‘I'm a beauty queen – and fought the virus on the frontline'

Due to the pandemic, Dr Bhasha Mukherjee, 25, from Derby, has become the longest-serving Miss England ever. Here, she tells how she balances that glamorous role with life on the wards

- LEBBY EYRES

The day after I won Miss England in July 2019, I came back down to earth with quite a bump. I’d just graduated from Nottingham University, and was starting my first day as a junior doctor at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire.

I’d stayed up for the after-party and then had to catch the 4am train from Newcastle to Boston, dragging all my luggage – my Miss England outfit, work clothes and my new crown in its special case – with me.

I was trying to focus on the induction, but my phone kept ringing and I was bombarded with emails. By the end of the day, I had a huge blister on my foot and left the hospital with just one shoe on. I’m not sure what the waiting media, outside the building, made of it!

I thought to myself, “What a way to become Miss England!”

But that’s been typical of my journey to become the country’s first South Asian Miss England. It’s been a question of balancing my geeky, studious side with my other interests – first dancing when I was a teen and now modelling.

I’ve always been independent, travelling all over the country for castings and competitions. One year, when I underperformed in exams, my dad suggested I put modelling on hold. That’s when I told myself, “If I want to do one, I have to do the other right. To be able to dance or model, I have to make sure I do my work too.”