A Country Practice

A Country Practice

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The series was set in the fictional rural town of Wandin Valley, New South Wales and centred around the permanent residents and visitors of the Wandin Valley Bush Nursing Hospital, with other scenes taking place at the associated medical clinics, local police station, RSL club, and throughout the wider Valley, including the neighbouring town of Burrigan. The show was produced at the ATN-7's production facility at Epping. Pitt Town and Oakville, suburbs on the outskirts of northwest Sydney, Australia, were used for most of the exterior filming; Oakville's historic heritage-listed Clare House, built in 1838, served as the location for the series' primary setting.

The series featured Gold Logie award-winning former variety star Lorrae Desmond, and several of the other regular cast members became popular celebrities as a result of their roles in the series. It also featured a number of native Australian animals, particularly the iconic "Fatso the wombat", adding to its appeal both domestically and internationally. After the series was cancelled by the Seven Network in 1993, the series was briefly relaunched on Network Ten in 1994.
At the time of its cancellation, A Country Practice was the longest-running Australian TV drama; however, by the late 1990s, that record was surpassed by Network Ten series Neighbours. At the height of its popularity, the show attracted 8-10 million Australian viewers weekly (at a time when the population of Australia was 15 million). The series was eventually sold to, and broadcast in, 48 countries.

Creation

A Country Practice was created and executively produced by James Davern, who had previously worked as a producer and director on the similar rural-based series Bellbird, which was broadcast on ABC Television from 1967-1977. In 1979, he entered the pilot episode under the name In General Practice into a script-writing competition hosted by Network Ten. Davern's script came in third, behind two plays. After three months, Ten passed on the series and Davern took the script to the general manager of the Seven Network, who asked for a further thirteen episodes. Davern hired Lynn Bayonas and Moya Woods to help him write the scripts, as well as Hugh Stuckey to inject some comedy into the series. Davern's contribution to the industry was recognised when he was honoured with the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2014.

Production

Format

Though sometimes considered a soap opera, the storylines of the show's two 45 minute 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. As it did not have the open ended narrative of a traditional soap opera, it was technically a "series". Nevertheless, many storylines were developed as sub-plots for several episodes before becoming the focus of a particular week's narrative block. Overall, the program "so emphasized the ongoing storylines of its major characters as to make the distinction between series and serial more or less meaningless".

Cancellation and continuation

After the end of its run on the Seven Network, it was announced that the serial would be picked up by Network Ten with a mainly new cast and a few key cast members continuing from the Seven series. Unlike the Seven series which was produced in Sydney, the Network Ten series was produced in Melbourne with location shooting in Emerald, Victoria. The new series debuted in April 1994, but was not as successful and was abruptly cancelled in November. The series featured actors including Paul Gleason, Jane Hall, Vince Colosimo, Claudia Black and Laura Armstrong.

Cast

Shane Porteous Dr. Terence Elliott
Helen Scott Matron Marta Kertesz
Grant Dodwell Dr. Simon Bowen
Penny Cook Dr. Vicky Dean/Bowen
Brian Wenzel Sgt. Frank Gilroy/Frank Gilroy
Lorrae Desmond Sister Shirley Dean/Gilroy
Anne Tenney Melissa "Molly" Jones
Shane Withington Brendan Jones
Joyce Jacobs Esme Watson
Syd Heylen Vernon "Cookie" Locke
Gordon Piper Robert "Bob" Hatfield
Emily Nicol Chloe Jones
Joan Sydney Margaret "Maggie" Sloane/Matron Sloane
Wendy Strehlow Sister. Judy Loveday
Nicholas Bufalo Dr. Ben Green
Annie Davies Kelly Shanahan
Josephine Mitchell Jo Loveday/Langley
Di Smith Dr. Alex Fraser/Elliott
Mark Owen-Taylor Peter Manning
Caroline Johansson Donna Manning
Kate Raison Cathy Hayden
Brett Climo Michael Langley
John Tarrant Matthew Tyler
Georgie Parker Lucy Gardner/Tyler
Michael Muntz Dr. Cris Kouros
Georgina Fisher Jessica "Jessie" Kouros
Matt Day Julian "Luke" Ross
Sophie Heathcote Stephanie "Steve" Brennan
Mary Regan DN. Ann Brennan
Maureen Edwards Matron. Rosemary Prior/Elliot
Andrew Blackman Dr. Harry Morrison
Michelle Pettigrove Sister Kate Bryant/Morrison
Kym Wilson Darcy Hudson
Gavin Harrison Hugo Szreclecki
Jon Concannon Sgt. Tom Newman
Judith McGrath Bernice Hudson
Anne Looby Dr. Anna Lacey
Jamie Croft Billy Moss
Allan Penney Perce Hudson
Paul Gleeson Ian McIntyre
Claudia Black Claire Bonacci
Vince Colosimo Danny Sabatini
Laura Armstrong Georgie Wilkes
Jane Hall Dr. Jessica Morrison

Setting and stories

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).

