| Princess Buchanan | |||||||||
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| Doctors character | |||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Laura White | ||||||||
| Duration | 2022–2023 | ||||||||
| First appearance | "No Nothing" 2 March 2022 | ||||||||
| Last appearance | "Indelible Ink" 3 January 2023 | ||||||||
| Classification | Former; recurring | ||||||||
| Introduced by | Mike Hobson | ||||||||
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Dr. Princess Buchanan is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera Doctors, portrayed by Laura White. Details surrounding her casting and Princess' characterisation were announced in February 2022. She was introduced on 2 March 2022 as a trainee doctor at Sutton Vale Surgery, as part of a storyline that sees the partners at the fictional Mill Health Centre perform a takeover of her surgery. Princess is initially depicted as a hardworking and ambitious doctor who is keen to learn medicine and progress her career, but over her tenure, she was developed into an antagonist on the soap. Her scheming included flirting with various staff members to further her career, manipulating Valerie Pitman (Sarah Moyle) and Sid Vere (Ashley Rice) into completing work for her, covering up mistakes with patients and blackmailing Scarlett Kiernan (Kia Pegg), all of which contribute towards a suspension.
From her introduction, it was hinted that Princess was involved with the disappearance of fellow Sutton Vale employee Dr. Ashdown, who went missing prior to the beginning of the takeover storyline. Another aspect of Princess' backstory that has been touched upon is her strained relationship with her unaffectionate mother, Constance Buchanan (Linda Hargreaves). The character was later given a redemption arc which explored Constance's treatment of her, being wrongly accused of Dr. Ashdown's murder and having insecurities about herself and her career. Princess is later shown to revert back to her old ways when she realises that her colleagues will never side with her. She is eventually fired, after which she gets Valerie fired and leaves the soap.
Metro's Chris Hallam felt that the addition of Princess to the cast had "generated fireworks" for Doctors and despite her "extremely manipulative personality", he was interested in learning more about the character.[1] He found it hard to sympathise with the character but suggested that her unlikeable qualities may have been caused by a difficult childhood with Constance. Hallam's colleague Duncan Lindsay billed Princess as "an icon".[2] For her portrayal of the role, White was nominated for the British Soap Award for Villain of the Year twice, as well as Leading Acting Performance at the 2022 RTS Midlands Awards.