''Surgical Spirit'' is a British television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

starring

Nichola McAuliffe Nichola McAuliffe (born 27 August 1955) is an English television and stage actress and writer, best known for her role as Sheila Sabatini in the ITV hospital sitcom '' Surgical Spirit'' (1989–1995). She has also starred in several stage musi ...

and

Duncan Preston Duncan Preston (born 11 August 1946) is a retired English actor. He is known for his appearances in television productions written by Victoria Wood, including his role in the soap opera parody sketches '' Acorn Antiques'' and as Stan in the s ...

that aired from 14 April 1989 to 7 July 1995. It was written by Annie Bruce, Raymond Dixon,

Graeme Garden David Graeme Garden (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter. He is best known as a member of The Goodies and a regular panellist on '' I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. Early life and educati ...

, Peter Learmouth, Paul McKenzie and Annie Wood. It was made for the ITV network by Humphrey Barclay Productions for

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, ...

. In January 2022, Forces TV started showing all 50 episodes of ''Surgical Spirit'', while the first two series were made available on

BritBox BritBox is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Video on demand#Subscription models, video on demand Streaming television, streaming service founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, ITV which operates in eight countries across Australi ...

in April 2022.

Plot

The series was based around Sheila Sabatini, a senior

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

at the Gillies Hospital, whose verbal skills have most people running for cover as her tongue is as sharp as her

scalpel A scalpel or bistoury is a small and extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, podiatry and various handicrafts. A lancet is a double-edged scalpel. Scalpel blades are usually made of hardened and tempered ...

. She dominated the

operating theatre An operating theater (also known as an Operating Room (OR), operating suite, operation suite, or Operation Theatre (OT)) is a facility within a hospital where surgical operations are carried out in an aseptic environment. Historically, the ter ...

, while at home she was divorcing her

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

husband, Remo, with whom she had a son, Daniel. Sheila was also a gossip, often gossiping with her best friend, theatre administrator Joyce Watson. One of the major themes in the programme was her developing relationship with Jonathan Haslam, the

anaesthetist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, a ...

. At the end of the sixth series, they married and she had become director of surgery, while her son had become a medical student at the hospital, much to her annoyance.

Cast

as Mrs. Sheila Sabatini *

as Dr. Jonathan Haslam *

Marji Campi Marji Campi (born 19 October 1938) is a British actress, known for her roles as Dulcie Froggatt in ''Coronation Street'' (1984–1987), Joyce Watson in '' Surgical Spirit'' (1989–1995) and Jessie Hilton in ''Brookside'' (1998–2002). Born in ...

as Joyce Watson * David Conville as Mr. George Hope-Wynne *Emlyn Price as Mr. Neil Copeland * Suzette Llewellyn as Sister Cheryl Patching *Beresford le Roy as Michael Sampson *

Lyndam Gregory Lyndam Gregory (c. 1955 – 15 July 2014) was an Indian-born British theatre, television, soap opera, and voiceover actor. His best known credits include his portrayal of Sammy Patel on ''Coronation Street'' in 1983, his recurring role as Guppy Sh ...

as Dr. Simon Field (series 1–4) *Simon Harrison as Mr. Giles Peake *Andrew Groves as Daniel Sabatini

Production

The outside shots were of Lister Hospital in

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. Additional filming locations were in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, Hertfordshire.

Cancellation

decided to decommission the programme after the conclusion of the seventh series.

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (1989)

Series 2 (1990)

Series 3 (1991)

Series 4 (1992)

Series 5 (1993)

Series 6 (1994)

Series 7 (1995)

Home releases

All seven series of ''Surgical Spirit'' have now been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. An 8-disc set of the complete series has also been released.

References

External links

*
''Surgical Spirit''
at British TV Comedy * *{{epguides, SurgicalSpirit 1989 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings 1980s British sitcoms 1990s British sitcoms British English-language television shows ITV sitcoms Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television