Doctor Down Under Explained

Runtime:	25 minutes
Country:	Australia
Language:	English
Num Series:	1
Num Episodes:	13

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.^[1] 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 and broadcast in 1979.^[2]

Writers for the Doctor Down Under episodes were Bernard McKenna, Jon Watkins, and Bernie Sharp. The episodes were directed by William G. Stewart and John Eastway; all episodes were produced by Stewart.^[3]

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

Main / regular

• Robin Nedwell as Dr Duncan Waring
• Geoffrey Davies as Dr Dick Stuart-Clark
• Frank Wilson as Dr 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

• Chantal Contouri as Dr Wainwright (1 episode)
• Deborah Kennedy as Sister Fletcher (1 episode)
• David Foster as Dr Travers
• John Bluthal as 'Chalky' White (1 episode: "I Gotta Horse")
• John Clayton as Mr Frears (1 episode)
• Lorna Lesley Nurse Pettigrew (1 episode)
• Mary Ann Severne as Mrs Lewis / Sister Potts (2 episodes)
• Roger Ward as Mr Phillips (1 episode)
• Sheila Kennelly as Mrs Ellis (1 episode)

Episode list

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 aired in the United Kingdom on ITV during 1980-1981.^[4]

• Granada Television was the first ITV region to broadcast the series on Saturday 5 January.
• Southern Television was the second to start the series from Tuesday 12 February 1980.
• Anglia Television started the series from April broadcasting at 15.15 slot.

Nearly all the other ITV stations picked up the series during between June and July 1980, but it was not fully networked:

• ATV and Westward broadcast it 17.15
• Yorkshire Television broadcast it 10.30
• Border, Grampian, Granada, HTV, STV, and Southern broadcast it 19.30.

Last ITV area to broadcast the series was London: London Weekend Television, which produced the previous series in the Doctor franchise, screened Doctor Down Under from January 1981.

DVD release

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

External links

• • Doctor Down Under opening titles
• Doctor Down Under - featured in "Memorable TV Australian Shows"

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1979: February 17-23. 15 February 2009.
2. Albert Moran, Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series, AFTRS 1993 p 149
3. Web site: Doctor down Under. BFI.
4. Web site: Doctor Down Under (Channel 7 1979-1980, Robin Nedwell, Geoffrey Davies). 26 May 2017.