Malpractice series 2 has finally landed on ITV and, much like the first series in 2023, the thriller poses some very tricky questions about medical decisions and culpability - there's so much to unpack after watching episodes 1, 2 and 3.

The biggest decision some of us have to make at work is whether to have tea or coffee at morning break... But key workers, like psychiatric registrar Dr James Ford, must make potentially life or death choices every day.

Malpractice is written and created by Grace Ofori-Attah, who was a doctor for 15 years, before she swapped medicine for storytelling. So, like This Is Going to Hurt, we know it's going to be a pretty accurate depiction of life on a stressful ward.

Here's our take on Malpractice series 2 episodes 1, 2, and 3 - and all the questions we need answering in the final three episodes next week...

***Warning: spoilers from Malpractice series 2 episode 1 ahead***

Malpractice series 2 episode 1 recap

Episode 1 of Malpractice nearly left us needing medical treatment ourselves - if there was a cure for heart in mouth, or nails bitten to the quick.

Like the brilliant series 1, the 2025 thriller threw a doctor - and the viewers - straight into the deep end with a tense situation in which important, life-or-death decisions had to be made.

Psychiatric registrar Dr James Ford was on call during an already difficult shift, when he was called to assess the mental health risk of new mum Rosie Newman. Dr Sophia Hernandez was concerned about a patient struggling six weeks post-partum, although she made it sound routine and insisted it would not take long.

However, just moments later, James' superior - consultant Dr Kate McAllister -asked him to attend an urgent mental health care assessment on a high risk patient. Pregnant Antoinette, called Toni for short, was due to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act, and Dr McAllister has too busy to do it herself (even though she seemed to be sat at her desk looking at paperwork).

Unable to be in two places at one time, Dr Ford told Dr Hernandez he was no longer available to attend to Rosie. Furious that he was attempting to downgrade a referral he'd already accepted, she threatened to escalate the matter - essentially forcing him to visit Rosie.

Having arrived at the ward, Dr James Ford then assessed Rosie, who seemed to be calm and denied experiencing delusions or hearing voices. However, time was against him and his buzzer constantly distracted him, reminding him he was on call.

He came to the conclusion that Rosie Newman posed "no explicit risk" and was not showing any signs of psychosis. He prescribed a course of sedatives, and referred her to the home treatment team for a full assessment the next day.

Tragically, though, Rosie was admitted to A&E later than evening, after her husband found her trying to drown her baby. Seemingly psychotic, she needed restraining after attacking a nurse. After James arrived from home, having been called from his bed, he called for Rosie to be taken to another ward. However, she escaped from the nurse, and threw herself from the top floor of the hospital.

Is Dr Ford to blame for Rosie Newman's death?

Dr Norma Callahan and Dr George Adjei of the Medical Investigation Unit (MIU) were called in to investigate Dr James Ford's culpability. Could he be accused of malpractice? It's certainly not black and white.

They decide that Dr James Ford's initial assessment was rushed, and that Rosie Newman could have been "masking her symptoms" of psychosis. Dr Callahan and Dr Adjei decided that James did not give enough due care to properly assess Rosie's risk.

The truth is, had he had more time to assess Rosie Newman, he may well have noticed she was at risk to herself, and her baby. But is it his fault he was also urgently needed at a high-risk sectioning? Yes, he should have told his boss that he was unable to attend instead of her, but how many people can stand up to their superiors?

Crucially perhaps, James did not explain to Rosie or her husband the need for her to take the drugs. He left Dr Hernandez in charge to explain why Rosie should take the lorazepam (which she didn't). Ultimately, because Rosie did not take the drugs when she got home, she was under-sedated. But was Dr James Ford really to blame?

Meanwhile, Dr McAllister seemed to be pressuring Dr Ford into lying to save the reputation of her department, and ultimately herself.

And there was also the matter of the Dr James Ford's living conditions. The registrar must always be within 30 minutes of the hospital when on call. But James was at least 45 minutes away. Of course, this is negligence, and meant that he was late to the scene when Rosie was experiencing a psychotic episode. First guess? That Dr James Ford is having an affair, hence the texts from a mysterious number. Anyone else suspect it's Dr McAllister warming his bed?

Who was Maria Carter, the woman at the end of Malpractice series 2 episode 1?

At the end of episode 1 of Malpractice series 2, Dr Sophia Hernandez had an unsettling encounter with a woman outside her house. Sophia - who is also arguably culpable for Rosie's death, too - saw a woman lurking in the bushes.

Confronting her, Sophia said: "What the hell are you doing here?"

To which, the woman - named Maria - said: "I heard what happened to Rosie Newman. I know this was something to do with you. You can't hide the truth anymore Sophia. And, when they find out, it'll be your career that's over, not mine."

So we can deduce that Sophia has been involved in a malpractice case before, where Maria was blamed and sacked. All will be revealed in subsequent episodes...

***Warning: spoilers from episode 2 of Malpractice series 2 ahead***

Malpractice series 2 episode 2 recap

Malpractice series 2 continued with episode 2, but it was beginning to feel like the series should be renamed Throwing My Colleague Under the Bus. In an extremely understaffed, and underfunded NHS, Dr James Ford seemed to be the scapegoat for both Dr McAllister, and Dr Hernandez.

He also seemed to be the unluckiest man alive. In the second instalment of the compelling medical thriller, Dr Ford discovered that there had been a possible problem with Rosie Newman's mental health straight after birth.

