A Country Practice

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.[2] As it did not have the open ended narrative of a traditional soap opera, it was technically a series.[3] 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".[3]

After its run on the Seven Network, just months after its demise, 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 it was not as successful as its predecessor and was abruptly cancelled in November. The series featured actors including Paul Gleason, Jane Hall, Vince Colosimo, Claudia Black and Laura Armstrong, along with a select few actors returning from the previous Seven Network series.

Only three of the original cast members from the Network Seven series were retained in the Network Ten re-launch: Joan Sydney, Joyce Jacobs, and Andrew Blackman.

A Country Practice became renowned for its long list of guest cameos, totalling over 1000 stars, with well known mainly Australian actors (predominantly of the period) who would appear in each week's two part episode arc.

Some actors became more prominent during the series run, and were classified as semi-regulars, appearing as the storyline permitted, Famous stars included: Sir Robert Helpmann, Baz Luhrmann, Nicole Kidman, Simon Baker, Smokey Dawson, Ruth Cracknell, Henri Szeps, Pro Hart, John Meillon, Richard Wilkins, Barry Crocker, Dr John D'Arcy, Paul Kelly, Toni Collette and Delta Goodrem. At the program's height even the then Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke, appeared as himself.

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, who appeared in the series portraying differing characters, 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, mainly among the younger personnel, A Country Practice also had a cast of semi-regulars who would make appearances as the storylines permitted. The program as well would also showcase 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).

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 its addressing of how a young woman, as well as her husband and local residents coped with terminal illness, after the popular character becomes diagnosed with leukaemia. The now iconic episode sees the character of Molly sitting in her back garden and waving while her husband, Brenden, is teaching his daughter to fly a kite. He sees Molly is fading, and calls her name as the screen fades to black[4]

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.

Iconic storylines over its 12-year run would also include the wedding of Dr. Simon Bowen (Grant Dodwell) to local vet Vicki Dean (Penny Cook) in 1983, the death of nurse Donna Manning in a car crash in 1987, and the off-screen death of longtime resident Shirley Gilroy, played by original Lorrae Desmond in a plane crash in 1992.

In addition to being broadcast in Australia, the series also had a successful run on the ITV network in the United Kingdom. A Country Practice began 27 October 1982, less than a year after its debut on Seven Network in Australia.

Originally, the series was partially networked (similar in theory to syndication) by Thames Television, the weekday contractor for the London area, to a cluster of six ITV regions; Anglia Television, Border Television, Channel Television, Tyne Tees, Yorkshire Television and TVS. These regions all aired one episode a week, on Wednesdays at 14:45–15:45, and in the original hour-long format. The remaining ITV regions – Central Independent Television, HTV, TSW, Granada Television, Scottish Television, UTV, and Grampian Television – all started later, and by the end of 1989, most of the ITV regions were now scheduling the programme at a day and time of their own choice and were at vastly different points in the storyline. By around May 1990 (regions vary), the ITV network decided to adopt the method established by Yorkshire Television (from 1984) of editing each episode into two half-hour editions which allowed the series to be stripped Monday to Friday, usually before, or after, the lunchtime edition of Home and Away. This format also resulted in curtailment of the full closing credits in certain regions. Scottish Television was the only exception, and they chose various days and timeslots, but always screened A Country Practice in the original hour-long format.

Due to the content of some episodes, a substantial amount were withdrawn from transmission by some regions as the content was considered unsuitable for daytime viewing and this inevitably led to considerable chunks of the story being skipped.

Considered a daytime soap and notably several years behind Australian broadcasts, A Country Practice was popular in the UK and achieved consolidated viewing figures of between 2–3 million which is good for daytime television. Some regions (HTV, Border, Grampian, TSW and Granada) moved the later episodes of the series to an early evening slot of 17.10–17.40.

