What's in a name?

Doctors Series Producer Peter Lloyd explains the inspiration behind the character's names in Doctors.

A Doctors fan (that’s you Mrs Scoggins) asks: "Where do you get the names for your characters?"

Of course the guest characters are named by each writer and those writers then own that character. If we want to bring them back, we have to pay them (this is partly why you don't see guest characters coming back very often, as I may have said before - WE DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY). But some will return - Barry the security guard is something of a constant visitor... and you'll notice our police characters popping back every so often.

But back to the names. Here are some random examples for Mrs Scoggins ...

Ronnie Woodson was named after rock legend Ronnie Wood. Our Head of Department took the producing team for a posh lunch at Ronnie Wood's club in London, so it was really a tribute to him. [Please note, we don't get posh lunches like that any more. Perish the thought that we get any perks now, it’s austerity all round, dear licence fee payer]. I've no idea where George came from. Maybe someone thought it would be funny?

Julia - The original Julia was a bit of a dragon, until Di Keen got hold of her and made her more human. But for me, the name evokes all those formidable Roman matriarchs.

Melody Bell - A silly name for an apparently silly girl, who had to work hard to be taken seriously. She made it in the end.

For Vivien March, I wanted a spiky name and it just felt right. Daniel was named after Daniel Mead the playboy in Ugly Betty. Karen is for our much loved post production co ordinator, and Mrs Winifred Tembe? Tembe came from my researches on Botwana, but Winifred is for my grandmother, who died a couple of years ago.

So sometimes sentimental, personal, but others are very much part of the character - Zara is like an arrow, harsh, direct, to the point. Elaine is soft, quiet, understanding. For some reason Ruth always evoked a feeling of someone who is lost. But maybe that's just me. Heston sets him apart, quite right too!

Often it's just about rhythm - Cherry Malone and Jimmi Clay just sound good. FYI Jimmi was originally going to be an Asian character, so I named him after an actor I worked with years ago: Jimmi Harkishin - now mini mart supremo Dev in Corrie.

But some names have stories behind them. Karen was forced to do Cymbeline for CSE English, she hated the verse, but loved the story and the heroine's name stuck in her mind. She became determined to call her daughter this, despite Rob's objections (he wanted Beverly). How proud she was yelling 'IMOGEN!' across a playground full of Traceys and Donnas.

Yep, I actually think about this stuff.

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