Educating Doctors

Series title card

***Educating Doctors*** is an American medical procedural, drama and suspense television series. It first premiered on September 15, 2016 on CBS to an audience of 4.057 million viewers. It is produced by PandaCrown Productions and Alana Angel Studios, the latter being the production company of the creators of the series. PandaCrown bought the rights to the story (written by Murphy, Murphy & Warner) and brought it onto syndication, on the agreement that Bonaparte-Tatum would have a starring role on the series.

The series follows Doctor Natalie Waverly (Bonaparte-Tatum) who teaches medical interns by night at a local community college, and spends her days working at Pembroke Park Hospital as the Director of Staff. At Pembroke Park, Waverly counsels her fellow doctors on their case loads, but is not willing to practice medicine due to being a recovering alcoholic. When not at work, she attends AA, hangs out with her best friend (a veterinarian; played by Coleen Hanover), or visiting her daughter in a hospice where she is on around-the-clock care.

Season 6 finished airing in April 2023. Season 7 is set to air in January 2024. The series has been nominated for multiple awards, and have also won some awards in various categories.

## Series overview

The first season follows Drs Waverly (Bonaparte-Tatum), Collins (Winters), Thomas (Hanover), Fields (Barrie), and Jilly (Alid) as they go through their day-to-day work routines at Pembroke Park Hospital. Some of Waverly's college students also play a part in some of the episodes. In the season finale, the doctors deal with a local tragic accident and Waverly uses the experience to test it out on her students to see who has the guts for the work. Secondary story lines include Waverly spending time on her recovery, Jilly supporting his wife through her fourth pregnancy, Thomas planning her wedding and Fields and Collins working out their relationship differences.

The second season introduced a set of four interns that Waverly splits between her four most trusted doctors. Pembroke Park also suffers with budget cuts so Waverly spends the majority of the season trying to impress the hospital's board in an attempt to convince them to donating more money. One of her students, Elena Roberts (Givens) decides to apply for a nursing job at the hospital. The season finale sees Waverly saying goodbye to her daughter and breaking her sobriety. Secondary story lines include Thomas' wedding, Jilly having marital difficulties, and Fields and Collins finalizing their divorce.

The first half of Season 3 focused on Natalie as she took time off to focus on her sobriety. She was reunited with her son, got back into contact with her mother and also divorced her husband. The second half of Season 3 then followed Natalie as she returned back to work at Pembroke Hospital, but was suspended from her lecturing job due to her irrational behavior. In the season valley, Natalie helps the Dean of the College as they get stuck in an elevator and saves his life after he has a heart attack. Due to this life-altering episode, he allows her to continue working at the college. Secondary story lines include the interns competing in a competition set on them by their senior resident, Felicia and her husband having fertility issues, Alan facing childcare problems, Stephen & Samantha stepping back into the dating game, and Nurse Elena having financial difficulties.

The fourth season premiered with a special two-part episode that is set 6 months after the Season 3 finale. A fire breaks out in the E.R caused by a faulty electric plug, which results in Pembroke Park having to close their E.R. This has serious setbacks on the hospital as it is widely popular for having a state-of-art emergency room. The majority of the season focuses on Natalie attending board meetings and taking a harsher approach as Director of Staff, whilst also fighting with the insurance company on their claims of arson. Felicia joins the hospital partway through the season, as urged by Natalie and the board, to open up a new cancer office. Secondary story lines include Natalie returning to practice medicine as a general physician, Natalie meeting and dating fireman Oliver Masters, Felicia and her husband considering IVF and adoption, Elena taking out a loan with the help from her criminal father, Alan attending family court after his children are taken away from him by social services, Samantha moving in with her cop boyfriend, and Stephen coming out as bisexual to his colleagues.

The fifth season is set several months after the fourth season. With COVID restrictions finally lifted and the E.R now back up and running, Natalie and her staff feel like they can relax. However, that is not the case when Pembroke Park is soon turned into chaos when a madman begins a stabbing spree throughout the season, resulting in five deaths. The hospital staff find themselves rushed off their feet whilst Samantha's husband has a hard time trying to solve the murders. In the season finale, Natalie, Stephen and Samantha are held hostage in the labor ward by the serial killer whilst Samantha is in active labor. Secondary story lines include Natalie's ex-husband moving back to New York and the pair meeting each other's new love interests, Felicia and her husband being accepted onto the adoption register, Jilly learning of his wife's death, Samantha getting remarried and giving birth to her and Mike's twin daughters, Elena's troubling relationship with her family, and Stephen having relationship woes with his boyfriend.

The sixth season occurs two months after the fifth season finale. It introduces a new cardiologist surgeon to cover for Samantha whilst she is on maternity leave, Dr Duncan Lennon. Lennon was selected by the board, and was not Natalie's choice so there is some hostility between the pair, and the hostility worsens when Samantha returns to work in the second half of the season. Elena plays a small part in the main story line as she begins to pay off her debt to her father by secretly treating members of his criminal family at the hospital, and scamming the hospital's insurance company, allowing them to be treated for free. In the season finale, she graduates from nursing school whilst simultaneously, Natalie learns from her own boss that someone has been scamming the insurance company, and that both of their jobs are on the line. Secondary story lines include Samantha struggling with motherhood and postpartum depression, Felicia and her husband adopting a family of five siblings, Alan being contacted by his eldest son, Natalie and her new partner taking the next step in their relationship, and Stephen proposing to his boyfriend publicly.

