| Luca McIntyre | |||||||
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| Doctors character | |||||||
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| Portrayed by | Ross McLaren | ||||||
| Duration | 2021–2024 | ||||||
| First appearance | "Trouble" 24 February 2021 | ||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||
| Introduced by | Mike Hobson | ||||||
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Luca McIntyre is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera Doctors, portrayed by Ross McLaren. Luca is introduced to the series on 24 February 2021 following the departure of nurse Ayesha Lee (Laura Rollins) the year prior. McLaren's acting credits confirmed that he had been contracted as a series regular on the soap. McLaren felt thrilled to be cast on Doctors and has described Luca as a cheeky and lovely character who would "go the extra mile" to help a patient.[1] Luca's introduction sees him feature in a standalone centric episode that explores his background, including experiencing homophobia in his former workplace and suffering a car accident that ends the life of his boyfriend Billy Parker (Daniel Cornish). His background also involves a religious upbringing and a bad relationship with his mother, and later scenes in the series reveal that Luca is HIV-positive, which he initially receives a negative response to from patients of the Mill Health Centre.
Since his introduction, Luca has developed a friendship with Emma Reid (Dido Miles), whom he later begins to live with. Jonno Parker (Tommy Sim'aan), the brother of his dead boyfriend, blackmails Luca in a storyline that eventually sees Luca helping Jonno to recover from his drug addiction. Luca's argumentative nature has also been explored, including his various disputes with surgery partners Zara Carmichael (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) and Daniel Granger (Matthew Chambers). McLaren departed the role in March 2022 due to receiving an offer to appear in a touring production of Singin' in the Rain. His management confirmed that he would reprise the role of Luca following the completion of the tour and he returned onscreen in January 2023. For his portrayal of the character, McLaren has been nominated for various awards at the National Television Awards, the Inside Soap Awards and the RTS Midlands Awards.