Julia Parsons

Julia Parsons (previously McGuire) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera Doctors, played by Diane Keen. She made her first appearance on 13 January 2003.^[1] The character of Julia Parsons is the longest ever character in the history of Doctors.

Character

Julia is quite serious when she needs to be, but she is very friendly with her colleagues and has the interests of the patients at heart. She was very supportive in the recovery of receptionist Ruth Pearce. In 2010 she had been diagnosed with Lyme disease and many colleagues questioned Julia's ability to work.

Storylines

Arrival

Julia arrived at the Riverside Practice in January 2003 as the bitchy ex-wife of Practice Manager Dr. Brendan "Mac" McGuire. She was a fairly regular figure at the Riverside working on Reception and as her role got involved in steamy storylines she became a key figure in Doctors. The character was only supposed to last about 3 months but as Julia was so successful with the audience she stayed, and eight years later she's still going strong!

Relationship with Mac

In 2004 after over a year working with each other Mac proposed to Julia and they married for a second time. They married later that year and it was a marriage that lasted just two years. In May 2006 Julia caught Mac with his old flame Kate kissing at the Mill Health Centre. Julia was furious and insisted that Mac left with Kate and their son Ciaran to Ireland, where they are still today. The divorce came through officially in late 2007 and Julia went back to her maiden name of Parsons. Julia bought Mac's share at the Mill and she became the most senior role at the health centre, what she keeps to this day.

Children

In 2007 her youngest son Liam turned up with his wife Ocean Kennedy. Julia took an instant dislike to Ocean she described her as a Eco-warrior! It was more recently revealed Ocean gave birth to Julia's youngest grandson, Marlyn. Julia had three children; two boys Patrick and Liam and she has one daughter Samantha. The two sons have been in the soap but Sam has never appeared. Patrick made a one-off appearance in November 2001 but returned in 2003, he later returned in September 2010 with his 7 year old daughter Chloe. It was later revealed to Patrick that his mother was seriously ill with Lyme disease.

Friendships with close colleagues

In May 2007, Julia reluctantly sacked her close friend Donna Parmar, who was the bubbly Receptionist with a destinctive Birmingham (Brummie) accent. Donna had breached patient confidentiality to find out information about the mother of a boy who was bullying her son Taran. Julia felt guilty about sacking Donna but she was comforted and told it was the right thing. She replaced Donna with an old friend, Vivien March who Julia also was very close to. In May 2009 Julia persuaded mentally ill colleague, Ruth Pearce to move in with her as Ruth was unable to live independently and Ruth's father had left her. Julia cared for Ruth and saw her return to her normal self and to work. In the Summer of 2010 Julia supported Nurse Michelle Corrigan on an emotional departure to work as an army nurse in the war in Afghansitan. Michelle's mother was very angry with Julia as Vera blamed Julia for Michelle enlisting.

Lyme disease

During the late summer of 2010, Julia Parsons fell seriously ill with mysterious symptoms of delusions and confusion. This was later diagnosed on her admission to St Phil's as Lyme disease. While ill at home with undiagnosed symptoms, Julia was the victim of a suspected sexual assault by rogue GP Charlie Bradfield. He was subsequently sacked from the Mill and reported for misconduct.^[2]

Reception

For her portrayal of Julia, Keen was nominated in the category of "Best Actress" at the 2005 and 2011 British Soap Awards.^[3]

References

External links