Dr. Zara Carmichael is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera Doctors, portrayed by Elisabeth Dermot Walsh. Zara was introduced as a new general practitioner at the fictional Mill Health Centre on 4 June 2009 and remained a regular character until April 2012 when Walsh left to go on maternity leave. She returned for a brief appearance in December 2012, before returning full-time in February 2013. In September 2015, Walsh left again to go on maternity leave. She returned full-time from March 2016 onwards.
Since her introduction, Zara has been involved in a number of different storylines including being kidnapped, dealing with early menopause, the birth of her son, her on-off relationship with Daniel Granger (Matthew Chambers), her feud with Daniel's daughter, Izzie Torres (Bethan Moore), and her tumultuous friendship with Emma Reid (Dido Miles). For her portrayal of Zara, Walsh won the award for Best Female Acting Performance at the 2015 RTS Midlands Awards. She has also been nominated in the Serial Drama Performance at the National Television Awards twice, as well as receiving three longlist nominations for the British Soap Award for Best Actress.
Storylines
Zara first appears when Heston Carter (Owen Brenman), Julia Parsons (Diane Keen) and Lily Hassan (Seeta Indrani) are interviewing for a new GP. Zara is hired for the Mill Health Centre and is introduced to Daniel Granger (Matthew Chambers), who flirts with her, and Zara later turns up at Daniel's apartment. The pair have sex, but Zara ends the relationship immediately after, stating that they needed to get their sexual attraction out of the way before they could work together. After being kidnapped with Jack Hollins (Nicolas Woodman), the pair have sex. After an ongoing affair, Jack eventually tells his dad, Rob Hollins (Chris Walker), that he has been in a relationship with Zara. Karen Hollins (Jan Pearson) confronts Zara, and as she is doing this, Zara bends over to pick something up. Karen notices that Zara's underwear is the same of what she found in Jack's room and gets very angry, leading to the pair fighting in reception.
After months of dates and casual sex, Zara and Daniel become a couple. Zara starts to experience hot flushes and menopausal symptoms, and realises that she is undergoing early menopause. Zara believes Daniel wants to end the relationship, so she ends it before he can. Daniel traps Zara in her office and they get back together. Daniel and Zara try IVF, but are left devastated when they discover it has not worked. Zara begins showing signs of pregnancy, and 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 that he loves her, she reveals the results of the test, and both she and Daniel are overjoyed to discover that she is pregnant. Zara goes into premature labour at the Mill, with only Cherry Clay (Sophie Abelson) and Kevin Tyler (Simon Rivers) around to help her. Zara gives birth to a baby boy named Joe (Emily and Lewis Whitehouse). Daniel arrives shortly after and Zara, Daniel and their baby are taken to hospital. After much debate regarding the welfare of their new baby leaving the safety of the hospital, they return home.
After discovering that Daniel has had sex with Cherry, Zara ends the relationship with him, and leaves with Joe. She returns months later for a meeting with Howard Bellamy (Ian Kelsey). As she is about to leave once again, she is persuaded to talk to Daniel, where she reveals that she now has a job in Bristol and sees no reason to come back and leaves once again. She returns once again after leaving her job in Bristol and returns to work at the Mill. Her and Daniel reconcile, but she explains to him that she will be setting strict time limits on their time together and will not be letting Daniel spend any extra time with Joe. They later resume their relationship fully. Zara later takes a sabbatical from, and at her leaving party she gives a speech, telling them all to count down the days until she returns. Zara nervously returns to the Mill and is impressed by new boss Anthony Harker (Adam Astill). Daniel and Zara attempt to spice up their love life and go to a bar to perform role-play, but they argue and Zara goes outside. While outside, Zara witnesses a stabbing and chooses to give evidence. During this time, Joe is kidnapped, and the family have to be protected by the police due to the possibility of violence and threats from gang members who were involved in the murder. Daniel blames Zara for risking the safety of their family for the sake of assisting with the investigation.