Her husband Mr Newman told him: "My wife was psychotic, but that doesn't happen overnight. The community midwives came and went. When Rosie gave birth, there were doctors and midwives on the ward 24/7 for four days. Why didn't anyone else notice before?"

Well, good question. We later discovered that midwife Maria Carter (the mystery lady who appeared at the end of episode 1, see above), believed Rosie needed to see a psychiatrist, but Dr Sophia Hernandez told her to cancel the referral... Red flag anyone? Maria was later transferred to another hospital, and subsequently suspended for another incident.

Elsewhere, Dr Ford was forced to deliver Toni's baby in Willow Ward, the acute psychiatric unit where she'd been sectioned. She had locked herself in the toilet when she went into labour and, after James Ford knocked down the door, he discovered the baby was crowning. Fearing he'd lose both mother and baby, he successful gave birth to the baby instead of waiting for the obstetrician. However, due to blood loss, Toni was subsequently forced to undergo a hysterectomy.

Again, the question remained - was any of this actually Dr James Ford's fault? After all, it was his boss Dr McAllister's decision to remove Toni's one-to-one care. While McAllister was lying through her teeth, Hernandez was no better. She reported Dr Ford to MIU over Toni's baby, and subsequently stitched him right up, blaming him for removing the one-to-one care (which he didn't).

Dr Sophia Hernandez also insisted she'd make it very clear that Rosie Newman needed to take her meds before she died. We all know she did no such thing.

At the end of the episode, the MIU duo decided they would launch a full fitness to practice investigation into Dr James Ford - as a result, he could be struck off.

Meanwhile, James sought refuge from visions of Rosie at the bottom of a whiskey bottle, and ended up flirting with his sister's friend Fizz in a nightclub. But it ended horribly when she took a bad pill, and ended up in A&E. Again, not James' fault, but it didn't look good either.

At the very end of Malpractice series 2 episode 2, our suspicions were also confirmed about James' mysterious girlfriend. James and his boss Dr McAllister appeared to be in a relationship of sorts as he arrived at her house and let himself in with his own key.

What happened at Dr James Ford's last job?

In Malpractice episode 2, we discovered that Dr James Ford had been involved in a "serious, untoward incident" at his last job.

He had made the decision to "go against his colleagues" and release a patient who had been locked up. James said the clinic had a habit of putting difficult patients into seclusion, he thought unnecessarily. But his actions had serious consequences when the newly-released patient attacked a member of staff so severely they ended up in intensive care, and could never work again.

Is this another case of his negligence, or is he fighting a losing battle in a crisis-era NHS?

***Warning: spoilers from episode 3 of Malpractice series 2 ahead***

Malpractice series 2 episode 3 recap

MIU's Dr Norma Callahan and Dr George Adjei continued their thorough investigation into Dr James Ford's treatment of new mum Rosie Newman - and it started to look increasingly like Dr Sophia Hernandez was guilty of something, too.

But it got very bad for Dr James Ford. First he was accused of bullying by Sophia Hernandez, after he grabbed her arm. Then his patient Aisleen saw him kissing his clinical supervisor Kate and photographed them. She subsequently attempted to take her own life. When Precious asked Aisleen why she'd tried to harm herself, the patient showed the nurse the incriminating photo of James and Kate kissing...

As if things weren't already looking pretty horrific for James, Aisleen's bed in the acute mental health ward was taken by Fizz. She'd become manic following the overdose that James had witnessed on their night out several days before.

Elsewhere, Dr Norma Callahan was breaking a few rules herself. She used the NHS medical database to look into her daughter's tutor Ben Munro. Norma's daughter Ruby told her mum she wanted to quit medical school, and Norma suspected her tutor Ben was to blame. Not least because they seemed to be in a relationship.

At the end of Malpractice series 2 episode 3, Maria Carter agreed to talk to Dr James Ford about Dr Sophia Hernandez. What will he learn?

Is Sophia Hernandez negligent?

In Malpractice series 2 episode 3, Dr Sophia Hernandez's behaviour began to look more and more suss.

First of all, James learnt that Toni's first baby Apple had suffered a skull fracture leaving her too afraid to touch her newborn baby Sam(sung). However, although Toni believed she was to blame, James began to suspect that the maternity ward was - more specifically, the forceps delivery.

When James tracked down the midwife in charge, Alison Masters, she became cagey. She told him she "didn't want to end up like Maria".

We also saw Sophia turn up at Maria Carter's door to threaten her. She said: "Keep your mouth shut or I will make your life significantly worse that it already is." It's not the behaviour of someone we'd want delivering our baby.

In the same episode, Dr Sophia Hernandez make a brutal decision about a woman in labour. Despite wanting a natural birth, Sophia told her she had to have a c-section. Although Sophia suspected the labouring woman Claire Martin was having seizures, she did not witness any such seizure, and did not attempt a "conservative management". She forced a patient to have major surgery she didn't want or need.

Most significantly, we discovered that Rosie Newman WAS displaying signs of psychosis on the labour ward. She repeatedly asked for blood tests as she feared infection.

Norma said: "Rosie was pathologically anxious about infection - the first sign that something wasn't right mentally. But all the staff on the unit dismissed it except for Maria."

Dr Sophia Hernandez did not believe Maria about Rosie's fragile mental state, and chose to cancel her referral.

While Sophia's behaviour looked more and more negligent, the series was always clear about the pressures on overworked staff, too. And, in this case, it looked like some senior management were culpable of making the wrong decisions, too.

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Malpractice series 2 is currently available to watch on ITVX.