Morning Live’s own doctor, Dr Punam Krishan, an avid “mega fan” of Strictly, has taken to the dance floor for the BBC show’s 20th anniversary series. The Glasgow-based GP has been teamed up with professional dancer Gorka Marquez.
Dubbed by the BBC as a “media medic and broadcaster”, Dr Krishan is a familiar face on Morning Live and a frequent voice on BBC Radio Scotland. As well as being a practising NHS GP, Dr Krishan is also known for her insightful health news coverage across television, radio, and national newspapers.
She has also turned her hand to writing and has published a children’s book with more titles in the works. Despite facing down many challenges, Dr Krishan confesses to some significant nerves about venturing onto the Strictly dancefloor, recognising it as a leap outside her usual milieu. For the latest TV & Showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter
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Her Origins in Glasgow
Dr Krishan was born in Glasgow lon May 28, 1983. Raised in the same city which she still calls home, she holds the title of the eldest among two daughters in her family, reports the Manchester Evening News. She achieved her medical degree from Glasgow University.
In an interview with The Herald, she reminisced about a childhood raised on curry and Irn Bru, Immigrating from Punjab in the late seventies, her parents embedded a strong emphasis on education as a gateway to success, as Punam recalled: “It was ingrained in us that education was the key to freedom. You were either going to be a doctor, lawyer, accountant or a failure.”
Before her Strictly stint was announced, she reminisced about her childhood love for dancing, stating: “I used to dance a lot when I was younger I did classical Indian dancing so I think I’d like to go back and maybe do some formal dancing lessons.”
The decision to become a doctor
Although Punam admits she enjoyed “history and language and music and drama”, medicine took the lead after being inspired by her “role model” childhood family GP Dr Kauser.
She expressed: “This still doesn’t feel real, I am overjoyed to be a contestant on this year’s show. I have watched Strictly every year with my family and it feels extra special that it’s the 20th year, I can’t believe I will be the one getting Strictly-fied now. This is so out of my comfort zone, but I’m up for the journey and will give it my absolute all.”
Further, she shared on Morning Live: “I cannot tell you how excited I feel. As a mega fan of the show for years, this honestly feels like a dream come true. And I’m in a very, very lucky position because many members of our Morning Live family have been there.”
“They’ve done it so I’m going to be tapping into all of their guidance and advice and wisdom just to help me through. I can’t wait for what’s ahead.”
The NHS GP has a specialist interest in public health, family and lifestyle medicine. She has also taught at the University of Glasgow, where she studied medicine.
A busy home and work life
Dr Krishan works as a general practitioner from Monday to Thursday morning. The remainder of Thursday and Friday are dedicated to her media engagements, which include travelling to Manchester for ‘Morning Live’.
Discussing her venture into writing alongside her medical career, which subsequently launched her into the media spotlight, she commented: “I’ve always loved writing I started off writing for the GP publication Pulse. I was experiencing burnout and writing became a space to offload and express my feelings about work.”
She also touched on the challenges faced by those in her profession, saying: “There’s a lot of negativity towards GPs and people in primary care, and that can be quite isolating. I felt empowered by sharing my experiences and it connected with lots of fellow doctors, then it all took off from there.”
‘Traumatic’ health scare that left her in intensive care
In a harrowing recount of a personal health crisis, Dr Krishan shared the traumatic experience she endured following the birth of her son 11 years ago.
She narrated how what began as a routine hospital visit to give birth quickly turned critical, with her baby’s heart rate showing dangerous fluctuations and her own pain becoming excruciating. Despite losing a significant amount of blood, she was rushed to theatre while her newborn required paediatric care.
Penning an Op-Ed for the I newspaper, she described the dire situation that unfolded: “I was unconscious and ended up intubated in intensive care, only to wake up days later attached to various machines, away from my baby and with a mess of a body. The word ‘trauma’ feels like an understatement.”
After her discharge, Punam revealed feeling ‘broken’, was prescribed antidepressants and underwent cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to battle ‘severe’ postnatal depression alongside post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
‘Parent guilt’ and why she quit her practice
As she opened up about her decision to step down from the GP partnership at her practice, Punam has not held back in discussing the immense pressure on NHS doctors.
Despite leaving the partnership in 2017, she clarified to the Scotsman: “I haven’t quit being a GP, I’ve quit being a partner in a practice” while maintaining a full-time workload within the profession.
In conversation with the i, she expressed her passion for medicine: “I loved my job as a doctor, but I detested the bureaucracy of it all.”
Punam recounted qualifying at 28 but facing burnout by just 33 and shared: “I found myself giving and giving until the day my family holiday was ruined by my inability to switch off from work. I was physically abroad with family, but mentally I was at my practice.”
She confessed the toll it took on her familial role: “I wasn’t being an effective mother because my work was always coming home with me. I was always torn between work guilt and parent guilt, wanting to do the right thing by everyone but failing to find ways to sustain myself against the unsustainable.”
Strictly ‘mega fan’
Ahead of her debut on the dance floor, Punam expressed her excitement: “This still doesn’t feel real, I am overjoyed to be a contestant on this year’s show. I have watched Strictly every year with my family and it feels extra special that it’s the 20th year, I can’t believe I will be the one getting Strictly-fied now. This is so out of my comfort zone, but I’m up for the journey and will give it my absolute all.”
On Morning Live, she shared her enthusiasm: “I cannot tell you how excited I feel. As a mega fan of the show for years, this honestly feels like a dream come true. And I’m in a very, very lucky position because many members of our Morning Live family have been there.”
“They’ve done it so I’m going to be tapping into all of their guidance and advice and wisdom just to help me through. I can’t wait for what’s ahead.”
She confessed to feeling incredibly nervous when faced with the judges at the launch show, remarking: “I just had a moment of just being utterly starstruck as I was in front of Shirley, and the nerves intensified.”
However, Punam also believes that participating in Strictly is the “perfect antidote” to her demanding NHS job. Speaking to the Radio Times, she said: “I’m always doing things for everybody else pleasing my parents, working for my patients, being a mother, a wife. I’m putting myself out there to try something completely different, for me.”
“It’s worlds apart from what I’m used to. I spend my whole week either in scrubs, leggings or joggers. Working in the NHS can be quite stressful, so this is the perfect antidote to that, to decompress and have some fun.”
Family and parenting difficulties
Punam is married to Dr Sandesh Gulhane, a Member of the Scottish Parliament and also an NHS GP . Boasting the title of the Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Sandesh has proudly served as an MSP since 2021.
They have a son Aarish, aged 11, and daughter Ellora, who is four. The couple exchanged vows back in 2011, and they celebrated their union with dual wedding ceremonies one on British soil and another in India.
Dr Gulhane holds the distinction of being the first Hindu and the inaugural Indian-descent man elected to the Scottish Parliament, serving the Glasgow constituency.
