 Meanwhile, Graham Blockey, who plays Robert Snell, worked till recently as a full-time general practitioner in Surrey, commuting to and from BBC Birmingham at weekends and on his days off.He kept his role secret from his patients, for fear of losing their respect, until his retirement from medicine in March 2017.Other examples include Felicity Finch (Ruth Archer), who also works as a BBC journalist having travelled on a number of occasions to Afghanistan; and Ian Pepperell (Roy Tucker), who manages a pub in the New Forest.