Doctors is a British medical soap opera which began broadcasting on BBC One on 26 March 2000.[1] Set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff and patients of the Mill Health Centre, a fictional NHS doctor's surgery, as well as its sister surgery located at a nearby university campus. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in Doctors in 2018, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the programme's executive producer, Mike Hobson. January saw the introductions of Will Hurran's (Robin Morrisey) friend, Erin Anderson (Laura Ainsworth), and practice manager Ben Galadima (Michael Fatogun). April sees the arrival of course instructor Su Turtle (Sam Battersea), as well as James Coulter, a foster child of Rob (Chris Walker and Karen Hollins (Jan Pearson). Locum nurse Penny Stevenson (Cerrie Burnell) arrives in May and Tariq Amiri (Chaneil Kular) is introduced as the boyfriend of Alia Hanif (Lisa Ambalavanar) in June. Social worker Leo Tomas (Aaron Fontaine) begins appearing in September, as well as Mr. Smail (Neil Grainger), the practice manager of Sutton Vale surgery. Additionally, multiple other characters appear throughout the year.