Doctor in the House (TV series)

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Doctor in the House
Series logo
Format	comedy
Starring	Barry Evans Robin Nedwell George Layton Ernest Clark
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Original run	1969 – 1991 (including sequel series)
External links
IMDb profile

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.

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Series
4 Location of St. Swithin's Hospital
5 Writers
- 5.1 Episode writers
6 External links

[edit] Plot

The plot revolved around the trials of medical students at St Swithin's hospital in London. Unlike in the United States, British doctors study medicine at the undergraduate level, so the characters were new to independent living and university life.

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Series

Doctor in the House — (1969-1970) — London Weekend Television (LWT)
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, these shows were all 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.

[edit] 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 (Footballers Wives), and Heart FM radio DJ Paul Hollins.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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, George Layton (as "Oliver Fry"), Jonathan Lynn, Bernard McKenna, Bill Oddie and David Yallop
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