Malpractice writer teases season 2, explains why Niamh Algar won’t return
"When we cast Niamh and the storytelling was going quite well, I did sort of think, 'Gosh, could we bring her back?'"
Towards the end of 2023, it was announced that ITV medical thriller Malpractice will be returning for a second season, which will focus on a new case of medical misdeeds being investigated by Helen Behan's Norma and Jordan Kouamé's George.
This means that Niamh Algar's Lucinda, the central figure from season 1, won't be returning.
RadioTimes.com caught up exclusively with the show's writer and former doctor, Grace Ofori-Attah, to find out why this was.
Explaining when the idea of a second season came up, Ofori-Attah said: "I think when I was initially thinking about it, medical malpractice, there are obviously lots of different areas that you could look at for story.
"The A&E story and drugs, that was something that I knew a lot about from past experience, so that seemed like a natural place to start.
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"But actually, once we had the medical investigators, there were lots of different cases that they could look into, and then the possibilities for different storylines becomes endless."
Asked whether she ever considered bringing Algar's character back for season 2, Ofori-Attah said: "When we cast Niamh and the storytelling was going quite well, I did sort of think, 'Gosh, could we bring her back? I mean, it would be really nice to know what happens to her medical career and what happens to her, like do her and Tom survive?' All of those kind of things.
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"But I think Niamh, she's such a star, it would be hard to bring her back as a sort of background character, and to do another story focused on her would be difficult if it's still a medical malpractice thing, because we sort of dealt with her malpractice.
"So, yeah, easier I think to look at a different area and different central doctor."
Ofori-Attah also confirmed that season 2 will be set in a different department from season 1, and that this means the new run will have a "slightly different" tone and feel, because "the different departments do feel quite different to one another".
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However, she added: "I’m always wary of, you know, a second season gets commissioned, and then you give audiences a completely different show. I think if we can try and maintain some of that mystery thriller, like 'what's going on?' genre to it, that would be really good."
She additionally said that it would be "nice to give" Behan and Kouamé's characters more to do in season 2, and to make them "more central" to the story than in season 1, and teased that, while it was still to be decided whether any other season 1 cast members would be returning, she would "love to have some doctor from series 1 pop up somewhere".
"I mean, that is generally the nature of medicine," she explained. "You rotate from hospital to hospital, and you do keep bumping into people that you've worked with at different times."
Malpractice season 2 will air on ITV1 in the future and season 1 is available to stream now on ITVX. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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