The second series of ‘Trust Me’ had to be totally reworked when Jodie Whittaker was cast in ‘Doctor Who’.
The BBC medical drama’s creator Dan Sefton has admitted he planned out a second season following the star’s impostor doctor alter-ego Cath Hardacre, but he had to come up with an entirely new concept when he saw the video announcement that she had joined the sci-fi show while he was watching the Wimbledon tennis tournament final two years ago.
Asked when he found out about Jodie’s role as the Time Lord, he told RadioTImes.com: "The same time as everybody else. I remember exactly where I was because it was the match at Wimbledon, wasn’t it?
"And I was watching the announcement – I remember when she walked out of the TARDIS, and I was like, ‘It’s f***ing her, Jesus!’
"I texted Nicola [Shindler, of Red Production Company], like, ‘Did you know?’ I didn’t know. I was kind of numb. It was like, ‘Oh. Now what happens?’ But you know, good luck to her."
While Dan admitted "it was a shame" they couldn’t continue with Cath’s story, he quickly realised it would be impossible to get Jodie to return.
He added: "You always have to plan what could happen, so with Nicola Shindler and I, we’d thought about it, and we were ready to go with a pitch about how it could continue.
"And then, of course, when Jodie was Doctor Who … we realised there was no way she’d be available. So, then it was, like, ‘What else could we do?’ And then actually out of those problems come opportunities.
"We went back to the BBC and to Gaynor [Holmes, head of drama for BBC Scotland], and said, ‘Look, we’ve got an idea for a completely different story, but the same kind of style and psychological’ – and we pitched her this idea and she said, ‘That sounds great’, so we worked it up and then luckily the BBC said, ‘Yeah, let’s do that.’ "
The second season of ‘Trust Me’ features Alfred Enoch as Corporal Jamie McCain – a temporarily paralysed soldier who is recovering from a spinal injury – as he investigates some mysterious deaths on the ward of a Glasgow hospital.
Trust Me creator scrapped 2nd series plans for Jodie Whittaker
