This is a series about a medical practice in a Scottish town immediately after the Second World War. It is based on A.J. Cronin's characters, Dr John Finlay and Dr Alexander Cameron, and is the second television series based on the Cronin characters: the first, a good one, was made by the BBC in the 1960s. All the ingredients are there for something fairly predictable: quirky minor characters fluttering around the bright lights of the good doctors respectfully played by actors not keen to grate against an audience's well set expectations. Fortunately, this is not what the writers, producers, and performers of this excellent series are content with doing. In a number of ways this is an unusual series. First, it almost completely eschews melodrama, opting instead for a far less 'finished' or convenient approach to story-telling. Secondly, the main characters are, all of them, a sometimes exasperating, but therefore more believable, mixture of foolishness and insight, decency and bloody-mindedness. The stories are written by various writers, and there is only the slightest attempt to knit the episodes together – it is not a serial – which makes for the third unusual quality. But the performances and character development achieved within this format are first class. The art direction is exceptionally good, and the attention paid to details of verisimilitude and continuity of action would put many a better known television series to shame. There are perhaps two or three episodes that do not come off or drift through less substantial subject matter, but the other 24 or so reach a high standard indeed. Enjoyable, engaging, substantial drama.
