of The Mill, and when he explains that he is a doctor and rapid responder, she states his partner must admire him, to which he replies that he is single.
When Lily sees a personal letter for Jimmi Clay (Adrian Lewis Morgan) with the post at the Mill and discovers it is a birthday card.
He changes the locks after he notices the jacket is missing, but is shocked to learn from his mother Eve Haskey (Rachel Bell) that Lily is at her house.
Rushworth also praised her character's styling, adding that the short skirts that Lily wears help her to feel "flighty and flirty".
She explained that due to only filming for seven days prior to the suspension of production, she was unsure about whether cast members would keep in touch with her, expressing her joy that she talked to Midlane regularly.
The scene involved Lily and Al kissing, and Farren was used as she is the real-life partner of Midlane, due to social distancing guidelines as part of the response to the pandemic.
[39] Aashiq is introduced as the instructor of an Indian cooking class that Valerie Pitman (Sarah Moyle) and Lily Walker (Verity Rushworth) plan on attending.
Valerie later sees the two together and informs Emma, who forms a plan with best friend Zara Carmichael (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) to catch him out as a cheat.
Producer Peter Eryl Lloyd confirmed that Valerie would be set to have a relationship in upcoming scenes, and Moyle expressed her joy at the news, having not known about the romantic development prior to the livestream.
He stated that the role of "a charming restaurateur who has a twinkle in his eye for the ladies" was offered to him in March 2020, and due to having an existing contract with another television series, his agent attempted to "juggle" the scheduling of filming.
Due to the conflict of interest, social worker Carole Simmons (Anjela Lauren Smith) decides that it would be beneficial for Tom to be relocated to a different foster family.
In an interview with Inside Soap, actor Walker, who portrays their on-screen foster father Rob, praised the performances of True and Evans.