## Cast

### Main cast

* Beth Bonaparte-Tatum as Dr Natalie Waverly - Director of Staff at Pembroke Park Hospital, doctor specializing in general medicine and a part-time college lecturer. Although Waverly did not originally practice medicine in the beginning of the series, she resumed partway through Season 4 whilst continuing her other duties.
* Coleen Hanover as Dr Felicia Thomas - Veterinarian and the best friend of Natalie. She has a double degree in animal medicine and disease management. She joins the hospital staff in Season 4 as their new cancer specialist.
* Janine Winters as Dr Samantha Collins - a cardiologist surgeon at Pembroke Park Hospital. She was married to Stephen Fields, a fellow surgeon, but their marriage took a collateral hit prior to the beginning of the series. They divorced in season 2. She married police sergeant Mike Hanson in Season 5, and gave birth to their twin daughters in the season 5 finale.
* Bradley Barrie as Dr Stephen Fields - a doctor at Pembroke Park Hospital specializing in geriatric care. He was married to Samantha Collins, but their marriage took a collateral hit prior to the beginning of the series. They divorced in season 2. He comes out as bisexual in the third season, and is in an on-off relationship with local radio host, David Miller from season 4 onwards.
* Marcues Alid as Dr Alan Jilly - an orthopedic surgeon at Pembroke Park Hospital. He begins the season as a struggling father, struggling through his workload whilst also looking after his heavily pregnant wife. His wife ends up leaving him halfway through season 2, and it is revealed in season 5 that she went travelling and killed herself via an overdose. Jilly relies on his mother and aunt to look after his children whilst he works, and eventually he decides to sign away his parental rights. In season 6, his oldest daughter comes looking for him.
* Marisol Givens as Elena Roberts (S2-present) - a nurse, and formerly a student of Waverly's, she decides to give up getting her doctorate to focus more on healthcare. In season 6, she was awarded with her nursing degree.
* Leon Hendry as Dr Duncan Lennon (S6-present) - a cardiologist surgeon hired to work at Pembroke Park Hospital in the sixth season to cover for Samantha whilst she is on maternity leave. He is kept on when she returns to work.

### Recurring cast

* Heather Vance as Arabella Waverly (S1-S2) - Natalie's youngest daughter who passed away in season 2 of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
* Callum Murphy as George Waverly (S2-present) - Natalie's second child and her only son. He lived with his father in Germany, but moved back to New York to be with his mum to support her with her sobriety.
* Timothy O'Hale as Colonel Duncan Waverly - Natalie's husband who lives on-base in Germany. He and Natalie separated prior to Season 1, but did not have a divorce until the third season. He moves to New York in the fifth season when he learns of Natalie's recovery process, and the pair also meet their new romantic pairings.
* Verity White as Tiffany Waverly - Natalie's oldest daughter and child, Verity attends the same college that her mother teaches in and obtains her degree in elementary school teaching midway through Season 4. She moves in with her boyfriend, Aaron Rigby in the same season. Prior to this, she stayed at home with her mom. Tiffany had a minor opioid addiction in her senior year of high school, and has always been supportive of her mother, no matter the mistakes she has made.
* Barry Fox as Mike Hanson (S3-present) - a police sergeant who begins dating Samantha Collins, whom he eventually marries and has twin daughters with her. He appeared as a background character in some episodes in the first two seasons before being made a recurring character.
* Nathan West as Oliver Masters (S4-present) - a fireman whom Natalie meets at her son's high school when a fire breaks out. Their first meeting is rocky, but Felicia hints that there could be something there, and pushes the pair to date. He moves into Natalie's house in the sixth season as a compromise due to Natalie not being ready to marry him yet.

### Recurring interns/students

* Dorothy Lewis as Dr Sasha Melody (S1-present) - former student of Natalie's, turned intern, currently a junior resident at Pembroke Park Hospital.
* Justin Sparks as Dr Paul Macintosh (S1-present) - former student of Natalie's, turned intern, currently a junior resident at Pembroke Park Hospital.
* Nina Simpson as Dr Sarah Louise Preston (S1-present) - former student of Natalie's, turned intern, currently a junior resident at Pembroke Park Hospital.
* David Jackson as Dr Carlton Baker (S1-present) - former student of Natalie's, turned intern, currently a junior resident at Pembroke Park Hospital.
* Matthew Bentley as Dr Andrew Riddle (S1-present) - former student of Natalie's, turned intern, currently a junior resident at Pembroke Park Hospital.

## Seasons

*For a list of all episodes, see: List of Educating Doctors episodes*

## Episode titles

From Season 1 to Season 4, episodes are titled "A Lesson in [blank]", excluding the pilot episode.

From Season 5 and onwards, episodes are titled "A Seminar in [blank]", to mark Natalie's decision in gaining the title of Professor at her college.