Before Dr Blake’s return home, Jean Beazley had been working as receptionist and housekeeper for Dr Blake Sr for over 12 years.

Many would consider Jean old-fashioned. Having a modest secondary education she married early and kept house. But she is fierce, loyal, proud, and implacable when she chooses to be. She guards her territory zealously. She misses nothing and is an expert at sifting gossip for kernels of fact, which she dispenses when necessary. She knows when to tell the unvarnished truth, and when to stay quiet.

Her dedication to Doctor Blake Sr has been transferred to Lucien. But Lucien is a very different man. Jean struggles with his eccentricity, his left-field approach and the damage he hides from the rest of the world. He would be lost without her.

An attractive woman, she’s aware town gossips raise their eyebrows because she’s sleeping under the same roof as the eminently presentable and unattached new doctor. But in the privacy of their household, Jean also nurtures her nephew Danny Parks, and lodger Nurse Mattie O’Brien. She treats Danny as her own. She understands boys; makes sure he’s fed and watered, roars him out when he needs it, and is quietly proud of her handsome, decent nephew.