A Country Practice - Collection 1 (Eps 1 - 148)

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The series followed the workings of a small hospital in the fictional New South Wales rural country town of Wandin Valley as well as its connected medical clinic, the town's veterinary surgery, RSL club/pub and local police station. The show's storylines focused on the staff, and regular patients of the hospital and general practice, their families, and other residents of the town. Through its weekly guest actors, who appeared in the series portrayed differing characters, it explored various social and medical problems. The series examined such topical issues as youth unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS and terminal illness, as well as Aborigines and their importance in modern Australian society. Apart from its regular rotating cast, mainly among the younger personnel, A Country Practice also had a cast of semi-regulars who would make appearances as the storylines permitted. One of the more popular and frequent characters from its inception included the valley's corrupt town councillor Alfred Muldoon (Brian Moll). The program as well would also showcase a number of animal stars and Australian native wildlife, most famously Fatso the wombat. Fatso was played throughout the series by three separate wombats, Fatso (1981–1986) replaced due to temperament issues with the cast, George (1986–1990) replaced due to early signs of wombat mange (a marsupial viral disease), and Garth (1990 through series end). A Country Practice is an Australian television soap opera/serial which was broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 22 November 1993, and subsequently on Network Ten from 13 April 1994 to 5 November 1994. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,088 episodes were produced. Many other fictional locations, including Dr. Terence Elliot's ( Shane Porteous) medical practice, Frank and Shirley Gilroy's house Brian Wenzel and Lorrae Desmond, the Wandin Valley Church and Burrigan High School where filmed in the Hawkesbury. [1]

The series also had a successful run on the ITV network in the United Kingdom. A Country Practice began on Wednesday, 27 October 1982 - less than a year after its debut on Seven Network in Australia. HTV started the series on Wednesday, 26 October 1983, broadcasting 1 hour episodes [most] Wednesdays, 14:00-14:55, until 1990, when the series moved to 15:25 Wed-Fri as replacement for Sons and Daughters in half-hour format for the first time on HTV. This briefly increased to Monday-Friday, but from September 1993, it's moved to earlier time, 13:50-14:20, and only twice weekly. In March 1994, it began airing in the early evening, 17:10–17:40. By the end of 1998, the series had been reduced again to being shown on Thursdays and Fridays only. From January to March 1999, the series was shown on Tuesday through to Friday until Friday 5 March 1999 when the final Channel Seven episode was reached. HTV were the last ITV region to complete the series (and did not show the short lived Channel 10 series). Dr. Bowen refuses to prescribe the contraceptive pill to a fifteen-year-old girl without her father's permission. The girl is torn between her father and her insistent boyfriend. Shirley consents to go on a date with Frank but vows that it will be their last. Simon struggles to determine the cause of a young boy's Monday morning migraine headaches.Fans of A Country Practice will be thrilled to learn that Via Vision Entertainment have released the complete eleventh season of the classic Australian drama series on DVD. The programme ran for 1088 episodes from 1981 until 1994 and viewers all over the world were hooked on the lives and loves of the residents of rural Wandin Valley. Here in the UK the programme established a loyal following on ITV and was also screened by the short-lived Carlton Select channel. episodes (had previously appeared in guest roles as Yvonne McLean in 1983, and Katherine D'Angelo in 1990) episodes Seven Network (appeared in Network Ten series 1 episode, 1994) (had previously appeared in a guest role as Mary O'Connor in 1988)

Only the first 40 episodes have ever been repeated in the UK, in 1997, when ITV contractor, Anglia Television, were the only region to repeat any episodes. Unlike other Australian soaps, which became cult viewing due to multiple runs; Prisoner was broadcast twice, first on ITV, and then Channel 5; The Sullivans also had two full runs, once on ITV and repeated on UK Gold; and also Sons and Daughters, which had three runs, first on ITV, then UK Gold, and finally, Channel 5 – A Country Practice has never been repeated in the UK or achieved the cult status of other soap operas of the same vintage. A Country Practice is the third most successful television program after Home and Away (1st) and Neighbours (2nd), at the Logie Awards, having won 29 awards during its twelve years of production. [8] Series writer Judith Colquhoun, who also wrote episodes for other Australian serials, Blue Heelers, Neighbours and Home and Away released a novel in 2015. Called New Beginnings, it is based on the early episodes of the series from 1981. This was followed up by two further novels from the same author, To Everything a Season and Silver Linings. A Country Practice – Full Episode DVD Box Sets". www.acountrypractice.com . Retrieved 3 August 2018.

