THE FLYING DOCTOR (1959-1960) – This installment of Balladeer’s Blog’s Forgotten Television is a series that was based on the 1950s BBC radio show about Australia’s airborne doctors who tended to widely separated communities in the Outback. Previously, I covered the long-running Australian television series The Flying Doctors based on the same outfits.
Richard Denning starred in this 1959-1960 UK-Australian co-production as Dr. Greg Graham. Jill Adams portrayed Nurse Mary Meredith, Alan White played pilot Charley Wood, and Peter Madden was Dr. Jim Harrison, a temporarily blinded physician.
There were 39 half-hour episodes.
STANDOUT EPISODES:
A PAIR OF EYES – American Dr. Greg Graham (Denning) takes a leave of absence from a medical research institute in San Francisco to temporarily serve in Australia’s Flying Doctor Corps.
DEATH BY WILLIE-WILLIE – Nothing to do with Death by Snu-Snu. A windstorm called a Willie-Willie prevents planes from flying, meaning pilot Charley Wood must be talked through a medical procedure for a patient.
BLOOD DONOR – Dr. Graham must improvise his way through a blood transfusion for a little girl who fell down a mine shaft. Meanwhile, the only donor for her rare blood type is an escaped convict.
DECISION – Nurse Meredith must deliver a baby for a man and woman at their remote farm.
THE CHANGING PLAIN – Distance and a powerful rainstorm complicate Dr. Graham’s efforts to help an injured gold prospector. THE William Hartnell, the first star of Doctor Who, plays the prospector.
CIRCLE IN THE BUSH – When Charley Wood flies Dr. Graham to tend to a grocery store owner in a remote town, they find the man dead, the store ransacked and themselves in great danger.
MOVING MOUNTAINS – A child is seriously ill at an isolated cattle ranch. With nothing resembling a landing strip anywhere near it, Dr. Graham must be dropped off as close as possible, then hike his way over some dangerous terrain.
RACE AGAINST TIME – Pilot Charley Wood struggles to fly a snakebitten ranger to a medical station with antivenom before the man dies.
WRONG MEDICINE – When a pharmaceutical firm makes a deadly chemical mistake in some of their cough serum, Charley and Dr. Graham fly around the Opal Fields before any of the purchasers can use the serum and die.
BOOMERANG – A broken insulin needle and an injured police officer pose unique problems for Dr. Graham.
CRISIS – Dr. Graham is flown to care for a little boy who has contracted a disease from his pet dog.
THE REVELATION – Dr. Graham must perform eye surgery on a formerly blind young man whose sight has a chance of returning.
STRANGER IN DISTRESS – Dr. Graham is flown out to care for a man seriously injured while helping to fight a brush fire. Clues indicate the man is actually an arsonist who has been setting several fires in the area. The second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, guest stars.
THE CHOICE – A taut drama which finds Dr. Graham walking a high wire while deciding to save either a mother in labor or her baby.
THE CONSPIRACY – Unusual injuries to assorted sheep farmers clue Dr. Graham into the fact that a ruthless wool concern is using physical intimidation to force the farmers to sell their sheep only to the concern.
THE MISSILE – In this final episode, Dr. Graham and his colleagues must provide large scale medial aid to a small town where a missile being tested went off course and exploded.
FOR MORE FORGOTTEN TELEVISION CLICK HERE.
Balladeer's Blog 