Doctor Finlay

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.

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.

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!

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.