The Flying Doctors

For the United States based Flying Doctors organization serving Latin America, see Los Médicos Voladores. For the 1936 film, see The Flying Doctor.
The Flying Doctors
Directed by Colin Budds
Mark Defriest
Kendal Flanagan
Starring Andrew McFarlane
Liz Burch
Lenore Smith
Robert Grubb
see cast table below for complete cast
Country of origin Australia
No. of episodes 3 (miniseries)
221 (regular series) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time approx. 0:55
Release
Original network Nine Network
Original release 1986 1993

The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.

It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an ongoing series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season and actor Robert Grubb came in as new doctor Geoff Standish.

The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings (Lenore Smith). Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson (Peter O'Brien), mechanic Emma Plimpton (Rebecca Gibney), local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers (Terry Gill) and Vic and Nancy Buckley (Maurie Fields and Val Jellay), who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.

Cast and characters

Medical personnel

Pilots

Call signs

An RFDS Beechcraft Super King Air on a remote airstrip in Queensland, Australia.

One prominent feature in the show is the communication between the aircraft and the base station in Cooper's Crossing. Their designations are spelled out using the NATO phonetic alphabet.


DVD release

The Flying Doctors is available to purchase in Australia. All 234 episodes are on a 48 disc set, complete with cast interviews, episode synopses and stills gallery.[1] In region 2, Mediumrare Entertainment have released all nine seasons of The Flying Doctors including the mini series also called The Flying Doctors in region 2.

R.F.D.S.

By 1993, the ratings were in decline and few original characters remained in the much-changed cast. To revamp the show the setting was changed to Broken Hill, the name changed to R.F.D.S., and of the cast only original cast members Fields and Jellay were retained in the show as well as Sophie Lee as Penny Wellings. The storyline had their characters, formerly publicans at the Cooper's Crossing pub, moving to Broken Hill. The show lasted just one season in this new incarnation.

Most recently the Australian pay-TV channel FOX Classics has secured the rights to the program from 3 July 2006. The Flying Doctors have returned for a rerun free to air channel Win Television from 17 August 2007 at 12 pm – 1.00 pm weekdays only.

International Broadcasts

The Flying Doctors was successfully broadcast in the UK on BBC 1. The series initially aired on Fridays at 20:10 from 1st July 1988. From September 1988, the series was moved to a Saturday early evening slot at around 17:15 where it gained a loyal audience of around 2-3 million viewers. In the summer of 1992, a backlog of episodes aired Monday to Friday at 11:05 during school holidays. From September 1992, the series settled into a new regular Friday afternoon slot, usually at around 14:30. The BBC concluded Series 9 in spring 1996 but continued to air repeats in various timeslots until 1998.

The Flying Doctors was also broadcast on the satellite and cable channel UK Gold. The channel repeated all 221 episodes weekdays at 15:00 from 1998.

The series was also aired in some parts of Europe and was particularly popular in the Netherlands where it aired on VARA at 8pm on Saturday nights from 1987 to 1993.

Filming locations

The series was filmed at:[2]

See also

References

  1. The Complete 10 Series Collection 2011 Crawford Productions Retrieved 1 June 2012
  2. "The Flying Doctors". Crawford Productions Pty Ltd. Retrieved 2006-11-13.

External links

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