The show was produced at the ATN-7's production facility at Epping, New South Wales, Pitt Town and Oakville, suburbs on the outskirts of northwest Sydney, Australia, were used for most of the exterior filming, with the historic heritage-listed Clare House, built in 1838, serving as the location of the Wandin Valley Bush Nursing Hospital. TSW and Channel Television did not begin until 1984, and initially aired A Country Practice weekly on Tuesdays at 14:00–15:00. In August 1989, TSW added an additional hour long episode on Thursdays (replacing Richmond Hill). In 1990, TSW followed the rest of the English ITV regions and aired five, half-hour episodes, Monday to Friday, at lunchtimes. In January 1993, Westcountry Television took over the regional franchise, and they moved the series to 17:10-17:40, until they concluded the series in 1997. Due to changes in their networking arrangements, Channel Television aligned with TVS broadcasts rather than TSW broadcasts from January 1986, meaning some episodes were skipped in the Channel Islands. RTÉ TV Listings 1981 – 1996". Archived from the original on 30 July 2012 . Retrieved 23 April 2010. When Shirley is involved in a minor car accident, Frank hounds her for a breath test but she resists on principle, insisting an erratically driven bus forced her to swerve into the other lane. Brendan Jones saves a young asthmatic's life but the boy's overprotective mother takes offence at Brendan's suggestion that she is contributing to her son's dependency. Molly gets a new dog, Fang, but a rash of animal poisonings has her worried. The series followed the workings of a small hospital in the fictional New South Wales rural country town of Wandin Valley, as well as its connected medical clinic, the town's veterinary surgery, RSL club/pub and local police station. The show's storylines focused on the staff and regular patients of the hospital and general practice, their families, and other residents of the town. Through its weekly guest actors, it explored various social and medical problems. The series examined such topical issues as youth unemployment, suicide, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS and terminal illness. Apart from its regular rotating cast, A Country Practice also had a cast of semi-regulars who made appearances as the storylines permitted. The program also showcased a number of animal stars and Australian native wildlife, most famously Fatso the wombat. Fatso was played throughout the series by three separate wombats, the original actually named Fatso (1981–1986) was replaced due to temperament issues with the cast, a wombat George (1986–1990), he himself replaced due to early signs of wombat mange (a marsupial viral disease), and Garth (1990 through series end).

The entire series was broadcast by CBC Television outlet CBET in Windsor, Ontario. 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. Its inclusion on CBET's schedule was out of necessity to fill a television schedule: because Windsor stations cannot carry programming licensed for broadcast in the United States. Many Australian soap operas, A Country Practice among them, thus found loyal audiences in the Metro Detroit area, while they otherwise remain unknown in North America. episodes (had previously appeared in guest roles as Arty Turner in 1981, Alf Trotter in 1982 and Alfred Hitchins in 1984). Appeared from time to time as a valley resident. Not credited until season 13 returned as a guest in 1993) 246 episodes later guest during 1989 (had previously appeared in a guest role as Sharon Lyons in 1982) Episode one debuted on RTÉ Two on Monday, 23 September 1985 at 18:15 airing weekdays. Start time later moved to 18:30. RTE split each episode in two to fill a 30-minute slot. On 3 October 1988, to make way for Home and Away, RTE moved ACP to the main channel RTÉ One, continuing weekdays at 17:30 in a 30-minute slot. The final episode (1088) aired on 13 February 1997. [10] Between 1998 and 2002, RTÉ rebroadcast seasons 8-10 (1988-1990). Episodes aired around midday and later moved to 09:30. episodes, Seven Network. (Retained to Network Ten 1994 series after appearing in the Seven Network series finale (30 episodes)). Guest starred in the last episode of season 13.When 7 decided to dump the show, channel 10 took it up and moved location from NSW to Victoria. Of course this resulted in many actors from the 7 production not returning for the 10 version and much of what made the original great was missing too. They must have thought that it worked when they bought Neighbors, why not this? They were also struggling with finding another hit soapie at the time. In the mid-1980s, A Country Practice was a prime-time series on pan-European satellite channel, "Sky Channel", airing twice a week at 20:00 from April 1984, on Tuesday and Thursday. By August 1985, the series was screened at 19:20 and 20:10 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and by 1986, it was screened at 20:00 again. When the Sky Channel was re-launched on the new Astra 1A satellite in January 1989, it became a UK-only service and was renamed Sky One, and A Country Practice disappeared from the schedule. For a brief period, later episodes were shown in 1997 on the cable channel Carlton Select. I can barely remember any of the story lines, hell, I only watched a couple of episodes, but it was clear this was not going to last. The old favorites like Esme Watson, Dr. Harry Morrison and Matron Sloan returned while new unmemorable characters filled the void. Dr. Elliott and Sergeant Gilroy were missing though and that would have been fatal for this show's success even before it began. Whatever lenses they used with the cameras just made it worse. The whole show seemed so grainy compared to the original. In late 2005, MRA Entertainment announced they had obtained the rights to release the entire series on DVD. In 2008, Magna Pacific Pty Ltd bought out MRA Entertainment, with plans to release Series 6, however the rights were then acquired by Beyond Home Entertainment which then re-released the first 5 seasons in 2007–2008, followed by Season 6 in 2010. [11] On 27 May 2020 Via Vision Entertainment announced they would be releasing season 11 on DVD on 26 August 2020.