Dr Zara Carmichael

Zara Carmichael
Doctors character
Portrayed by	Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh[1]
Introduced by	Peter Lloyd
Duration	2009—
First appearance	4 June 2009
Classification	Present; regular
Profile
Date of birth	13 May 1979 (Age 32)
Home	Letherbridge
Occupation	General practitioner
Family Father Jed Grey Mother Francis Grey (Deceased) Romances Dr. Daniel Granger (2009-2010, 2011-) Jack Hollins (2009) Matthew Leicester (2010)

Dr. Zara Carmichael (née Alex Grey) is a fictional character in the British soap opera Doctors. She is played by Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh^[1] and made her first appearance on 4 June 2009.

Character

Zara is a flirty cheeky person, and had a one-night stand with fellow colleague Dr. Daniel Granger. She is undergoing Early Onset Menopause, and her character is abrasive and brusque. However she can sometimes show warmth and vulnerability. She often has mood swings, which are presumably related to her going through the menopause.

Storylines

Arrival

Zara arrived on 4 June 2009. Heston Carter, Julia Parsons and Lily Hassan were interviewing for a new GP. Heston and Julia said that they liked Zara Carmichael. Lily felt that she was inappropriate, one reason being her choice of shoes, but Heston appreciated this as being 'statement footwear'

Zara then later arrived at The Mill and was introduced, while Melody Bell's leaving party was in full swing.

Daniel Granger has been trying to impress Zara. She asked him out for drink which he turned down. But since then he is keen to impress her again, and they continuously keep flirting with each other. Zara later turned up at Daniel's apartment, she then slept with him but ended the relationship right after, stating that they needed to get it out of the way before they could work together.^[1]

Relationship with Jack

In Late September 2009, after being kidnapped Zara and Jack, the son of colleague Karen Hollins were locked in a caravan. Zara was feeling horny and they ended up agreeing to have sex.^[1] After an ongoing affair eventually in November Jack told his dad, Rob that he was in a relationship with his mum's colleague, Zara. Karen wondered what was going on and at work on the following Monday asked everyone if they were sleeping with Jack. Karen confronted Zara and as she was doing this Zara bent over to pick something up and Karen noticed her underwear was the same of what she found weeks ago in Jack's room.^[2] Karen then got very angry and called Zara a "slut, whore & paedophile". This ended up in a fight in Reception.

Menopause

Zara was diagnosed with an Early Onset Menopause, and probably wouldn't be able to have children.^[1] This was accidentally found out by fellow colleague Ruth Pearce, when Zara was caught researching the menopause on the internet. Since Zara has been in the soap she has been seeing a specialist about her Early Onset Menopause. After many consultations and meetings with GPs and specialists Zara has decided (as of November 2009) she will take her treatment into her own hands and she has ordered testosterone.^[1] Colleague and friend Ruth Pearce was with Zara at the Campus Surgery when she had decided to stop the treatment but Ruth does not seem 100% happy with Zara's decision but she lets Zara get on with it. Due to this early menopause, It was thought that Zara would not be able to have children, However during the 'Carousel' Storyline, it is revealed that she has had her eggs frozen. She has always said she does not want children but it is very obvious she does.

Most recently, after sleeping with Jack, he discovered that she was injecting herself with testosterone. Zara, shocked by this, got very angry and sent him away, before he could ask, as he is currently unaware of her current condition.

Relationship with her father and his imprisonment

Zara's recent storyline has involved her pretending to be Daniel's girlfriend in order for Lisa to allow Daniel to have regular access to his daughter, Izzy. It was recently revealed that Zara is not only doing this for Daniel but also for her own gain. Zara goes out with a man called Matthew, (played by Nicholas Shaw) and his mother, Judith, (played by Caroline Langrishe) later arrives in Letherbridge.

When Judith and Zara meet she thinks that Zara is familiar with her and knows her from somewhere else. Zara denies this but it is later revealed that they have met previously. In February 2010, Zara asks Daniel to use his charm on Judith when she comes for Botox treatment in his clinic. This he does for Zara's sake. Afterward Zara asks Daniel to seduce Judith and have sex with her.

Daniel declines this immediately when they are in Zara's flat. Daniel cannot believe why Zara would ask him to do such a thing. Zara tries to blackmail him because she says that if he doesn't do as she asks she will tell Lisa the truth about their non-existent relationship which will make Lisa terminate Daniel's childcare arrangements with Izzy. This doesn't work because Daniel realises that something is going on in order for Zara to try to go to extraordinary lengths by using Izzy through blackmail. When Daniel enters her flat he picks up a letter on the doormat addressed to Alex Grey. Daniel asks her who Alex Grey really is, Zara told him that he was the previous tenant. In the end Zara is forced to tell him what is happening and that she is Alex Grey as this is her real name.

