Doctor Finlay

The 1990's version of Dr.Finlay was filmed in my home town of Auchtermuchty. A great number of residents were cast as extras which was a great opportunity (not to mention £58 a day for not doing very much!!!). The cast members were delightful, especially the very charming and humble David Rintoul. The crew were equally fantastic and great to see again in the village over the 4 years the series was filmed. However not all the scenes were filmed in Auchtermuchty (Arden House for instance was elsewhere). As a teen on location it inspired me to take an interest and go on to study Television production at college.

Set Two contains the following episodes: "A Delicate Balance," "Childsplay," "Stolen Lives," "Burning Bridges," Secrecy," and "In Arcadia."

Perhaps another fan can tell us which episodes to look for, to hope for the DVD release of.

My wife and I are enjoying all three sets so much. I was able to read Russell Baker's script of his introductions to series two on the Masterpiece Theatre website.

Can anyone suggest where I might find more material on "Doctor Finlay"?

I'd love to see a website devoted to "Doctor Finlay" as good as the one for "Foyle's War."

This production is one of the finest I've ever seen: whether it be live theater, television or cinema. The stories are dramatic and gritty. The show doesn't give in to touchy-feely good endings. The actors play their characters marvelously. The story takes place in a small Scottish town after WWII. Various, believable and sometimes intense personal dramas take place in this series--which has an authentic beginning and ending. NO room for sequels here. I watched it once and then two days later stayed up all night watching it again. It has some humor but this isn't another All Creatures Great And Small (which in its way is an excellent series). I highly recommend this five-star, 10 point series.

One of the enduring sources from which British television draws its plots is the works of author A.J. Cronin (e.g. "The Citadel"). These all involve questions of medical facts and ethics, but being written and set in the 1930's and 1940's, lack the urgency of a series such as "Casualty" or "E.R".

In the 1960's, there was a whole series, "Dr. Finlay's Casebook", built around one of Cronin's characters (starring Bill Simpson). Bravely, Scottish Television have brought Finlay back to life and rendered him in colour, something of a shock to those of us who remember the original in black-and-white from so many years ago.

The new series resumes in the aftermath of World War II. Dr. Finlay has been serving overseas in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and returns to the small town of Tannochbrae in Scotland expecting to resume life as it was. However, while his crusty colleague Dr. Cameron is unchanged, everything else has been affected by the war. His fiancée has decided not to wait for him, he must deal with new colleagues and even the arrangements of the practice are overturned as the resolutely chaste housekeeper is wooed by the local chemist.

The overall emotion to come from the first few episodes of the series is a sense of let-down, as Finlay finds that after a World War, familiar small tragedies caused by ignorance and poverty still persist. Later, as he and other members of his practice rebuild their lives, a more hopeful note emerges.

David Rintoul probably makes a better Dr. Finlay than Simpson did. (The late) Ian Bannen and Annette Crosbie are a superb double-act as Dr. Cameron and housekeeper Janet Macpherson. Other good performances come from Margo Gunn (Nurse Brenda Maitland), Jessica Turner (Dr. Elizabeth Napier) and Gordon Reid (chemist Angus Livingstone). Some viewers may find the harsh Scottish accents of some of the incidental characters such as Dr. Finlay's patients a little grating, but this adds to the faultless authenticity.

Overall, don't expect fireworks but be prepared to be entertained.

A beautifully realised, sublime, and natural production. All of the cast were excellent. David Rintoul as Dr Finlay a terse, bottled-up, highly moral, human character. The wonderful Ian Bannen, so tragedly killed in a motor vehicle accident only a few years after the series ended, who's nuanced performance as the elder Dr Cameron, once mentor of Finlay and now partner. A young Jason Flemyng in the first series, added flavour and his character might have been further developed had he stayed in the series longer; Jackie Morison a delightful Rhona; the incomparable Annette Crosby as housekeeper Janet; and Ralph Riach as the somewhat 'oily' self important Dr Gilmore. All masters of their acting trade and a delight to watch. All this set against the beauty of the Scottish countryside.