ITV’s widely praised thriller, Malpractice, is returning for a second season with a fresh cast.
The first season, which came out in 2023, gripped the nation with the tale of Dr Lucinda Edwards (Niamh Algar), a doctor who finds herself at the centre of a medical investigation when ‘a conspiracy starts swirling’.
As her professional and personal life careens towards disaster, the five-episode drama doesn’t hold back with fast-paced twists and turns after one of Dr Lucinda’s overdose patients dies in her care.
The show scored an impressive 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, with fans praising it as ‘watchable’ and ‘enjoyable’.
One critic praised it as ‘excellently well paced’ and another who applauds the show for having ‘something new to say’.
Now, the series is imminently returning for a second run with a completely different scandal as Niamh exits the show, created and written by former NHS Doctor Grace Ofori-Attah (who is also the person behind the ITV show Playing Nice).
In season two, Helen Behan and Jordan Kouamé return as the Medical Investigation Unit (MIU), this time investigating Dr James Ford, played by Victoria star Tom Hughes.
The synopsis reads: ‘When on-call Psychiatric Registrar Dr James Ford is caught between an anxious new mother’s postnatal check-up and the sectioning of a psychotic patient, no one could predict the devastating outcome.’
Despite a ‘messy’ personal life and ‘arrogant’ personality Dr Ford seems committed to his vulnerable patients and as the investigation deepens, a hospital ‘seemingly at war with itself’ is uncovered among the debris.
The synopsis concludes: ‘With the MIU investigation closing in, can Dr Ford save his already fragile career from a string of apparently damning mistakes?
‘Is Dr Ford a doctor with a God complex, or a victim of the institution? And can the MIU uncover the truth of what happened, despite hostility from all sides?’
The new season also features stars from across several beloved procedural thrillers including Blue Light’s Hannah McClean, Top Boys’ Seraphina Beh , Happy Valley’s Rick Warden and Line of Duty’s Ace Bhatti.
In a statement about the upcoming episodes, Tom said: ‘I couldn’t be more delighted to be playing James and helping bring to life Grace’s pertinent and important piece [of writing], which stopped me in my tracks when I read it.
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‘I hope the audience, when they see it, are equally as gripped and engaged by it, as I was.’
The first season became the most watched launch episode on ITV that year with 6.7m viewers based on 28-day viewing and received wide-ranging critical acclaim.
The Guardian’s four-star review called it ‘intricately plotted and beautifully, leanly written’ and Radio Times dubbed it ‘gripping, tense and deeply engaging’.
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Malpractice returns on Sunday, May 4 on ITV1 and ITVX. Season one is available to stream now on ITVX.
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