STOURBRIDGE TV viewers couldn’t believe their ears when they heard the town mentioned on new prime time medical drama The Good Karma Hospital which is set in India.

The new Sunday night feel-good show, about an understaffed hospital run by a group of British and Indian doctors who refuse to turn anyone away, has already gone down well with television watchers – not least thanks to a cast including Amanda Redman, Neil Morrissey and Game of Thrones star Amrita Acharia.

But many viewers in the Black Country were left bemused after hearing Downton Abbey star Phyllis Logan declaring in a Scottish accent “we don’t have heat like this in Stourbridge” in the opening episode.

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One TV fan said on Facebook: “Can't believe a program set in India mentions Stourbridge # good karma hospital.”

Another said: “Great line in 'Good Karma Hospital'..."we don't get heat like this in Stourbridge.”

While another Facebook poster said: “I nearly choked on my coffee when the lady at the wedding said its not like the weather we get in Stourbridge!!”

However - it was no accident that Stourbridge was mentioned in the show, according to writer Dan Sefton who told the News it was decided key characters Paul and Maggie Smart – played by Philip Jackson from Raised by Wolves and Phyllis Long who played Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey – would be from the Black Country as he was “looking for something more original” than having them be from the generic north.

He said: “It was all very deliberate. The idea of the show was we’d tell their story about being in India – so their background is quite important.

“We’d cast Philip Jackson from Raised by Wolves (set in Wolverhampton) and Neil Morrissey (from the Midlands) so we decided to make them from that area.

“I found the more specific it was the more realistic it was."

Dan, who has also written for top TV shows Mr Selfridge, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Holby City and Death in Paradise, continued: “Friends of mine also come from there and they sent me a link about Yam Yams! I put it into Google and thought it was brilliant so I put it into the show.

“You don’t see characters from the West Midlands very often on TV – it’s usually Yorkshire or Manchester so it felt quite original.”

And he added: “I’ve always remembered Stourbridge as I was a massive fan of The Wonder Stuff and Pop Will Eat Itself.”

He said viewers can expect “quite a few” local references in the six-part show created by Tiger Aspect TV for ITV over the duration of the series which airs at 9pm on Sundays.

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Fans of Sadler's Ales in Lye may notice a familiar brew in episode three, he said, adding that producers had flown out bottles of Stourbridge-brewed Red IPA to the set in Sri Lanka where the entire series was filmed.

Ian King, sales director at Sadlers, said: "We're very excited about having our Black Country beer in the series."