The Flying Doctors
1986
📺 9 Seasons
🎬 221 Episodes
📅 Ended
🌐 EN
⏱️ 50 min/episode
Drama
The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.
It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going 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 came in as new doctor Geoff Standish.
The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.
Seasons
Season 1
Tom and Kate are on a clinicround. It's Tom's birthday. There they see a patient named Ted, who complains of stomach-ache. His family situation isn't the best, he doesn't care about his sons and they don't care about him. He is taken to hospital, where he finally makes up with his family. A new doctor, Chris Randall, arrives and everybody is upset that the RFDS headoffice sent a female doctor, especially Violet. Chris has to go out to see a patient with a smashed leg. She does everything she can to help the patient, Jim Spencer. But he really needs to go to hospital. They move Jim to the plane, but the weather is too rough, and Ray, the pilot, can't take off. They have to take Jim back to the house, and Chris makes a very difficult decision - she has to amputate Jim's leg to save his life, despite mrs. Spencer's vishes.
Season 2
Sam and Kate are worrying for a woman named Sal Cleary, she acts a bit odd. They check it out and it turns out her daughter Julie is pregnant. She isn't married but still wants to keep the baby. The family wanted to pretend the baby was Sal's, so both she and Julie has to stay out of sight until the baby is born. At the birth there are some complications but everything goes well eventually and Geoff, Kate and Sam lets everybody think it was Sal's child. There is a political election between George Baxter and a man named Rob Dalton. George wins.
Season 3
A boxing troupe arrive and one of them is ex-champion Johnny Lawrence who is after Kate. Geoff is jealousy but keeps his distance. Johnny suffers a heart problem and has to give up boxing, so asks Kate to leave with him. Kate refuses stating its because of her love for Coopers Crossing, but Johnny tells her she loves Geoff.
Season 4
Kate and Geoff are on their way to a clinic when two tyres puncture and they have to walk to the farm. When they get there, they see two hot air ballons coming. They belong to a family, consisting of Brian, Lorraine and their son Matt, and a work collegue...a young blonde called Kylie. Finally it's decided there is to be a balloon race, to raise fonds for the RFDS. Kate will be going with Matt, and Geoff with Brian. Geoff is hopeless on navigating, which makes Brian upset, he really wants to win. Suddenly he has a terrible stomach pain, and Geoff has to put down urgently. In hospital they see Brian had a hernia and operate! Lorraine has realized Brian and Kylie were having an affair, and she leaves town. Kylie knows that Lorraine and Brian really should be together, so she finds Lorraine. She and Brian decides to try again. Paula is starting to care more and more for Geoff, and he is a bit embarrassed about it!
Season 5
Doctor David Ratcliff from Broken Hill arrives. Jimmy and Sally McCarthy has a caraccident. Sally will be fine, but Jimmy has massive braindamage. David says Jimmy is clinicly dead and wants to call the transplant unit. But Chris wants to wait for Geoff, he is out on a clinicround. When he comes home he confirms what David's been saying, Jimmy is clinicly dead. But David has acted very badly toward Jimmy's parents. Despite that, they agree to a transplant! Chris wonders if Geoff and Kate really are getting married, since Paula say they are. Kate hesitates, but finally says ""yes""!!!
Season 6
Tom is going on holiday and with him on the Broken Hill plane are Kate, a pregnant woman and two businessmen. The businessmen want to look at a certain place which isn't on the route to Broken Hill and the pilot forges the flightplan. They crash and no one knows where they are. One of the businessmen goes for help, but it's stupid - he'll never make it without water. The woman delivers a little baby girl who is very ill. Luke and the woman's husband is out looking for them and finds the businessmen who'd gone for help severly dehydrated. They find the others as well and everybody will be all right, even the little baby!
Season 7
The new pilot, Johnno Johnosn, arrives. An old man named Les thinks he's got asbestosis from mine-jobs. He's convinced he'll die and wants compensation money from the mining company. He's gonna give the money to a boy named Matt, who wants to be a pilot. Les finds out he's not gonna die after all, and when Matt finds out he steels Johnno's plane. Johnno manages to talk him down though.
Season 8
A new doctor and nurse show up in Cooper's Crossing. He is charming but arrogant and she's fed up with overbearing city doctors, so the stage is set for a clash.
Season 9
Rowie is riddled with guilt when Walter Morell claims to have seen a nymph in the outback. Twenty years ago, Rowie abandoned her friend Beryl in the outback and she believes the sighting of the nymph is more than just a coincidence.
Cast
Network
Nine Network
Production
Crawfords Australia
Keywords
airplaneaustraliarescuedoctor