Doctor Down Under (TV series)

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Doctor Down Under
Starring	Robin Nedwell Geoffrey Davies Frank Wilson John Derum Jennifer Mellet
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Release
Original network	Seven
Original release	12 February 1979 – 10 May 1980
Chronology
Preceded by	Doctor on the Go
Followed by	Doctor at the Top

Doctor Down Under is an Australian television comedy series based on a set of books by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of doctors. The series follows directly from its predecessor Doctor on the Go, and was produced by the Seven Network in association with the Paul Dainty organization 1979.^[1]

Writers for the Doctor Down Under episodes were Bernard McKenna, Jon Watkins and Bernie Sharp. The episodes was directed by William G. Stewart and John Eastway. all episodes were produced by Stewart.

Plot

When Dr Duncan Waring and Dr Dick Stuart-Clark take up positions at St. Barnabas hospital in Sydney, they wreak havoc for the local medical staff, especially for Professor Beaumont, who is Professor of Surgery, and Dr Maurice Griffin, a surgeon with whom they share their office. The nurses at the hospital, however, find Dr Waring and Dr Stuart-Clark charming, as the two English doctors continue their pursuit of women.

Cast

• Robin Nedwell as Dr Duncan Waring
• Geoffrey Davies as Dr Dick Stuart-Clark
• Frank Wilson as Professor Norman Beaumont
• John Derum as Dr Maurice Griffin
• Jennifer Mellet as Linda Franklin, Duncan's medical secretary
• Joan Bruce as Sister Cummings
• Ken Wayne as Professor Wilkinson, Professor of Anaesthesia

Guest stars

• John Bluthal, who guest-starred in the episode I Gotta Horse
• David Foster as Dr Travers
• Roger Ward as Mr Phillips
• Sheila Kennelly as Mrs Ellis

Episode list

Series

1. Thanks for the Memory — written by Bernard McKenna and Jon Watkins
2. If a Job's Worth Doing — written by Bernard McKenna
3. A Bird in the Hand — written by Jon Watkins
4. I Gotta Horse — written by Bernie Sharp
5. The Hawaiian Operation — written by Jon Watkins
6. The More We Are Together — written by Jon Watkins
7. It's All in the Mind — written by Bernie Sharp
8. If You Can't Beat Em... — written by Jon Watkins
9. Alias Clark and Waring — written by Jon Watkins
10. Impatients — written by Bernard McKenna
11. The Sydney Surprise — written by Jon Watkins
12. The Name of the Game — written by Bernard McKenna
13. Identity Crisis — written by Bernard McKenna

Location of St Barnabas Hospital

The building used as the fictional St Barnabas Hospital is Hornsby Hospital, in Hornsby, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

UK broadcast

Doctor Down Under was first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV in 1980. Granada TV was the first ITV Station to broadcast the series on Saturday 5 January. Southern TV, was the second to start the series from Tuesday 12 February 1980. Anglia started the series from April broadcasting at 15.15 slot. Nearly all the other ITV Stations pick up the series during between June - July 1980, but was not fully networked: ATV and Westward broadcast it 17.15, Yorkshire broadcast it 10.30, Border, Grampian, Granada, HTV, STV, and Southern broadcast it 19.30.

Last ITV area to broadcast the series was London. Thames Television did not broadcast the series but LWT started the series from January 1981.

DVD Release

Doctor Down Under, all 13 episodes have been released as a two Disc DVD set by Umbrella Entertainment in Australia (2007).

References

1. Albert Moran, Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series, AFTRS 1993 p 149

External links

• Doctor Down Under at the Internet Movie Database
• Doctor Down Under opening titles
• Doctor Down Under — featured in "Memorable TV Australian Shows"