A Country Practice

A Country Practice
Main title caption.
Format	Drama, Soap opera
Created by	James Davern
Starring	Shane Porteous Helen Scott Brian Wenzel Joyce Jacobs Gordon Piper Syd Heylen Lorrae Desmond Joan Sydney Penny Cook Grant Dodwell Shane Withington Anne Tenney Wendy Strehlow Josephine Mitchell Maureen Edwards Kym Wilson Claudia Black Judith McGrath Georgie Parker
Country of origin	Australia
No. of seasons	14
No. of episodes	1088
Production
Running time	48 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Seven Network (1981-1993) Network Ten (1994)
Original run	18 November 1981 (1981-11-18) – 5 November 1994 (1994-11-05)

A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping, Sydney. It also ran from April to November 1994 for 30 episodes on Network Ten. The Channel Seven series was also filmed on location in Pitt Town (outskirts of Northwest Sydney), while, the Channel Ten series was filmed on location in Emerald, Victoria.

History

Though, sometimes considered a soap opera, the storylines of the show's two one-hour episodes screened over any one week formed a self-contained narrative block. The storylines were meant to have a primary appeal to adult and older youthful audiences, and in particular they had greater appeal to children from middle class backgrounds.^[1] As it did not have the open ended narrative of a traditional soap opera, it was technically a series.^[2] Nevertheless, many storylines were developed as sub plots for several episodes before becoming the focus of a particular week's narrative block. Overall, the programme "so emphasised the ongoing storylines of its major characters as to make the distinction between series and serial more or less meaningless".^[2]

In addition to being broadcast in Australia, it also ran on the ITV network in the United Kingdom, as well as in many European countries and Hong Kong. It was also carried on a variety of Canadian stations, both during the show's lifetime and after. It was estimated that at its height, the show received a worldwide audience of five to six million each week.

Setting and stories

The show followed a medical practice in the small fictional New South Wales country town of Wandin Valley. The show's stories focused on the staff of the practice and the hospital and their families, and through weekly guest characters - frequently patients served by the practice - various social and medical problems were explored. The series examined such topical issues as youth unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS and terminal illness, as well as Aborigines and their place in modern Australian society. Apart from its regular rotating cast of characters, mainly among the younger personnel, A Country Practice also had a cast of semi-regulars who would make appearances as the storylines permitted.

A Country Practice has also become well-known for its number of guest stars appearances, including Baz Luhrmann, Smokey Dawson, John Meillon, Sir Robert Helpmann and even Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke made a cameo appearance in 1986. Nicole Kidman, Toni Collette and Simon Baker also had guest-roles in the series before going on to international fame.

The series is also the third most successful series in the history of the Logie Awards having won 29 times. Brian Wenzel was the first actor to win such an Honour for his role as Sergeant Frank Gilroy. By the end of the series Brian Wenzel and Shane Porteous were the only original cast members.

Cast list

Seven Network series

• Dr. Terence Elliott - Shane Porteous (Original 1981-1993)
• Dr. Simon Bowen - Grant Dodwell (1981–1986)
• Vicky Dean/Bowen - Penny Cook (1981–1985)
• Frank Gilroy - Brian Wenzel (Original 1981-1993)
• Shirley Dean/Gilroy - Lorrae Desmond (1981–1992)
• Robert "Bob" Hatfield - Gordon Piper (1981–1992)
• Esme Watson - Joyce Jacobs (1982–1993), (1993–1994, Ten Network)
• Brendan Jones - Shane Withington (1981–1986)
• Molly Jones - Anne Tenney (1981–1985)
• Matron Marta Kurtesz - Helen Scott (1981–1983)
• Vernon "Cookie" Locke - Syd Heylen (1982–1993)
• Judy Loveday - Wendy Strehlow (1982–1986)
• Chloe Jones - Emily Nicol (1983–1986)
• Matron Margaret " Maggie" Sloan - Joan Sydney (1983–1990), (1993–1994, Ten Network)
• Jo Loveday - Josephine Mitchell (1985–1989)
• Ben Green - Nicholas Bufalo (1985–1988)
• Kelly Shanahan - Annie Davies (1985–1986)
• Dr. Alex Fraser - Diane Smith (1986–1989)
• Peter Manning - Mark Owen-Taylor (1986–1988)
• Donna Manning - Caroline Johansson (1986–1988)
• Cathy Hayden - Kate Raison (1987–1990)
• Michael Langley - Brett Climo (1987–1989)
• Emily Leiding - Penny Richards (1986–1988)
• Matthew Tyler - John Tarrant (1988–1992)
• Lucy Gardiner - Georgie Parker (1989–1992)
• Dr. Cris Kouros - Michael Muntz (1989–1991)
• Jessie Kouros - Georgina Fisher (1989–1991)
• Luke Ross - Matt Day (1989–1991)
• Stephanie "Steve" Brennan - Sophie Heathcote (1990–1991)
• Matron Ann Brennan - Mary Regan (1990–1991)
• Matron Rosemary Prior - Maureen Edwards (1991–1993)
• Dr. Harry Morrison - Andrew Blackman (1991–1993), (1993–1994, Ten Network)
• Kate Bryant - Michelle Pettigrove (1991–1993)
• Percy Hudson - Allan Penney (1991–1993)
• Darcy Hudson - Kym Wilson (1991–1993)
• Hugo Strzelecki - Gavin Harrison (1992–1993)
• Anna Lacey - Anne Looby (1992–1993)
• Billy Moss - Jamie Croft (1992–1993)
• Bernice Hudson - Judith McGrath (1992–1993)
• Tom Newman - Jon Concannon (1992–1993)
• Ian McIntyre - Paul Gleeson (1993)
• Claire Bonacci - Claudia Black (1993)
• Fatso the Wombat - Wombats used from Featherdale Wildlife Park in Doonside

