Doctor Foster
It seems like the whole nation has been mesmerized by the return of the drama series ‘Doctor Foster’ to BBC1. Two years after the events of series one hit our screens, the second season certainly didn’t disappoint. The dramatic storylines that had you on the edge of your seat are back with a vengeance. Doctor Foster is played by Suranne Jones, who won a Bafta for the part in Series 1 of the drama.
(http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-foster-viewers-screaming-tvs-1…)
Series one saw Doctor Foster, a middle-aged GP, find out her husband, Simon, was having an affair with a 23-year-old. The Guardian described the first series as a ‘gripping portrait of a marriage slowly being poisoned’. This is highly accurate, and as a viewer, there is something confusing about the draw you feel towards someone’s life disintegrating. When she encouraged the exchange of sleeping pills in return for a patient stalking Simon, this was a clear sign neither she nor the viewer should trust her decision making.
‘The gleefully mad melodrama is back’, The Guardian said. In this series, we see Gemma in her post-divorce life. Instead of trying to adapt to a new normal with her teenage son, the havoc continues. The waves of madness we see Gemma experience make the programme gripping. ‘We can’t all like Gemma for her actions, but that’s what made the series far more intriguing’. The viewers loved to hate the madness she created, and admired Doctor Foster’s insanity as she wrecked lives, particularly that of her ex-husband. On a mission to destroy Simon, Gemma’s persistent nature sees her drunk in nightclubs, sleeping with her son’s teacher, and snooping around Simon’s new house, all accompanied by heavy drinking. She will stop at nothing, not even tempting Simon into having sex with her in the home they once shared.
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4913642/Dr-Foster-vs-Liar-wins…)
Despite the almost humorous nature of Doctor Foster’s distress and madness, the series explores a more serious theme. Gemma’s now estranged teenage son is caught in the middle of this broken family coupled with a suicidal father and a manic mother. So, this begs the question, have the viewers been focused on the wrong victim?
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/2mlDMzPMWgc9qWKdwGggtDn/tom-foster)
As a final note on the insanity, here’s to a third series with even more amplified mania.