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Mark Heap (Larkrise To Candleford, Green Wing) and Indira Joshi (The Kumars At No.42, Coronation Street) are to star alongside Sanjeev Bhaskar (Goodness Gracious Me, The Kumars At No.42) and Ayesha Dharker (Coronation Street, Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee) in the second series of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One award-winning daytime drama The Indian Doctor. Shooting begins today (Monday 22 August 2011).

In this new five-part series set in the Sixties, the deadly disease smallpox hits the South Wales mining community and high-flying Delhi graduate Dr Prem Sharma (Sanjeev Bhaskar) and his wife Kamini (Ayesha Dharker) find themselves at the centre of the emergency. Prem and Kamini have to work together to discover the source of the outbreak and vaccinate the villagers against infection before it's too late.

Mark Heap plays Herbert Todd, a self-appointed evangelist who has recently returned to Trefelin after a decade of missionary work in Kenya. Undeterred by the illness – he has seen it before in Africa – he ministers to the sick but isn't the help Prem had hoped for. He also has to deal with his daughter, Verity, played by Naomi Battrick (My Almost Famous Family), who is at home for the school holidays. Whilst appearing a model of obedience to her father, she soon reveals her real self to others in Trefelin.

Indira Joshi plays Pushpa, Kamini's mother. Not an easy woman to please, she arrives in South Wales from India to stay with her son-in-law and daughter, Prem and Kamini. Prem has established a successful practice and Kamini has created a lovely home for them, however Pushpa is a little bewildered by their new life and can't understand how they cope without servants! When Prem identifies the first case of smallpox, however, Pushpa, who has seen smallpox in India, gets involved in taking care of the patient.

Prem also enlists the help of the local policeman Emlyn, played by Alun Ap Brinley (Pobol y Cwm), to shut off the valley and not allow anyone in or out, and to manage the panic in the town when everyone finds out about the outbreak.

Liam Keelan, Controller ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Daytime, who commissioned the series, says: "After the success of our award-winning first series, The Indian Doctor returns to tell the story of an outbreak of smallpox in our fictional village of Trefelin. Inspired by events in 1962 when more than 900,000 people in South Wales were vaccinated after a smallpox outbreak there, the drama is part of our continuing drive to bring viewers quality original drama."

Returning to the series are Ifan Huw Dafydd (Gavin And Stacey) as Owen, Mali Harries (The Fabulous Baker Boys) as Megan, Erica Eirian as Sian, Naomi Everson as Gina and Jacob Oakley as Dan.

The Indian Doctor is being made by Rondo Media and Avatar Films and the executive producers are Tom Ware for Rondo Media, Deep Sehgal for Avatar Films and Gerard Melling for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.

The drama series is currently in production filming in South Wales, and will be screened early next year on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One Daytime.

Notes to Editors

The first series of The Indian Doctor for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One Daytime won the following awards:

• The RTS Award for the Best Daytime and Early Peak Programme
• Mali Harries won the BAFTA Wales award for Best Actress for her performance as Megan
• John Gillanders won the BAFTA Wales award for Best Editing: Fiction

SD2