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.

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.

Well adapted from Cronin's novella. Screenplays were wonderful, and the range of topics impressive (especially for the time). Loved the cast. Rintoul was steady, Crosbie, too, and Turner added depth. Bannen was marvelous. I miss his contributions (ala Waking Ned Devine). He left us too soon. I enjoyed just about every episode. Well done!

This is an excellent series. The actors are well cast and do a great job. The scripts are well written, although the episode endings are occasionally unfinished or hard to understand. The one problem I have with the series is that David Rintoul sometimes plays Doctor Finlay as stiffly as he played Mr. Darcy. He really needs to loosen up a bit. I have a question. Does anyone out there know where I can get a copy of the last episode in season four called "Doctor Finlay Snowbound"? I think it may have been broadcast at a later date that year as a special. It's not included in "Doctor Finlay Days Of Grace" which is the last series available for purchase.

To add to the previous comment, only the original Dr Findlay's Casebook was made by the BBC.

The remake Dr Findlay was not - it was made by Scottish Television.

The new version is now available in the USA on DVD.

Unfortunately the original does not seem to be available anywhere.

The original by A J Cronin was of course just a short story and the TV versions are really new works using the characters from this story.