Medics 

The everyday lives and loves, trials and tribulations of the doctors, nurses, patients and administrative staff of a large teaching hospital in the north-west of England near the city of ... See full summary »

Stars:

Jimmi Harkishin, Tom Baker, Emma Cunningham

Cast

Series cast summary:
Jimmi Harkishin	...	Dr. Jay Rahman, registrar / ... 35 episodes, 1990-1995
Tom Baker	...	Prof. Geoffrey Hoyt, general surgeon / ... 34 episodes, 1992-1995
Emma Cunningham	...	Dr. Gail Benson, senior house officer / ... 34 episodes, 1992-1995
James Gaddas	...	Dr. Robert Nevin, senior registrar / ... 33 episodes, 1992-1995
Sue Johnston	...	Ruth Parry, administrator / ... 29 episodes, 1992-1995
Teddie Thompson	...	Dr. Alison Makin, house officer / ... 27 episodes, 1992-1995
Dinah Stabb	...	Miss Helen Lomax, plastic surgeon 21 episodes, 1994-1995
Hugh Quarshie	...	Dr. Tom Carey, research consultant / ... 20 episodes, 1992-1994
Patricia Kerrigan	...	Dr. Sarah Kemp, senior registrar 20 episodes, 1994-1995
Francesca Ryan	...	Claire Armstrong / ... 19 episodes, 1990-1994
Clarence Smith	...	Billy Cheshire, charge nurse 19 episodes, 1994-1995
Penny Bunton	...	Jess Hardman / ... 18 episodes, 1990-1993

Storyline

The everyday lives and loves, trials and tribulations of the doctors, nurses, patients and administrative staff of a large teaching hospital in the north-west of England near the city of Manchester.

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Plot Keywords:

doctor | hospital | surgeon | nhs | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 November 1990 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Ancoats Hospital, Old Mill Street, Ancoats, Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min (40 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Half-baked medical drama

This one is a bit of a curiosity from the 90s, though maybe it got better after the '92 series (where I stopped watching). It's best for seeing how some pretty well known Brit actors got started. Jimmy Harkishin (Dev in Coronation Street) has a fairly large role as a not-terribly-nice guy (hey, there's a switch). Tom Baker gives nice support doing a fuddy-duddy version of his Dr. Who role who turns out not to be quite as fuddy as he looks and Peter Wingfield (of Highlander and Queen of Swords) literally throws himself into the role of the frazzled Alex in the first two series. Alex starts off cocky and confident, a golden boy, until he has a disastrous and self- destructive fling with a manipulative psychiatric outpatient, quits medical school and disappears at the end of series one. He comes back well into series two, chastened by probation and a crushing study schedule. Despite Alex's rather bland series two storyline, Wingfield plays him with such doomed intensity that the dramatic end of the series is no real surprise. You can just tell poor Alex is a goner long before the series finale. Apparently Wingfield wasn't the only one surprised to see the character had been recast after he left.

"Medics" has as many plot holes as a beach road in winter season, the production values are crap, the soap opera elements are uninvolving and the characters aren't terribly sympathetic. But it's still worth taking a look (if you can find it) for its unusually unheroic and realistic look at how people in the medical field * really* treat each other under pressure (it's not pretty), for Tom Baker's jolly, but unexpectedly tough, doc and for one of Peter Wingfield's better early performances.