Joanna Helm
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26 March 2000
30 May 2001
| Joanna Helm | |||||||||||
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| Doctors character | |||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Sarah Manners | ||||||||||
| Duration | 2000–2001 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | "A Good Mother" 26 March 2000 | ||||||||||
| Last appearance | "Truth and Consequences" 30 May 2001 | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Mal Young | ||||||||||
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Joanna Helm is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera Doctors, portrayed by Sarah Manners. Joanna was introduced by series creator Mal Young as one of the nine original regular characters on the soap. She works as a receptionist at the fictional Riverside Medical Centre and is shown to be a bubbly, flirtatious and ditzy character. Joanna appears from the first episode until the end of the second series after deciding to leave the series. Her exit storyline sees her leave Riverside after helping her grandmother, Jessie Helm (Marcia Ashton), die in a euthanasia pact.
Manners opined that her character had the best storylines on Doctors during her tenure. Throughout her time on Doctors, Joanna discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, reads her grandmother's medical records to discover she is dying, helps her to die, develops a drug addiction from drugs stolen from Riverside, attempting suicide and being asked to resign from her job. She was well-received by viewers and "won herself an army of male fans" due to her flirty characterisation.
Joanna was one of the nine original regular characters cast for Doctors.[1] Throughout her tenure on the series, Manners opined that Joanna caused "mischief".[2] She was shown to be a bubbly character.[3] Describing her storylines. the Sunday Mail said that despite Doctors' early afternoon slot, Joanna "was involved in mercy killing, drug addiction and a suicide attempt to name but a few of her spicier plotlines".[4] On this, Manners said: "I got the best storylines in the world in Doctors, my nan died of a brain tumour then it came out I killed her. I went mad and was addicted to anti-depressants, forged signatures and tried to kill myself".[2]
22 years after she left Doctors, Drama began re-airing classic episodes of the soap. She reflected on her time on Doctors via Instagram, where she wrote: "I was utterly thrilled to have been cast as Joanna Helm, the dizzy receptionist! It's back on the TV right now, being shown on the Drama channel [...] so many fond memories of my time on that show. And grateful to Mal Young and the casting department at the BBC for the opportunity."[5]