Doctor Foster to return for surprise third series – nine years after Suranne Jones drama last aired

Doctor Foster, the explosive BBC drama that established Suranne Jones as one of the nation’s most inimitable actors, will return for a third and final series.

First airing in 2015, Mike Bartlett’s series, inspired by the Greek myth of Medea, sees Suranne play Gemma Foster, a successful doctor whose world unravels as she becomes convinced that her husband Simon (Bertie Carvel) is having an affair.

Doctor Foster became a TV sensation during the two series it aired in the 2010s, with Jones picking up a Best Actress award at the TV Baftas for her portrayal of a woman hellbent on revenge.

On Wednesday (25 February), the BBC announced that, nine years after it last aired, Doctor Foster was returning for one more series, with filming beginning in the spring.

Speaking about bringing Gemma back for one final time, Jones said: “When I got the call to ask if I wanted to return as Gemma Foster, I knew the time was right. We needed space from the first two series… For me, this time around it’s about accountability and questioning: ‘Can we ever truly sever ties with our past and the damage or traumas that haunt us, so we can fully move forward?’”

The drama in Doctor Foster unfolds after Gemma finds a strand of blonde hair on her husband’s scarf, leading her to spiral. Eventually, it is discovered that Simon is having an affair with the much younger Kate (Jodie Comer), with things coming to a head in the series one finale.

During a “watercooler moment” dinner party scene that viewers couldn’t stop talking about, Gemma reveals to Kate’s parents that Simon has been having an affair with their daughter. When Kate calls her a “f***ing b****”, Gemma replies: “B**** is right. I’m a wolf tonight.”

The second series of Doctor Foster picked up a couple of years after the first, with Simon and Kate now together and the relationship continuing to impact Gemma.

But while Bartlett teased ideas for a third series in the years that followed, Jones suggested that the project wouldn’t happen for a long time due to her busy schedule.

The stars, however, have now aligned. In series three, Gemma is still working as a GP and living in the same house, but has met someone new and is getting married. Tom (Tom Taylor), her son who ran away from home at the age of 15 in series two, is now back and all grown up with a lot of questions for his parents.

On the show’s return, Bartlett said: “I always hoped that we’d get to tell the final part of Gemma’s story – which is about a woman seeking justice in an unfair world. That feels as relevant now as when Gemma first found a blonde hair on the scarf.

“It’s been a joy to team up once again with the hugely talented Drama Republic, the now very grown-up and brilliant Tom Taylor, the inimitable Bertie Carvel and of course, the incomparable Suranne Jones, to tell the final chapter of this story and revisit Parminster – where it turns out there’s still secrets, betrayals, vengeance and perhaps one last dinner party.”