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Doctor in the House (TV series)
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Doctor in the House is a British television comedy series based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students. It was produced by London Weekend Television from 1969 to 1970 and spawned numerous sequels with many of the same characters, which ran up to 1991.
The show was widely syndicated in the United States and Canada.
The show also proved to be very popular in Australia, where the series Doctor Down Under was filmed and based.
plot revolved around the trials of medical students at St Swithin's hospital in London.
British doctors study medicine at the undergraduate level, so the characters were new to independent living and university life.
major protagonists were:
The main antagonist is the famous, well-respected and ill-tempered surgeon Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark).
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Encyclopedia
Doctor in the House is a British television comedy series based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students. It was produced by London Weekend Television from 1969 to 1970 and spawned numerous sequels with many of the same characters, which ran up to 1991.
The show was widely syndicated in the United States and Canada.
The show also proved to be very popular in Australia, where the series Doctor Down Under was filmed and based.
Plot
The plot revolved around the trials of medical students at St Swithin's hospital in London.
British doctors study medicine at the undergraduate level, so the characters were new to independent living and university life.
Characters
The major protagonists were:
- Michael Upton (Barry Evans), an easy-going, serious and somewhat anxious son of a doctor who is essentially following in his father's footsteps.
- Duncan Waring (Robin Nedwell), Michael's best friend and roommate. He is just as bright as Upton, but far less serious in his studies, although he generally does well. After Barry Evans left the show, Nedwell returned as Waring to become the focus of the show.
- Paul Collier (George Layton), a less competent student and friend of Upton and Waring.
- Dick Stuart-Clark (Geoffrey Davies), a thirtyish student who deliberately fails his courses in order to take advantage of his late aunt's will, which bequeathed him a large sum of money for each year he is in medical school.
- Lawrence Bingham (Richard O'Sullivan), a brilliant, but arrogant and irritating doctor who believes he is the best of all possible doctors. He marries the equally obnoxious Dr. Mary Parsons (Helen Fraser) in the series "Doctor in Charge". His need to continually impress her is the source of much comedy.
The main antagonist is the famous, well-respected and ill-tempered surgeon Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark). Most of the plot lines revolve around the students' attempts to meet his demanding expectations.
Another hospital official with whom the students have contact is the Dean (Ralph Michael), who is more interested in the hospital's Rugby union team, than he is in medicine.
Other characters in the early episodes, who later reappeared for single episodes in subsequent series were:
- Danny Hooley (Jonathan Lynn), an Irish medical student who is a friend of Waring, Collier, Upton and Stuart-Clark. He later returns as an 'out-of-work doctor' in the Doctor in Charge episode "Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot?"
- Huw Evans (Martin Shaw), a Welsh medical student, another friend of the four students. He reappears as a very nervous expectant father in the episode "Mother and Father Doing Well".
Notable guest stars throughout the run of the series and its sequels included Hattie Jacques, Mollie Sugden, Roy Kinnear, Maureen Lipman, Patricia Routledge, Graeme Garden, David Jason, John Le Mesurier, Arthur Lowe, Angela Scoular and Tessa Wyatt.
Series
- Doctor in the House — (1969-1970) — London Weekend Television (LWT)
- First series (13 episodes) broadcast from 12 July to 4 October 1969
- Second series (13 episodes) broadcast from 10 April to 3 July 1970
- Doctor at Large — (1971) — LWT
- Doctor in Charge — (1972-1973) — LWT
- Doctor at Sea — (1974) — LWT
- Doctor on the Go — (1975-1977) — LWT
- Doctor Down Under — (1979) — filmed and set in Australia by Seven Network. Dr. Duncan Waring and Dr. Dick Stuart-Clark travel to Australia and take up appointments at a Sydney hospital.
- Doctor at the Top — (1991) — BBC
Confusingly, all the LWT shows were syndicated in the United States under the title Doctor in the House and episodes from all of the series were often shown out of sequence.
Location of St. Swithin's Hospital
The building used as the fictional St. Swithin's Hospital is, in fact, the old Wanstead Hospital (based in Wanstead, London, E11). A number of years ago it was converted into a residential building and is now called Clock Court. It is a listed building based on Hermon Hill, within the London Borough of Redbridge. Before becoming a hospital it was an orphanage for children whose parents were lost at sea, and the architecture of the building depicts images of boats carved into the intricate stone. A number of celebrities are rumoured to have lived there over the years including the actor Gary Lucy (The Bill), and Heart FM radio DJ Paul Hollins.
Writers
The Doctor in the House series is well known for the writing team of Graham Chapman and John Cleese, who would go on to greater fame as writers and performers in Monty Python. The series is also well known for the writing work of Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, who would both become writers and performers in The Goodies. Both Chapman and Garden were actual doctors. Graeme Garden also appeared as a "Television Presenter" in the episode "Doctor on the Box".
While keeping mostly to the conventions of the situation comedy genre, the shows occasionally stretched the boundaries of what was seen on television. One script by Cleese called for Michael Upton to rip away a woman's dress in a single movement (she was hiding a key he needed in her cleavage). A script by Garden and Oddie included a scene played out using cartoon drawings of the performers, in the style of a teenage romance magazine, while the actors voiced their lines.
Episode writers
Doctor in the House | Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Bernard McKenna and Bill Oddie | Doctor at Large | Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Jonathan Lynn, Bernard McKenna,
David Yallop, George Layton (under the pseudonym of "Oliver Fry"), Geoff Rowley and Andy Baker. | Doctor in Charge | David Askey, Graham Chapman, Graeme Garden, George Layton, Jonathan Lynn, Bernard McKenna,
Bill Oddie, Phil Redmond and Gail Renard | Doctor at Sea | Richard Laing, George Layton, Jonathan Lynn, Bernard McKenna, Gail Renard and Phil Redmond | Doctor on the Go | Douglas Adams, Rob Buckman, Richard Laing, George Layton, Jonathan Lynn, Bernard McKenna,
Steve Thorn and Paul Wolfson | Doctor Down Under | Bernard McKenna, Bernie Sharp and John Watkins | Doctor at the Top | George Layton and Bill Oddie |
External links
Doctor in the House
- - BBC Comedy Guide
- - British TV Comedy Guide
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Doctor at Large
- - British TV Comedy Guide
- - Nostalgia Central
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Doctor in Charge
- - British TV Comedy Guide
- - Nostalgia Central
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Doctor at Sea
- - British TV Comedy Guide
- - Nostalgia Central
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Doctor on the Go
- - British TV Comedy Guide
- - Nostalgia Central
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Doctor Down Under
Doctor at the Top
- - British TV Comedy Guide
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