''Born and Bred'' is a British light-hearted 1950s-set medical drama series aired on BBC One which ran from 21 April 2002 to 3 August 2005. It was created by

Chris Chibnall Christopher Antony Chibnall (born 21 March 1970) is an English television writer and producer, best known as the creator and writer of the award-winning ITV (TV network), ITV mystery-crime drama ''Broadchurch'' (2013-17) and as the third showr ...

and Nigel McCrery. Initially the cast was led by James Bolam and

Michael French Michael French (born Michael Clark, 17 September 1962) is an English actor, known for his roles as David Wicks in ''EastEnders''; Nick Jordan, a consultant and Clinical Lead, Senior Consultant in emergency medicine in '' Casualty'' and former ...

as a father and son who run a cottage hospital in Ormston, a fictitious village in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, in the 1950s. Bolam's and French's characters were later replaced by characters played by Richard Wilson and Oliver Milburn.

Cast

* James Bolam as Dr Arthur Gilder (series 1 to 3) *

as Dr Tom Gilder (series 1 to 3) * Jenna Russell as Deborah Gilder, who chairs the parish council * Charlotte Salt as Helen Gilder *Ross Little as Michael Gilder *Polly Thompson as Catherine Gilder *Cameron and Jacub Earley (2002–03) and Evan Fortescue (2003–05) as Philip "Pip" Gilder *

Peter Gunn ''Peter Gunn'' is an American detective fiction, private eye television series, starring Craig Stevens (actor), Craig Stevens as Peter Gunn with Lola Albright as his girlfriend, lounge singer Edie Hart. The series was broadcast by NBC from Sept ...

as Constable Len Cosgrove * Tracey Childs as Nurse Linda Cosgrove * Maggie Steed as Phyllis Woolf * John Henshaw as Wilf Bradshaw *

Naomi Radcliffe Naomi Radcliffe (born 16 November 1971) is an English actress. She was born in Oldham, Lancashire to Albert Radcliffe—a Canon of Manchester Cathedral—and Petrina, a teacher. She was educated at The Blue Coat School in Oldham and the Royal ...

as Jean Bradshaw (later Mills) *Samuel J. Hudson as Eddie Mills *Donald Gee as Horace Boynton * Clive Swift as the Reverend Eustacius Brewer *Shirley White and Joan Worswick as the Matthews Sisters * Richard Wilson as Dr Donald Newman (series 3 to 4) * Oliver Milburn as Dr Nick Logan (series 4) * Kelly Harrison as Nancy Brisley (series 4)

Plot

''Born and Bred'' is set in the fictitious village of Ormston in Lancashire during the 1950s. The lead characters are Dr Arthur Gilder and his son Tom, who together run the cottage hospital under the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

. Tom is married to Deborah, who is chairwoman of the parish council, and they have four children, Helen, Michael, Catherine and Philip. The hospital's nurse is Linda Cosgrove, who is married to the village policeman, PC Len Cosgrove. The local pub is run by Phyllis Woolf and the village shop by Horace Boynton. Other characters include the

station master The station master (or stationmaster) is the person in charge of a Train station, railway station, particularly in the United Kingdom and many other countries outside North America. In the United Kingdom, where the term originated, it is now lar ...

, Wilf Bradshaw; his daughter, Jean, who owns a scrapyard and later marries Eddie Mills, a

mechanic A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...

; and the vicar, the Reverend Eustacius Brewer. Arthur and Tom depart in the third series, and are replaced by Dr Donald Newman in the episode "And Is There Still Honey For Tea?" and Dr Nick Logan in "The Great Leap Forward", plus Nancy Brisley, Deborah's sister.

Episodes

''Born and Bred'' first aired on 21 April 2002. After 4 series, 1 Christmas special and 36 regular episodes it ended on 3 August 2005. Each episode is 60 minutes long and aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

at 8 pm on Sunday. Series 1, Series 2, Series 3 and the Christmas Special were shown on Sundays, while Series 4 was shown on Wednesdays.

ITV3 ITV3 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9 pm, replacing Plus (British TV channel), Plus ...

began broadcasting ''Born and Bred'' from April 2010. It was being broadcast on ITV3 and is currently being shown on the UK Free to Air TV Channel "

True Entertainment True Entertainment was a British free-to-air television channel that was launched on 3 August 2009, replacing Showcase TV. The change was originally scheduled to happen on 1 July 2009, but a late change put the change "on hold until further no ...

". The series aired in Australia on 7TWO late 2011, Weekdays at 1:15pm and on UKTV Drama in July/August 2023.

Locations

The exterior shots of the early series were filmed primarily in and around East Lancashire, mainly in the village of Downham, but some scenes were shot in Helmshore and others in

Settle, North Yorkshire Settle is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town had a population of 2,421 in the 2001 United Kingdom census, 20 ...

. Two railway scenes were filmed on the East Lancashire Railway, but the main railway scenes were shot on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.KWVR TV & Film Page Antique shop scene is in Rawtenstall, Lancashire.

Home releases

In March 2012, the entire series was re-released on DVD in the UK (Region 2) by Acorn Media UK.

References

External links

* *
Born and Bred
Press Releases & Press Packs, BBC, 25 March 2002
Born and Bred fan and information site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Born and Bred 2002 British television series debuts 2005 British television series endings 2000s British medical drama television series BBC television dramas British English-language television shows Television shows set in Lancashire Television series set in the 1950s