''Doctor Down Under'' is a 1979 13-episode Australian television comedy series. It was the sixth of seven series in an otherwise British TV franchise that began with ''

Doctor in the House Doctor in the House may refer to: * Doctor in the House (novel), ''Doctor in the House'' (novel), a 1952 novel by Richard Gordon ** Doctor in the House (film), ''Doctor in the House'' (film), a 1954 British film adaptation of the novel *** Doctor i ...

'' and was inspired by the "Doctor" books by Richard Gordon. The series follows directly from its predecessor '' Doctor on the Go'', and was commissioned by the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

in association with the Paul Dainty organization based on the popularity in Australia of the previous five series in the franchise. Albert Moran, ''Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series'', AFTRS 1993 p 149 Writers for the ''Doctor Down Under'' episodes were Bernard McKenna, Jon Watkins, and Bernie Sharp. The episodes were directed by

William G. Stewart William Gladstone Stewart (15 July 1933 – 21 September 2017) was an English television producer, director, and television presenter. He presented and produced the Channel 4 quiz show '' Fifteen to One'' from 1988 to 2003. Early life Stewart wa ...

and John Eastway; all episodes were produced by Stewart.

Plot

Dr Duncan Waring and Dr Dick Stuart-Clark relocate to Australia after losing their positions at St. Swithin's hospital in London. They take up positions at St. Barnabas hospital in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, where they wreak havoc on the local medical staff, especially Professor Beaumont, who is Professor of Surgery, and Dr Maurice Griffin, a surgeon with whom they share their office. Some of the nurses at the hospital, however, find Drs Waring and Stuart-Clark charming, as the two English doctors continue their pursuit of women, often involving a rivalry between the two.

Cast

Main / regular

Robin Nedwell Robin Courteney Nedwell (27 September 1946 – 1 February 1999) was an English actor, formally trained at Central School of Speech and Drama. He is best remembered for his role as Doctor Duncan Waring in the television comedy series ''Doctor in ...

as Dr Duncan Waring *

Geoffrey Davies Geoffrey Walsh Davies (15 December 1938 – 13 July 2023) was an English actor. Early life and career The son of an accountant, Davies was educated at grammar school and studied at art college to be a commercial artist before becoming an acto ...

as Dr Dick Stuart-Clark * Frank Wilson as Dr Beaumont *

John Derum John Bernard Derum (born 9 January 1946) is an Australian stage, film and television actor. He is also an artistic administrator and directed and produced for theatre companies throughout Australia and for television. Derum has also been a poli ...

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

Guests

Chantal Contouri Chantal Contouri (; born 8 April 1950), sometimes credited as Chantal Cantouri, is a Greek Australian television and film actress. She has acted in many films and TV series as well as on stage, with one of her best known roles being in the 197 ...

as Dr Wainwright (1 episode) *

Deborah Kennedy :''This is an article about the actress. For the American eco artist and author, see Deborah Kennedy (artist)''. Deborah Kennedy is an Australian character actress recognised for several television and film roles, especially for her appearance ...

as Sister Fletcher (1 episode) *

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

as Dr Travers *

John Bluthal John Bluthal (born Isaac Bluthal; 12 August 1929 – 15 November 2018) was a Polish-born Australian actor and comedian, noted for his six-decade career internationally in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. He started his care ...

as 'Chalky' White (1 episode: "I Gotta Horse") *

John Clayton John Clayton may refer to: Arts and entertainment Writing *John Clayton (architect) (died 1861), English architect and writer *John Clayton (sportswriter) (1954–2022), American sportswriter and reporter *John Bell Clayton and Martha Clayton, Joh ...

as Mr Frears (1 episode) *

Ken Wayne Ken Wayne (1925–1993) was an Australian actor of radio, theatre, film and television. Career Wayne made his film debut in ''Sons of Matthew'' (1949) and appeared in a number of movies including '' Dust in the Sun'' (1958). Wayne had a featu ...

as Professor Wilkinson (3 episodes) *

Les Foxcroft Clement Leslie Foxcroft (19 November 1918 – 24 June 2004) professionally known as Les Foxcroft and credited also as Lester Foxcroft was an Australian character actor with a career spanning over 50 years, working in all major facets of the ...

as Mr Gilhooley (1 episode) *

Lorna Lesley Lorna Lesley (born 1956, in Kent) is an Australian actress, who has worked extensively in theatre, film and TV during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s period.Mary Ann Severne Mary Ann Severne (b. Auckland, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born Australian actress active in Australian made films and television programs from the 1970s. Career Severne began her acting career in various theatre productions including playin ...

as Sister Potts (1 episode) *

Roger Ward Roger Ward (born 24 July 1937)Wilmingham, Margot "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of. Australian Showbiz is an Australian actor and scriptwriter who has had a considerable career in film and television, noted for "tough guy" roles in which he of ...

as Mr Phillips (1 episode) *

Sheila Kennelly Sheila Kennelly (born 28 December 1937) also credited as Sheila Kenneally, is a British-born Australian retired character actress of theatre and music hall, television and film, with a career spanning over 50 years. From the late 1950s onward ...

as Mrs Ellis (1 episode)

Episode list

# "Thanks for the Memory" — written by Bernard McKenna and Jon Watkins # "If a Job's Worth Doing" — written by Bernard McKenna # "A Bird in the Hand" — written by Jon Watkins # "I Gotta Horse" — written by Bernie Sharp # "The Hawaiian Operation" — written by Jon Watkins # "The More We Are Together" — written by Jon Watkins # "It's All in the Mind" — written by Bernie Sharp # "If You Can't Beat Em..." — written by Jon Watkins # "Alias Clark and Waring" — written by Jon Watkins # "Impatients" — written by Bernard McKenna # "The Sydney Surprise" — written by Jon Watkins # "The Name of the Game" — written by Bernard McKenna # "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,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia.

UK broadcast

''Doctor Down Under'' aired in the United Kingdom on ITV during 1980-1981. *

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

was the first ITV region to broadcast the series from 5 January 1980 *

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

was the second to start the series from 12 February 1980. *

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

started the series from April, airing in a mid-afternoon timeslot. 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 aired it at 5.15pm, following children's programmes. *

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

aired it after ''News at Ten''. *

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

Grampian Grampian () was one of nine local government regions of Scotland. It was created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and took its name from the Grampian Mountains. The regional council was based in Aberdeen. The region was abol ...

, Granada, HTV, STV, and Southern aired it in a peak-time slot at 7.30pm. The last ITV region to screen the series was in London -

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

, 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).

References

External links

*
''Doctor Down Under'' opening titles

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor Down Under (Tv Series) 1979 in Australian television 1980 in Australian television 1979 Australian television series debuts 1980 Australian television series endings Australian television sitcoms Doctor in the House Australian English-language television shows Australian medical television series Television shows set in New South Wales Seven Network original programming