Doctor Foster is the NTA winning British drama that took the UK by storm last year. The five-part BBC series, written by Mike Bartlett, is about Dr Gemma Foster suspecting her husband Simon has been having an affair and finding out the truth.
So we now know there’s going to be a second series, which is AWESOME news. But we have a fair bit of time to wait before we can see more from the Fosters. So here’s everything you need to know about the first series, and what to expect to see in series two!
What’s Doctor Foster about?
Amid subplots of blackmail, professional negligence and financial disarray, viewers were left on tenterhooks as Gemma Foster goes to increasingly desperate lengths to prove her husband's affair.
As she plots her revenge, she uncovers more and more secrets about her husband's life, including how he has frittered away her dead parents' money on a failing business.
Following an epiphany in the fourth episode - which saw a fleeting attempt to drown herself - the final episode saw Dr Foster orchestrate a dinner party during which she stripped Simon and his 23-year-old lover of their homes, business, family and dignity, in front of the mistress's oblivious parents.
It ended with Dr Foster signing her name on divorce papers, before saving the life of a stranger who has a heart attack in the town square.
Crumbs.
Doctor Foster main cast
Suranne Jones as Gemma Foster
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Sarah Anne Jones, born 27 August 1978.
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Suranne lives in London with her husband, magazine editor Laurence Akers.
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She first rose to prominence playing the role of Karen McDonald in ITV1's soap* Coronation Street* over a period of four years.
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TV credits include: Vincent, Strictly Confidential, Harley Street, Five Days and* Single Father.*
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Since 2011, Suranne has starred in Scott And Bailey as DC Rachel Bailey, with the television series being an original idea conceived by Suranne herself and fellow actress Sally Lindsay.
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She also received acclaim for her portrayal of a human incarnation of the iconic TARDIS in a 2011 episode of long-running BBC science fiction series* Doctor Who.*
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In addition to her television career, Jones is also a stage performer, having acted in productions of Caryl Churchill's Top Girls and Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit among others.
Bertie Carvel as Simon Foster
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Robert Hugh 'Bertie' Carvel, born 6 September 1977.
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Bertie was born in London, England.
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TV credits include:* Les Miserable,* Doctor Who, Sherlock.
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He’s 6ft (1.83 m).
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Bertie has dreamy grey/green eyes.
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He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (2000-2003), graduated with Ben Whishaw, Edmund Kingsley and Kate Miles.
Clare-Hope Ashitey as Carly
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Clare-Hope Naa K. Ashitey, born 12 February 1987.
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She’s British actress of Ghanaian descent.
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Clare-Hope attended the Centre Stage School of Performing Arts.
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She took a gap year between school and university to work on the film Children Of Men.
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Clare-Hope graduated in anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies in 2009.
Jodie Comer as Kate Parks
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Jodie Comer is an actress, known for My Mad Fat Diary (2013), Lady Chatterley's Lover (2015) and Thirteen (2016).
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Perhaps most well known for her portrayal of Chloe on the British television serie_s My Mad Fat Diary,_ she is also notable for her recurring role as Sharna on Justice, as well as for her work in the TV miniseries Remember Me.
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Early in her career, she appeared in episodes of* The Royal Today* and Holby City.
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In 2012, she portrayed Eve Gilston in two episodes of the BBC One series Silent Witness.
Navin Chowdhry as Anwar
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Born 1 January 1971, Navin is a British television actor from Bristol, England.
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In 1994, Navin graduated from Imperial College, London earning a 3-year degree in biochemistry, with 2:1 honours.
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Major roles as I.T. teacher Kurt McKenna in the successful comedy show Teachers from 2001–2003, PC Sanjay Singh in Dalziel And Pascoe.
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In 2010, he starred in the BBC television pilot Reunited, playing Danny.
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He has also produced projects such as the award-winning short film This Bastard Business and a short play entitled Mashed.
Martha Howe-Douglas as Becky
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Martha Howe-Douglas is an English actress, best known for three roles: playing the receptionist Donna Parmar in the BBC One daytime soap Doctors, appearing as various characters in the children's series Horrible Histories and as Debbie Maddox The Chosen One in Sky TV's Yonderland.
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Martha graduated from RADA in 2003.
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In the 2011 Children's BAFTAs, she was nominated for Best Performer for her performance in Horrible Histories.