Daniel finds out what is going on, and so do the viewers in the episode of Tuesday, 16 February 2010. In this episode the whole show is a flashback five years ago where it reveals that Zara's dad, Jed Grey, (portrayed by Paul Shelley) is a Managing Director of a company. In this episode it shows the viewers that Jed's business partner, Ian Leicester, played by Robert Gwilym went ahead with a demonstration which Jed had instructed against due to technical faults with the prototype.

Ian makes sure the demonstration goes ahead, deliberately going against Jed's decision and health and safety protocols, in order not to lose suppliers and for short-term financial gain. This is much more important to him than the health and safety of his colleagues, by announcing it over the company's speakerphone system when Jed is out of earshot. He announces it by pretending to be Jed Grey. The workers carry out his wishes and the demonstration goes ahead with catastrophic consequences. One of the workers enters the factory when it sets on fire as a result of the demonstration's technical faults. The worker, Patrick Wyer, (portrayed by Neil Grainger) subsequently dies and Jed is arrested and later convicted of manslaughter where he is sentenced to ten years in prison.

Zara, or rather Alex, realises that her father was innocent as she works out that it was Ian who made the announcement impersonating her father. He is later acquitted of any involvement and it is his evidence which puts her father in prison. Alex seduces Ian in the hope that he will tell the police the truth. Ian takes advantage and does not alter his statement after having sex with her.

Alex is furious that Ian has used her - she only had sex with him in order for him to change his evidence - and is outraged that Ian gets away with manslaughter and is devastated that her "daddy" is sent to jail. Alex, whose mother is revealed to have been killed in a boat accident when it capsized years previously, promises her father that she will make Ian and his family pay for what he has done.

Ian is Judith's husband and is Matthew's dad. In the present, Zara goes out with Matthew in order to gain access to his parents in order to subsequently gain revenge for her father's imprisonment.^[1] This is why Zara wants Daniel to seduce Judith. Zara's relationship with her father is of a very close nature; probably due to her mother's death when she was young, and as a result she always calls him "daddy", even through her adult life. Prior to this storyline being revealed, Zara was seen to visit her father in prison a few months prior to February 2010. When this happened viewers did not know why he was in prison until 16 February. In April, Zara and Daniel are enrolled on a team building course by Julia after she decides that they need to resolve their differences when they constantly argue with each other at work. At the lesson, Zara tells the class emotionally about her father's life and that she will do anything to battle for him to prove his innocence. Zara is delighted when she receives a call from her solicitor stating that her father would be eligible for release from prison soon.

Relationship with Daniel Granger

Zara had slept with Daniel numerous times. She pretended to be his girlfriend so Daniel could have access to his daughter, Isobel. On Tuesday 27 July, Daniel took Zara bowling, and they officially became an item.

In October 2010, Zara starting having hot flushes and menopausal symptoms whilst Daniel was present. He at first asks if there is anything wrong, and if shes pregnant, but she lies and says its probably just PMT. Viewers can see lying to Daniel is getting to her. Zara finally comes clean about the menopause, and Daniel can't seem to say anything right. Zara thinks Daniel wants to end the relationship a couple of days later. Misreading the situation, she ends it first. Daniel traps Zara in her office and they get back together. They are seen leaving the Mill holding hands.

Daniel tells Zara to pack her suncream as they are going on holiday. Zara is very excited, however whilst out shopping with Daniel and Isobel, his daughter, Izzy is taken from a carousel ride. After a lot of looking and searching, Zara tracks down the abductors, follows one onto a motorway bridge, and talks her into giving Isobel back. During this we hear about how much she loves Daniel, and that she has had her eggs frozen.

After this, Daniel cruelly dumps Zara for Lisa, leaving Zara devastated. Daniel does not currently appear to seem happy with Lisa. In April 2011, Daniel and Zara get back together. In mid-April Lisa leaves Letherbridge, this means that Daniel only gets to see Izzy every other weekends. On Tuesday 19th April, Zara met up with her father - who is desprete to have a grandchild. This meeting leaves Zara feeling empty & broody. On Wednesday 20th April 2011 Zara is shown pretending she is pregnant with a coat up her shirt, Heston walks in and she is left in tears.

Over May, June and July 2011, Daniel and Zara tried IVF. They were left devastated when they discovered it hadnt worked and Zara wasnt pregnant. However, they are going to try again at some point, and we can only hope.

When Zara arrives for work on the Friday the 5th of August, she is nursing the mother of all hangovers. During the day Zara seems to get better until lunch when she sees everyone eating and has to run to the toilets to be sick. When she and Daniel arrive home, he makes her marmite toast to combat the hangover but this only makes her feel worse. Knowing what this could mean Daniel rushes out to a chemist, when he returns Zara is sitting on the bed with a pregnacy test in her hands. After Daniel tells her he loves her, she reveals the results of the test, and both she and Daniel are overjoyed to discover that she is pregnant.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Ten years of Birmingham's TV soap Doctors - Life & Leisure - Birmingham Post
2. ^ Doctors star Jan Pearson on Black Country accents and bondage gear - Sunday Mercury

External links