The medical TV drama Doctors will end after more than 20 years, the BBC has announced, blaming “super-inflation in drama production”.

The BBC said it had faced a “very difficult decision” on whether to reinvest in the Birmingham site where the show, which helped to launch the career of many actors, is filmed. It said costs had “increased significantly” at the location and had decided instead to finance new shows in the West Midlands.

A spokesperson said: “With a flat licence fee, the BBC’s funding challenges mean we have to make tough choices in order to deliver greater value to audiences. We remain fully committed to the West Midlands and all of the funding for Doctors will be reinvested into new programming in the region.

“We know the crucial role Doctors has played in nurturing talent, and we will work to develop new opportunities to support skills in scripted programming.”

The final episode will be aired in December 2024, and the BBC said the show would have “the finale it deserves”.

Since it first aired on 26 March 2000, the soap has won 17 Bafta awards for its portrayal of the lives of staff and patients at a Midlands GP practice in the fictional town of Letherbridge.

Scott Bryan, a TV critic who hosts the BBC’s Must Watch podcast, said on X, formerly Twitter, that the show had “been a training ground for many actors” and has featured many who are now household names, including Eddie Redmayne, Sheridan Smith, Nicholas Hoult, Rustie Lee and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

He added: “For many of us, this is the show we would watch on our sick days.”

Ellie Peers, the general secretary of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, said the end of the show was “a terrible loss to the UK writing community” as it had long been considered a “training show” for creatives.

She added: “It is essential in an increasingly global market that the UK continues to provide distinctive content and opportunities for our writers. It is therefore of real concern that this is the second long-running drama series to be scrapped by the BBC in the last two years, the first being Holby City. The closure of another drama series leaves a big hole in the drama slate, and in the pockets of Doctors writers, many of whom have written for the show for years.”