"A Country Practice" (1994) TV series

Director:

Tina Butler

Writer:

Margaret Morgan (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

13 April 1994 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama

Cast

Joan Sydney	...	Maggie Morrison (2 episodes, 1994)
Andrew Blackman	...	Dr. Harry Morrison (2 episodes, 1994)
Joyce Jacobs	...	Esme Watson (2 episodes, 1994)
Paul Gleeson	...	Ian McIntyre (2 episodes, 1994)
Claudia Black	...	Claire Bonacci (2 episodes, 1994)
Vince Colosimo	...	Danny Sabatini (2 episodes, 1994)
Jane Hall	...	Jess Morrison (2 episodes, 1994)
Laura Armstrong	...	Georgie Wilkes (2 episodes, 1994)
Alyce Platt	...	Sarah Wilks (2 episodes, 1994)
Christopher Lyons	...	Miles Ferdenbach (2 episodes, 1994)
Lance Anderson	...	Harry / ... (2 episodes, 1994)
Katy Brinson	...	Adrienne Lawson / ... (2 episodes, 1994)
Clarissa House	...	Dr. June Munroe (2 episodes, 1994)
Don Munro	...	Ray Cropp (2 episodes, 1994)
Katherine Murray	...	Fred Bates (2 episodes, 1994)

Runtime:

50 min (30 episodes) | Australia:50 min (30 episodes)

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Network Ten

Trivia:

After the enduringly popular "A Country Practice" (1981) finished its run in 1993, a rival television station attempted to revive the series. Numerous changes were made, including shifting the setting from New South Wales to Victoria. Additionally, most of the original cast elected not to return. As a result the show did not draw viewers and was canned after only one season.

Movie Connections:

Follows "A Country Practice" (1981)

Failed attempt to revive old series

I used to like the old Country Practice on Channel 7, even recently they showed old repeats during the mornings.

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.

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.

They even tried to sex it up a bit, if I remember correctly, with Claudia Black's character and the new cop, which is just hilarious. Putting sex in A Country Practice is like putting sex in Star Wars or Play School, and you could imagine the uproar if that happened!

If you ever chance finding a copy of 10's version, I suggest you do humanity a favour by burning it. Stick to the original and pretend the continuation never happened.