ITV regional broadcasts

• Originally starting in 1982, Yorkshire Television were the first region to break away from the network transmissions in October 1984 and began editing each episode into two half-hour episodes, screening on Mondays and Tuesdays at 15:30. This led to continuity problems as whenever a public holiday occurred (on Monday), the 15:30 slot would be unavailable. The series was moved to back to an early afternoon hour-long format in 1988 when Sons and Daughters was stripped five afternoons a week at 15:30. A Country Practice then replaced Sons and Daughters when that series ended in March 1989, being again split into half-hour episodes and now being shown five afternoons a week for the first time. It was then moved to an early afternoon slot, and eventually hour-long episodes were reinstated. The series concluded in March 1998 and the Network Ten series was not shown. When Tyne Tees Television merged with Yorkshire, a number of episodes were skipped. This was to allow an alignment of schedules for the two regions.
• TVS and Thames Television followed Yorkshire in September 1988 and started showing three half-hour episodes a week, from Monday to Wednesday, at 12:30–13:00.
• Central Television did not follow the other ITV regions and, unusually, it began A Country Practice in July 1983, airing weekly on Tuesdays, 11:10–12:00, during the summer of 1983, but by September, the series had been shelved. In early 1990 while all the other ITV regions were well into their respective runs, Central surprisingly re-launched the series and followed the rest of the network (except Scottish) and stripped half-hour episodes, Monday to Friday, initially at 14:00-14:30. In September 1990, this changed to 13:50-14:20. From January 1993, moves to 13:15-13:45, and then briefly switches to a mid-afternoon slot, 14:50–15:20 in September 1993, and then 15:00-15:30 until the end of the year. Returns to 14:50-15:20 until March 1994, after which, it is moved back to lunchtimes at 13:55–14:25. By 1997, Central was airing A Country Practice at 12:55-13:25, and in 1998, the network concluded the original series in April in the 13:00–13:30 slot, and then immediately commenced the short-lived Network Ten version, finally completing all the episodes on Friday, 31 July 1998.
• Scottish Television started broadcasting the series in 1983 and always aired A Country Practice as hour-long episodes. Throughout the 1980s the programme moved about in time and day but was generally broadcast once a week in an afternoon slot. In January 1994, after (episode #486), it was dropped from the schedules for about 4 months until June. From episode 491 screened every weekday morning at 10:55 for the duration of the summer school holidays (around 6 weeks) until 2 September. It reverted to its old weekly Tuesday slot the following week. It was the dropped completely after episode #588, during 1996. Although the company took over Grampian Television, the series continued until the end, doing so by airing daily episodes during the summer of 1998.
• HTV started the series on Wednesday, 26 October 1983, broadcasting 1 hour episodes until 1990, when the series moved to 15:25 Wed-Fri as replacement for Sons and Daughters in half-hour format. From September 1993, moved to earlier time slot, but from March 1994, began airing in the early evening 17:10–17:40 slot. By the end of 1998, the series had been reduced to being shown on Thursdays and Fridays only. From January to March 1999, the series was shown on Tuesday through to Friday until Friday 5 March 1999 when the final Channel Seven episode was reached. HTV were the last ITV region to complete the series (and did not show the short lived Channel 10 series).
• Carlton Television, who superseded Thames Television, became the first region to conclude the series, followed closely by Anglia Television in the daily 13:50–14:20 half-hour slot in April 1996. Anglia Television then commenced a short repeat of the first 40 episodes shortly after reaching the end.
• Granada Television, from January 1994, until they aired the last episode during the autumn of 1996, moved the series to the later 17:10–17:40 slot. Border Television had, by now, aligned with Granada's run of the series and followed suit.
• TSW did not begin until 30 May 1989, and initially aired A Country Practice weekly on Tuesdays at 14:00–15:00. August 1989, an additional hour long episode was added on Thursdays (replacing Richmond Hill). In 1990, TSW followed the rest of the English ITV regions and aired five, half-hour episodes, Monday to Friday, at lunchtime until 1998.

