Daniel Granger (Doctors)

Daniel Granger
Doctors character
Portrayed by	Matthew Chambers
Duration	2007–
First appearance	9 July 2007
Introduced by	Peter Eryl Lloyd
Classification	Present; regular
Profile
Occupation	General practitioner
Home	Letherbridge
Family Mother Marion Granger Sons Joe Carmichael Daughters Isobel Torres Uncles Joe Fenton

Dr. Daniel Granger MBBS is a fictional character in the soap opera Doctors, portrayed by Matthew Chambers.^[1] Daniel is introduced as a general practitioner at The Mill. He made his first appearance on 9 July 2007.^[2] He is the second longest running character.

Storylines

Daniel arrived hiding some dangerous secrets, following the theft of a large sum of money from his former Practice partner in London. He used the money to clear part of a £200,000 debt he had run up as a result of an ongoing gambling addiction. Not content on facing up to his problem, his addiction continued to spiral out of control, ultimately resulting in a confrontation with his criminal debtors. The criminals actions worsened to the point they made hostages of Melody Bell and Joe Fenton in order to force Daniel to repay them. Following the ordeal, Daniel came to terms with his addiction and turned himself into the police. He was later faced with a tribunal.

In Series 10, Daniel went through further turmoil as his mentally ill colleague Ruth Pearce held him captive in the medical centre's sick bay. Whilst holding Daniel against his will, Ruth had tried to save a patient from a heart attack, pretending to be nurse Michelle Corrigan. Ultimately the patient was saved- primarily due to Daniel's work- but in the interim Daniel made an escape attempt and injured his leg trying to flee, cutting it on the glass of a window. Following this incident, Daniel called Melody Bell, warning her that Ruth appeared to be suffering from a breakdown. This led to Melody referring Ruth to a mental health institute, under the Mental Health Act to keep her from endangering herself and others.

When a new nurse, Cherry Malone began working at the practice, Daniel found himself growing ever more attracted to her. Much to his chagrin, however, Cherry was not receptive to his affections. It was during this time that Daniel discovered one of his patients, Cybil Lambert, had died, leaving a considerable amount of money to Daniel in her will. Daniel spent this money on a high-end sports car and luxury apartment. Zara Carmichael. She came over to his flat but Zara ended the relationship within the same day, stating that they needed to get it out of the way before they could work together. Cybil Lambert's son Malcolm, sold a story to the Letherbridge newspaper, about Daniel conning Cybil. Julia saw it and called a meeting with Lily and Heston about it. Daniel claimed to Lily Hassan that he shouldn't have to apologise because the money was a gift, however Lily insisted that he should. Daniel went over to The Mill to see Julia. He tried to explain that he kept the money for the benefit of his daughter, but she was having none of it. With his own hard work and the backing of the partners Daniel has now opened the "Granger Clinic", a botox clinic which is run in The Mill. The other doctors are quite unwilling to help in his enterprise and since he seems to have little sense of advertising and sales, resorts to unorthodox techniques to get customers, including plying Simon Bond with cream horns and drinks to attempt to get him to encourage his homosexual friends to have treatment.

Daniel is enrolled on a team building course with Zara by Julia Parsons, after she is fed up of constantly seeing Daniel and Zara arguing with each other at the surgery, much to their annoyance. At the lesson, he tries his best to comfort Zara when the whole class was assigned to tell each other about their personal life. She emotionally talked about her father and his imprisonment and that she was helping him battle to prove his innocence of manslaughter. They get very close and nearly kissed. Beforehand, Daniel talked about Izzy to the whole class.

Zara had slept with Daniel numerous times. She pretended to be his girlfriend so Daniel could have access to his daughter, Isobel. On Tuesday 27 July, Daniel took Zara bowling, and they officially became an item. In October 2010, Zara starting having hot flushes and menopausal symptoms whilst Daniel was present. He at first asks if there is anything wrong, and if shes pregnant, but she lies and says it's probably just PMT. Viewers can see lying to Daniel is getting to her. Zara finally comes clean about the menopause, and Daniel can't seem to say anything right. Zara thinks Daniel wants to end the relationship a couple of days later. Misreading the situation, she ends it first. Daniel traps Zara in her office and they get back together. They are seen leaving the Mill holding hands.

Daniel tells Zara to pack her suncream as they are going on holiday. Zara is very excited, however whilst out shopping with Daniel and Isobel, his daughter, Izzy is taken from a carousel ride. After a lot of looking and searching, Zara tracks down the abductors, follows one onto a motorway bridge, and talks her into giving Isobel back. During this we hear about how much she loves Daniel, and that she has had her eggs frozen. After this, Daniel cruelly dumps Zara for Lisa, leaving Zara devastated. Daniel does not currently appear to seem happy with Lisa. In April 2011, Daniel and Zara get back together. In mid-April Lisa leaves Letherbridge, this means that Daniel only gets to see Izzy every other weekends. On Tuesday 19 April, Zara met up with her father - who is desprete to have a grandchild. This meeting leaves Zara feeling empty & broody. On Wednesday 20 April 2011 Zara is shown pretending she is pregnant with a coat up her shirt, Heston walks in and she is left in tears.

Over May, June and July 2011, Daniel and Zara tried IVF. They were left devastated when they discovered it hadn't worked and Zara wasn't pregnant. However, they are going to try again at some point, and we can only hope. When Zara arrives for work on the Friday the 5th of August, she is nursing the mother of all hangovers. During the day Zara seems to get better until lunch when she sees everyone eating and has to run to the toilets to be sick. When she and Daniel arrive home, he makes her marmite toast to combat the hangover but this only makes her feel worse. Knowing what this could mean Daniel rushes out to a chemist, when he returns Zara is sitting on the bed with a pregnancy test in her hands. After Daniel tells her he loves her, she reveals the results of the test, and both she and Daniel are overjoyed to discover that she is pregnant.

On 13 February 2012 Zara goes into early labour at the Mill. However, Daniel is unaware of this as he's gone to town with friend and colleague Jimmi Clay as the pair, along with Jimmi's friend Franklyn, have gone shopping for trousers for Jimmi's impending wedding. Daniel is driven back to the Mill and holds his newborn baby boy for the first time. Daniel, his baby and Zara are taken to hospital. Following a phone call from his maternal uncle Dr Joe Fenton, the couple decides to name their son Joe.

Development

Relationships

In September 2010, Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh who plays Zara Carmichael revealed details of an upcoming storyline involving Zara and Daniel. Speaking at the Inside Soap Awards she said: "There's a fantastic five-part story coming up in the next few weeks involving my character and Daniel. I don't want to give everything away, but something terrible happens to Daniel's baby daughter and Zara steps in to help. It's all very dramatic!" She added: "It's nice to be the good guy for a change. Normally Zara plays the baddie and for once she gets to play the heroine, which makes a nice change for me!"^[3]

Reception

Matthew Chambers and Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh who plays Zara Carmichael were nominated for "Best on-screen partnership" but lost out to Jake Wood and Jo Joyner who play Max and Tanya Branning on EastEnders.^[4]

See also

• List of Doctors characters

References

External links

• Daniel Granger at BBC Doctors