Highest rating episode

Molly's Final Episode

We doubt there is an Australian who didn't shed a tear watching this episode!

Molly Jones (played by Anne Tenney) died in Season 5, Episode 32 broadcast in June 1985.

Her death from acute myoblastic leukemia is remembered as one of the most heartbreaking and iconic moments in Australian television history, watched by 2.2 million viewers.

About Molly

Anne Tenney played Molly Jones, who became one of the most popular characters, particularly in the series' early years. Molly was an unconventional fashion designer, farmer and Green-hugging local environmentalist, and after Tenney decided to leave the series, her character's death episode became the highest rating, and most remembered storyline.

The series 13 week storyline arc dealt with how a young woman, as well as her husband and local residents, coped with terminal illness, after the character was diagnosed with leukaemia.

The final episode sees the character of Molly sitting in her back garden and waving while her husband, Brendan, is teaching their daughter, Chloe, to fly a kite. He sees Molly is fading, and calls her name as the screen fades to black. This storyline arc was originally written to be featured over a continuing 11 week script. A producer realised that the ratings were not being monitored during this period, so it was extended for 13 weeks, and hence 4 extra 1 hour episodes.

Logie Awards

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.
Logie Awards 1983

Best Supporting Actor In A Series: Brian Wenzel
Best Juvenile Performance: Jeremy Shadlow
Logie awards 1984

Most Popular Actor: Grant Dodwell
NSW Most Popular Female: Penny Cook
NSW Most Popular Show: A Country Practice
Most Popular Drama Series: A Country Practice
Best Supporting Actress In A Series: Lorrae Desmond
Logie Awards 1985

Most Popular Lead Actor: Grant Dodwell
Most Popular Lead Actress: Anne Tenney
NSW Most Popular Male: Grant Dodwell
NSW Most Popular Female: Penny Cook
NSW Most Popular Show: A Country Practice
Most Popular Drama Program: A Country Practice
Best Lead Actor In A Series: Shane Withington
Best Supporting Actress In A Series: Wendy Strehlow
Logie Awards 1986

Most Popular Australian Actor: Grant Dodwell
Most Popular Australian Actress: Anne Tenney
NSW Most Popular Female: Anne Tenney
NSW Most Popular Program: A Country Practice
Most Popular Australian Drama: A Country Practice
Logie Awards 1987

NSW Most Popular Program: A Country Practice
Logie Awards 1988

NSW Most Popular Program: A Country Practice
Logie Awards 1989

Most Outstanding Actress: Joan Sydney
NSW Most Popular Program: A Country Practice
Logie Awards 1990

Most Outstanding Actor: Shane Porteous
Most Popular New Talent: Georgie Parker
Logie Awards 1991

Most Popular Actress: Georgie Parker
Logie Awards 1992

Most Popular Actress: Georgie Parker
Logie Awards 1993

Most Popular Actress: Georgie Parker
Logie Awards 2026

Logie Hall of Fame recipient

Broadcast

A Country Practice originally aired on Seven Network Monday (Part 1) and Tuesday (Part 2) nights at 7:30. The unsuccessful 1994 Network 10 remake of the series aired originally at 7:30 on Wednesday nights, but then moved to 7:30 on Saturday nights a few weeks later. In late July, it moved to a low-rating timeslot of 5:30 Saturday evenings, directly against Channel Seven's Saturday AFL coverage.
Seven also aired repeats of the original series at 9:30 weekday mornings from 1995 to 2002.
Foxtel's Hallmark Channel broadcast the complete series twice (including the short-lived Network Ten series) in a 2-hour block at 3:30 to 5:30 weekday afternoons from 2002 to 30 June 2010.
In 2014, 7TWO ran repeats at 02:00 on weekday mornings.

Stream

You can stream A Country Practice for free in Australia on the Seven Network's streaming platform, 7plus.