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Australian 1988-1996 television series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.
The Flying Doctors | |
---|---|
![]() Title card used from Season 4 | |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Garry McDonald and Laurie Stone |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 6 |
No. of episodes | 221 (regular series) 3 (mini-series) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Production location | Australia |
Running time | 55 minutes |
Production company | Crawford Productions |
Budget | $3 million (mini-series)[1] |
Original release | |
Network | Nine Network |
Release | 26 May 1986 – 6 October 1992 |
It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing (set in the real life town of Minyip in north-western rural Victoria). 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 arrived as new doctor Geoff Standish. McFarlane later returned to the series, resuming his role.
The series' episodes were mostly self-contained and about medical items. The Australian society was mirrored in handling more or less controversial social problems as the abuse of women within marriage, alcohol abuse, and the position of Indigenous Australians. It 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 Majestic, a local pub/hotel.
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.
The Flying Doctors was made available to purchase in Australia. All 221 episodes plus the 13 spinoff-episodes are on a 51 disc set, complete with cast interviews, episode synopses and stills gallery.[2] In region 2, Mediumrare Entertainment have released all nine seasons of The Flying Doctors including the miniseries also called The Flying Doctors in region 2.
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.
Australian pay-TV channel Fox Classics secured the rights to the program from 3 July 2006.
The Flying Doctors briefly returned to free to air when WIN Television, parent company of Crawford Productions commenced reruns of the program on 17 August 2007 at midday week day afternoons.
The Flying Doctors was successfully broadcast in the UK. The original 1985 3-part mini-series was aired three times on Channel 4; first in 1985, a repeat the following year from 30 May 1986 at 10:25. A third repeat aired in 1988.
The ongoing series then broadcast on BBC One. The series initially aired on Fridays at 20:10 from 1 July 1988. On 20 August 1988, the series was moved to a Saturday early evening slot at around 17:15 where it gained a loyal audience of about 6 to 8 million viewers, until 24 August 1991.[3] During the summer of 1992, episodes were repeated Monday to Friday at 11:05, around 8 weeks worth.
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 slots until January 1997.
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. The series aired in Ireland on RTÉ One from 1988 to 1996. The series aired in Germany in the early 90s on state broadcaster ZDF.[4] The series aired originally in Sweden and has been re-broadcast on TV4 Guld in 2017 with back to back episodes on weekdays.
The show also aired in New Zealand on TVNZ, where the entire series was shown in primetime, and was very popular.
From 1988 to 1992, it was broadcast in Nigeria by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 5.
The series was filmed at:[5]
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