Logie Awards

A Country Practice is the third most successful television program in the history of the Logie Awards having won 29 awards during its twelve years of production.^[3]

• 1983
• Best Supporting Actor In A Series: Brian Wenzel (A Country Practice, Seven Network)
• Best Juvenile Performance: Jeremy Shadlow (A Country Practice, Seven Network)

• 1984
• Most Popular Actor: Grant Dodwell (Seven Network)
• NSW Most Popular Female: Penny Cook (Seven Network)
• NSW Most Popular Show: A Country Practice (Seven Network)
• Most Popular Drama Series: A Country Practice (Seven Network)
• Best Supporting Actress In A Series: Lorrae Desmond (A Country Practice, Seven Network)

• 1985
• Most Popular Lead Actor: Grant Dodwell (A Country Practice, Seven Network)
• Most Popular Lead Actress: Anne Tenney (A Country Practice, Seven Network)
• NSW Most Popular Male: Grant Dodwell (Seven Network)
• NSW Most Popular Female: Penny Cook (Seven Network)
• NSW Most Popular Show: A Country Practice (Seven Network)
• Most Popular Drama Program: A Country Practice (Seven Network)
• Best Lead Actor In A Series: Shane Withington (A Country Practice, Seven Network)
• Best Supporting Actress In A Series: Wendy Strehlow (A Country Practice, Seven Network)

• 1986
• Most Popular Australian Actor: Grant Dodwell (A Country Practice, Seven Network)
• Most Popular Australian Actress: Anne Tenney (A Country Practice, Seven Network)
• NSW Most Popular Female: Anne Tenney (Seven Network)
• NSW Most Popular Program: A Country Practice (Seven Network)
• Most Popular Australian Drama: A Country Practice (Seven Network)

• 1987
• NSW Most Popular Program: A Country Practice (Seven Network)

• 1988
• NSW Most Popular Program: A Country Practice (Seven Network)

• 1989
• Most Outstanding Actress: Joan Sydney (A Country Practice, Seven Network)
• NSW Most Popular Program: A Country Practice (Seven Network)

• 1990
• Most Outstanding Actor: Shane Porteous (A Country Practice, Seven Network)
• Most Popular New Talent: Georgie Parker (A Country Practice, Seven Network)

• 1991
• Most Popular Actress: Georgie Parker (A Country Practice, Seven Network)

• 1992
• Most Popular Actress: Georgie Parker (A Country Practice, Seven Network)

• 1993
• Most Popular Actress: Georgie Parker (A Country Practice, Seven Network)

DVD releases

A Country Practice is available on DVD (Region 4, Australia).

Series One (containing all 14 1981 episodes) and "Series Two" (containing only the first 30 1982 episodes) were released on 3 April 2006 by MRA Entertainment. Two 12-disc box sets featuring the remainder of the 1982 episodes and the first part of the 1983 episodes were released 11 April 2007. Later, the second part of Season Three was released in a 12-disc set featuring the remaining episodes 149–190. Season 4 was released on 8 November 2007 in a two-part set each containing 12 discs for all 1984 episodes 191–280. Season 5 was released on 23 April 2008 and comprised two 12-disc sets containing 1985 episodes. Season 1-5 'Unforgettable Moments' (5 disc set) was released 9 December 2009. Season 6: Part 1 (11 Disc Box Set) was released on 7 April 2010. Season 6: Part 2 (11 Disc Box Set) released on 9 June 2010. Series 7: Part 1 (11 Disc Box Set) was released on 5 October 2011.^[4]

DVD rights for the series are currently held by Melbourne based independent DVD distributor Beyond Home Entertainment.