Everything that happened in the first series of Doctor Foster
Episode 1
Gemma Foster, a doctor at the Parminster Medical Centre, is happily married to property developer Simon with whom she has a young son, Tom. One day, she finds a blonde hair on Simon's scarf and suspects him of infidelity, possibly with his assistant Becky. Rather than confront him she confides in colleague Ros. At work, she forces elderly doctor Jack Reynolds, who has become an alcoholic, to retire. She also helps a young patient, Carly, to get rid of her abusive boyfriend and asks for her assistance in personal matters in return.
Episode 2
Gemma has discovered that Simon's mistress is Kate Parks, the daughter of one her patients and that Ros knew of the affair but was bound by patient confidentiality rules. She also establishes that her young rival is now pregnant. Gemma then meets another patient, Anwar, a married lawyer who is keeping the fact that he might have a brain tumour from his family. Encouraged by Jack Reynolds, whom she has reconciled with and talked out of suicide, Gemma confronts Simon but he denies having an affair. However his ailing mother Helen, whose own husband cheated on her, tells Gemma the affair has been going on for two years and not three months as he had told Ros. Gemma makes an appointment with Anwar, who specialises in divorce.
Episode 3
On Anwar's advice, Gemma acts towards Simon as if everything is normal whilst investigating his love life and financial affairs through other people. She gets Carly to befriend Kate, and sleeps with then blackmails Simon's accountant Neil. Neil reveals that Simon's big project, the re-development of a school, is a financial black hole and that their joint savings and home would be gone if it were not for a mysterious investor bailing him out. Simon's mother, who had been terminally ill and in pain, takes her own life, and Gemma decides against divorce because of Simon's distress and vulnerability.
Episode 4
To Ros' surprise, Gemma stays with Simon, believing his affair is over after Kate had an abortion. However, her work life crumbles after negative comments about her get posted on the Internet and the police suspect her of involvement in her mother-in-law's death. Carly's boyfriend has also filed a complaint about her for threatening him earlier. Gemma then has a breakdown after discovering that Simon is seeing Kate again and attempts suicide by drowning before finding new strength.
Episode 5
Gemma contrives to embarrass her rival at an awkward dinner party with the woman's family - where she exposes Simon's infidelity and his financial chicanery. She also reveals that Kate's father, who knew nothing of the affair, is the mysterious investor in Simon's project despite a conflict of interest which makes his involvement unethical. She also identifies the accountant, Neil's wife, as her mysterious online persecutor. When Simon refuses to leave their house and son, Gemma loses controls, abducts the child and returns alone and distressed.
Second series of Doctor Foster
Confirming the news that there will definitely be a second series, actress Suranne said: “I am thrilled to announce we will all be reunited to tell Gemma's next chapter, and I can't wait for the audience who invested in these characters to find out the explosive twists and turns Mike has in store. Now we can look into what happens to a woman after divorce, deceit and revenge has taken its toll. What a gift of a part and a dream to work with Mike Bartlett again!
Creator Mike added: "I've been astounded by the response to Doctor Foster. So I'm thrilled that alongside [production company] Drama Republic and the phenomenal Suranne Jones, we're now going to tell the next chapter in Gemma's story.”
So where can the series go from here?
Suranne said: "Our writer Mike Bartlett said he didn't want to end it where he had stopped," she explained. "He wanted to look at how their lives would be affected by the drama of what had happened, but I was a bit reticent at first.
"I just wondered what the hook would be to keep people coming back to this relationship. Then I went out for dinner with Mike and the team and they told me what they had planned.
"I thought it sounded great - and actually like something we haven't explored in a couple before - so I said yes."
Creator Mike has said that the second series will go deeper into the consequences of Simon’s cheating and Gemma’s revenge. Blimey…
"Her life in Parminster may look better on the surface, but as she will discover to her cost, every action has its consequences eventually. No-one comes through hell unscathed."
The new episodes will explore "what happens to a woman after divorce, deceit and revenge has taken its toll", according to Suranne.
When will series 2 of Doctor Foster air?
Shooting for the new series won’t start until September, so we probably shouldn't get too excited about watching any new episodes until early 2017.
But you’ll be glad to hear that "most of the original cast" will return.
"It's not going to be a whole new ball game," Suranne has said of the new series. "It's a continuation of Gemma and Simon's story, but it's a different stage in their life..."
Hurry up 2017 – we need more Doctor Foster!