BBC daytime soap Doctors ends after 24 years and 4,500 episodes

As medical TV drama Doctors says farewell with its final episode later, a 9,000-signature petition to try to save it shows just how much it resonated with audiences.

The soap, which is set in the fictional town of Letherbridge, has followed the lives of staff and patients of a Midlands GP practice, for 24 years.

However, in October last year, the BBC said it would be cancelled, after “super inflation in drama production” led to costs significantly rising.

The announcement galvanised super-fan Carys Ashby to set up the petition to try to save it, but as the last of more than 4,500 episodes is broadcast, she has accepted defeat, saying its final bow represents the “end of an era”.