Doctor Finlay (TV Series) The Good Doctor (1993) User Reviews

The Good Doctor

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 9 June 2020]

It is the end of the first series and I could do without the grumpy Doctor Finlay. If he really wants to relocate to Canada, I think the whole village would help him pack his bags.

Dr Finlay is a grouch to Dr Neil and then has a go at Dr Cameron for interfering with his love life.

At least Dr Finlay finds an unlikely ally in Lord Douglas MacKenzie, he believes in the national health service unlike other doctors. Lord MacKenzie also helps pay for an operation of his infirm gamekeeper.

Dr Neil is excited that a classical singer is in the reception wanting painkillers. It is Doctor Cameron who finds out what is really wrong with her as she is due to give a recital.

Harry Gregson-Williams who plays the pianist in this episode is now a Hollywood composer.

Moving in so many ways

[NeilStruanHarper · 10/10 · 19 March 2023]

This is the most moving of all 27 episodes of Dr Finlay. I can watch it again and again and always find something new.

The controlled and then collapsing emotion in Margaret Williams (Alison Fiske) as she makes her big revelation.

Dr Cameron (Ian Bannen) portraying warmth, upset, care and impishness, sometimes all in the same speech. What a skilled actor he was.

Annette Crosbie's eyes displaying the torment in Janet's soul, all without words.

Angus Livingstone (Gordon Jamieson) might not have been a household name, but on the strength of this performance of kindly frustration, he should have been.

I am sorry that another reviewer was irritated by the brusqueness of Dr Finlay (David Rintoul), but that character's evolution is part of the story arc and could not have been played well any other way at this stage in the series.

In short, there is not a dull performance in this exceptional ensemble piece.

The litmus test for me is always: "Would I have wanted to know these people? Yes. Yes, I would. Every one of them.

Finally, the episode close is one of the high spots of music scoring for television. It is a 40-second composition by Richard Harvey titled The Calling and performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. It plays over Dr Finlay driving away from the recital, through the night-time streets of Tannochbrae. It is the perfect marrying of music, emotion and image.