The Young Doctors

infobox television
show_name = The Young Doctors


caption =
format = Drama
runtime = 25 minutes
creator = Reg Watson
starring = Michael Beecher
Cornelia Frances
Alfred Sandor
Gwen Plumb
Mark Holden
John Dommett
Peta Toppano
Chris King
Tim Page
Lyn James
Judy McBurney
Tony Alvarez
Paula Duncan
Lynda Stoner
Bartholomew John
Anne Lucas
Diana McLean
Rebecca Gilling
Alan Dale
Eric Oldfield
Brian Moll
country = flagicon|AUS Australia
network = Nine Network
first_aired = 8 November 1976
last_aired = 31 March1983
num_episodes = 1396
imdb_id = 0074077
tv_com_id = 12865

"The Young Doctors" is an Australian early evening soap opera. The series was set in the fictional Albert Memorial hospital and primarily concerned with romances between younger members of the hospital staff. The series was particularly popular with women and teenage fans. Despite the medical setting, medical procedures rarely figured in storylines.

The series was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation and screened on the Nine Network from Monday 8 November 1976 until Wednesday 30 March 1983. When it ended after 1396 thirty-minute episodes it held the record of Australia's longest running television drama series, having surpassed the previous record of 1218 thirty-minute episodes held by "Number 96". This was later surpassed by "A Country Practice" and then "Neighbours", which is the current record-holder of longest-running Australian series.

"The Young Doctors" holds the distinction, rare among long-running Australian dramas, of having never won any sort of television award. Alan Coleman produced the show for most of its run until being replaced by Sue Masters, shortly before the series finished production in late 1982.

The show was contemporaneous with another long-running Nine Network serial, "The Sullivans", which had a budget three times higher than "The Young Doctors".

The serial was repeated by the Nine Network in the late 1980s. Initially in an early evening timeslot, before switching to a late night slot after a few months.

Selected episodes of the serial were released on DVD in October 2006. Umbrella Entertainment have confirmed that they are in plans to release the complete series Fact|date=April 2007. A second set of selected episodes, under the title of Classic Cliffhangers, was released in February 2008.

Cast

"The Young Doctors" (under the title "Jeunes Docteurs") was scheduled in France, on the second national-wide channel Antenne 2, at 8.30, from March 21 1986.

"The Young Doctors" was also one of three Australian soap operas screened in the mid to late 1980s on Sky Channel before it became Sky1 in 1989 (the others being "A Country Practice" and "The Sullivans)." During the mid-to-late 1980s, it was transmitted at 17:00. From 1989 until 1992, "The Young Doctors" screened at 10:00. When Sky purchased newer Australian soap "E Street" in 1992, they dropped "The Young Doctors" to accommodate an afternoon repeat of "E Street."

Remake

In November 2007, the Nine Network announced plans to remake the series in conjunction with FremantleMedia. Originally, it was set to be broadcast in 2008, but due to script delays, the premiere date has been pushed back to 2009. The remake is currently set to be named "Young Doctors". [ [http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22775803-5006009,00.html New life for Young Doctors | The Daily Telegraph ] ]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0074077|title=The Young Doctors
* [http://members.ozemail.com.au/~fangora/doctors.html Aussie Soap Archive: The Young Doctors] — Overview and review
* [http://www.classicaussiesoaps.com/theyoungdoctors/tyd.htm Classic Aussie Soaps: The Young Doctors]
* [http://www.theyoungdoctors.com/ The Young Doctors Unofficial Fan Site]
* [http://www.thesoapshow.com/specialshows/main.htm Documentary celebrating 30 year anniversary, with cast interviews]
* [http://colsearch.nfsa.afc.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=138344;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 The Young Doctors at the National Film and Sound Archive]