Satellite and Cable broadcasts

• In the mid-1980s, A Country Practice was a prime-time series on Sky Channel, airing twice a week at 20:00 from at least 1985. During August 1985, the series was screened at 19:20 and 20:10 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in hour-long episodes and by 1986, it was screened at 20:00. The channel also screened The Sullivans and The Young Doctors. When the Sky Channel was launched on the new Astra 1A satellite in January 1989, it became Sky1 and A Country Practice was dropped from the schedule. For a brief period, later episodes were shown in 1997 on the cable channel Carlton Select.

Only the first 40 episodes have ever been repeated in the UK, and that was in 1998 when ITV contractor, Anglia Television, were the only region to repeat any episodes. Unlike other Australian soaps, which became cult viewing due to multiple runs; Prisoner was broadcast twice, first on ITV, and then Channel 5; The Sullivans also had two full runs, once on ITV and repeated on UK Gold; and also Sons and Daughters, which had three runs, first on ITV, then UK Gold, and finally, Channel 5 – A Country Practice has never been repeated in the UK or achieved the cult status of other soap operas of the same era.

Aired on RTÉ Two weekdays at 18:00 or 18:30. In Autumn 1988, to make way for Home and Away, the show moved to main channel RTÉ One airing weekdays at 17:30. The final episode (1088) aired in January 1997.[6] RTÉ stripped episodes into a 30-minute timeslot. RTÉ commenced a repeat in 1998 beginning with season 8 (1988) in a morning slot.

A Country Practice was named "À Coeur Ouvert".

A Country Practice was named Das Buschkrankenhaus (The Country Hospital), and aired on Sat 1 in 1985, and then on ARD from 1989 to 1991.[7]

A Country Practice was named "Wandin Valley".

A Country Practice (called "Hverdagsliv") was broadcast on TV2 during the 1990s.

A Country Practice was also transmitted on Kenyan Television (VoK now KBC) during the 1980s.

A Country Practice was broadcast on ZBC state television in the 1980s.

A Country Practice was first transmitted on TV2 during 1986. Whereas the series was produced as two episodes per week in Australia, it was shown once a week on Thursdays at 2.30pm before moving to twice a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 6.30pm by 1987. By 1988, the series went back to once a week on Sundays at around 4pm, and by 1989 an additional episode was broadcast on Saturdays in the same timeslot. By 1990, A Country Practice screened on Channel 2 on Saturdays and Sundays at 5pm until it moved to TV One during the final months of 1991 replacing Howards' Way, where it was shown once a week on Tuesdays at 7.30pm until the end of 1992.

The entire series was broadcast, from start to finish, by CBC Television outlet CBET in Windsor, Ontario. Two episodes were broadcast daily, Monday through Friday, starting in the late 1980s, until they were caught up to contemporary episodes in the early 1990s. Its inclusion on CBET's schedule was out of necessity to fill a television schedule: because Windsor stations cannot carry programming licensed for broadcast in the United States. Most American programming that was part of the CBC schedule throughout Canada could not be broadcast by CBET and, thus, was replaced by programming imported from Britain and Australia. Many Australian soap operas, A Country Practice among them, have thus found loyal audiences in the Metro Detroit area, while they otherwise remain unknown in North America.

From 1991 to 1994, the show also aired on ASN, a cable network that served Canada's Maritimes. Four hour-long episodes aired each week, from Monday to Thursday with Monday's and Tuesday's episodes repeated on Saturday and Wednesday's and Thursday's episodes on Sunday. The station aired the show from episode 1 to somewhere in the early 700s.

ASN ceased carrying the show when specialty cable channel Showcase was launched on 1 January 1995, as they picked up A Country Practice for broadcast throughout Canada. It broadcast one episode daily, from Monday to Friday, and completed the entire series run (including the 30-episode Network Ten series) in June 1999. It began rebroadcasting the entire series on 28 June 1999, with promises that the entire series would be broadcast for those who missed the first airing. However, a single line of text scrolling across the bottom of the screen during 21 August 2000, episode announced that the show would be removed from the Showcase lineup as of Monday, 28 August 2000. According to the station's email autoresponse at the time, the decision was based on "declining viewership and a demand by viewers for more current programming". Sometime after that, Showcase changed their format to favour a less family-oriented and more adult-oriented viewership.