Current repeat broadcasts

From 2002 to 2010, Foxtel's Hallmark channel showed the complete series twice. (This included the short lived channel 10 series.) The series was shown in blocks of episodes which were then repeated once. The final repeat was broadcast on 30 June 2010.

International broadcasts

Europe

• A Country Practice was broadcast on the ITV network and was screened at different times, on different days, by all 14 regional companies. Originally the series was partly networked by Thames Television and began October 20, 1982 airing on Wednesdays at 14:45 in the original hour-long format. All regions (except Scottish Television) eventually adopted Yorkshire Television's method of editing each episode into two half-hour episodes which allowed the series to be stripped Monday to Friday in a daytime slot, and also resulted in curtailment of the full closing credits in certain regions. Due to the content of some episodes, a substantial amount were withdrawn from transmission by some regions as the content was considered unsuitable for daytime viewing and this inevitably led to considerable chunks of the story being skipped.

• From October 1988 to mid-1989, A Country Practice was put on hiatus in a handful of regions as ITV networked a new Australian series, Richmond Hill, which took the Wednesday and Thursday afternoon 14:00 slot. When that series failed, A Country Practice was resumed as its replacement (although some regions, such as Central, had continued to show the serial at 14:00 on Fridays).

• Yorkshire Television started A Country Practice in October 1982 but broke away from the main Network transmission in 1984 and was the first television station in the world to break the programme into two half-hour episodes, screening on Mondays and Tuesdays at 15:30. This did lead to continuity problems as whenever a public holiday occurred (usually on Monday), the 15:30 slot would be unavailable. This led to Part one of an episode starting on a Tuesday with viewers having to wait until the following Monday to conclude it. On one occasion, due a fire alarm which resulted in the building being evacuated, the feed to the Yorkshire region was switched to Thames Television and resulted in Yorkshire viewers seeing an episode which was considerably ahead (1991) of where Yorkshire were up to. The series was moved to back to an early afternoon hour-long format in 1988 when Sons and Daughters was stripped five afternoons a week at 15:30. ACP replaced Sons and Daughters in March 1989, being again split into half-hour episodes and shown five afternoons a week. It was moved to an early afternoon slot, and eventually hour-long episodes were reinstated, and the series concluded in March 1998. The Network Ten series was not shown. When Tyne Tees Television merged with Yorkshire, a number of episodes were skipped. This was to allow an alignment of schedules for the two regions.

• Central Television first broadcast A Country Practice on Tuesdays, 11:10, during summer 1983, but by September, the series had been shelved. Five years later in October 1988, it was re-launched and shown in its original hourly format, initially on Fridays at 14:00, with an additional Thursday episode added a few months later, until December 1989. From January 1990, the series was stripped into edited half-hour editions, airing Monday to Friday at lunchtime. Central concluded the original series in September 1998 and immediately commenced the short-lived Network 10 series of A Country Practice. The network had shown the entire 12 year series in 10 years, considerably less than the rest of the ITV network, even though it was the last region to start showing it.

• Scottish Television started broadcasting the series in 1983 and always aired A Country Practice as hour-long episodes. Throughout the 1980's the programme moved about in time and day but was generally broadcast once a week in an afternoon slot. In January 1994, after (episode #486), it was dropped from the schedules for about 4 months until June. From episode 491 screened every weekday morning at 10:55 for the duration of the summer school holidays (around 6 weeks) until 2 September. It reverted back to its old weekly Tuesday slot the following week. It was the dropped completely after episode #588, during 1996. Although the company took over Grampian Television, the series continued until the end, doing so by airing daily episodes during the summer of 1998.

• Some regions showed later episodes in an early evening timeslot of 17:10, such as HTV from 1995, the region concluding the series on 5 March 1999 (the last ITV region to complete the series), and also Granada Television from 1994 until they aired the last episode during the autumn of 1996.

• Carlton Television, who superseded Thames Television, became the first region to conclude the series, followed closely by Anglia Television in the daily 13:50 half-hour slot in April 1996. Anglia Television then commenced a short repeat of the first 40 episodes shortly after reaching the end.

• In the mid-1980s, A Country Practice also became a prime-time series on Sky Channel, airing twice a week at 21:00 from at least 1985. During August 1985, the series was screened at 19:20 and 20:10 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in hour-long episodes. The channel also screened The Sullivans and The Young Doctors. When the Sky Channel was launched on the new Astra 1A satellite in January 1989, it became Sky1 and A Country Practice was dropped from the schedule. For a brief period, later episodes were shown in 1997 on the cable channel Carlton Select.

• A Country Practice was broadcast on RTÉ Two until 1988 weekdays at 18:00 when it was replaced with the youth ordinated Home and Away as RTÉ Two re-branded to Network 2. In 1988, it moved to Network 2's sister channel RTÉ One until its end in the mid-1990s weekdays at 17:30.^[5] RTE re-ran the series in 1998 commencing with season 8 (1988) in a morning slot.

• A Country Practice was Named: À Coeur Ouvert

• 'A Country Practice was Named Das Buschkrankenhaus

• TBA

• TBA

• A Country Practice (no: Hverdagsliv) was broadcast on TV 2 during the 1990s.

• TBA

Africa

• was also transmitted on Kenyan Television (VoK now KBC) during the 1980s.

• TBA

• was broadcast on ZBC state television in the 1980s.

Asia-Pacific

• TBA

• The show was transmitted on TV2 on Sunday afternoons in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Amercains

• The entire series was broadcast, from start to finish, by the CBC Television affiliate in Windsor, Ontario, CBET, Channel 9, which serves the Metropolitan Detroit-Windsor-Toledo area. Two episodes were broadcast daily, Monday through Friday, starting in the late 1980s, until they were caught up to contemporary episodes in the early 1990s. Detroit, Michigan in the United States and Windsor, Ontario in Canada are twin cities on the north and south banks of the strait called the Detroit River. Because they are part of the same advertising market, they are subject to the North American Border Protection Rule, under which Detroit television stations cannot carry programming licensed for broadcast in Windsor, and Windsor stations cannot carry programming licensed for broadcast in Detroit. Historically, 40% of Canadian network programming has been American content, none of which could be broadcast in Windsor. Only so much programming can be repeated, and only so many times - and no network produces programming to air on only one station - so, most of the American programming that cannot be broadcast in Windsor is replaced by programming imported from Britain and Australia. Many Australian soap operas, A Country Practice among them, have thus found loyal audiences in the Metro Detroit area, while they otherwise remain unknown in North America.[1]. From 1991 to 1994, the show also aired on ASN in the Canadian Atlantic provinces. Four hour-long episodes aired each week, from Monday to Thursday with Monday's and Tuesday's episodes repeated on Saturday and Wednesday's and Thursday's episodes on Sunday. The station aired the show from episode 1 to somewhere in the early 700s, stopping when Showcase Television launched on 1 January 1995, and started airing the show from the start again.

• The series was broadcast in the USA during the 1980s. Showcase Television began repeat airing of the show from episode 1 starting in January 1995. It broadcast one episode daily, from Monday to Friday, and completed the entire series run (including the 30-episode Network Ten series) in June 1999. It began rebroadcasting the entire series on 28 June 1999, with promises that the entire series would be broadcast for those who missed the first airing. However, a single line of text scrolling across the bottom of the screen during the 21 August 2000, episode announced that the show would be removed from the Showcase lineup as of Monday, 28 August 2000. According to the station's email autoresponse at the time, the decision was based on "declining viewership and a demand by viewers for more current programming". Sometime after that, Showcase changed their format to favour a less family-oriented and more adult-oriented viewership.

See also

• List of A Country Practice cast members
• List of longest-serving soap opera actors

References

1. ^ Jacinta Burke; Helen Wilson; Susanna Agardy (1983), "A Country Practice" and the child audience: a case study, Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, Melbourne. ISBN 0-642-87073-X
2. ^ ^{a b} Bowles, Kate. Soap opera: 'No end of story, ever' in The Australian TV Book, (Eds. Graeme Turner and Stuart Cunningham), Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW, 2000. ISBN 1-86508-014-4 p 127
3. ^ "TV Week Logie Awards - Past Winners". Yahoo!7 TV. http://au.tv.yahoo.com/the-logie-awards/winners/. 
4. ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/821057
5. ^ "RTÉ TV Listings 1981 - 1996". http://tvlistings.thetvroomplus.com/?id=6:ca. Retrieved 23 April 2010. 

External links

• Wandin Valley Bush Nursing Hospital.
• Encyclopedia of Television.
• A Country Practice (Seven Network) at the Internet Movie Database.
• A Country Practice at TV.com.
• A Country Practice (Network Ten) at the Internet Movie Database.
• A Country Practice at the National Film and Sound Archive.