Doctor At Large - The Complete Series [DVD]

When Michael Upton ( Barry Evans ) passed his exams in the final episode of 'Doctor In The House' in 1970, it looked like the end for the popular L.W.T. sitcom. Such were the ratings, however, that a follow-up was automatically commissioned.

'Doctor At Large' took Upton away from the antiseptic corridors of St.Swithins and out into the wild world beyond, becoming part of Dr.Maxwell's inner-city practice, then Dr.Griffin's country surgery, before ultimately returning to St.Swithins and the ever-watchful eye of Professor Geoffrey Loftus ( the late Ernest Clark ). It was like a soap in that the setting and supporting characters changed every few weeks.

Out went 'Duncan Waring' ( temporarily, as it turned out ), 'Danny Hooley', and 'Dave Briddock'. Making his debut was the odious 'Lawrence Marwood Bingham', excellently played by Richard O'Sullivan. He would go on to become a regular in future 'Doctor' series.

British sitcoms tend to run to six episodes per season, but 'Doctor At Large' stretched to an astonishing twenty-nine, meaning that the show was on air for most of 1971. What is equally astonishing is how good many of them are, and so they should be, seeing how John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie were amongst the writers. An impressive line-up of guest-stars included Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Hattie Jacques, Jean Kent, Patsy Rowlands, Patricia Routledge, Roy Kinnear, Fulton Mackay, Freddie Jones, and a young Maureen Lipman!

Of particular note is the Cleese penned 'No Ill Feeling!' which was set in a seedy hotel run by a bullying, henpecked man ( Timothy Bateson ). Years later, on leaving 'Monty Python', Cleese looked around for ideas for a new comedy show, and, remembering this episode, co-created the now-classic 'Fawlty Towers'.

Another cracking episode was 'Change Your Partners' in which Upton and Stuart-Clark fall out over a girl, played by Madeline Smith. The scene where they have a blazing row is memorable because it was done as a strip cartoon of the sort normally to be found in cheap romantic magazines.

Due to industrial action, the first six episodes of 'Doctor At Large' were made in black and white. Other programmes affected at the time were 'Budgie', 'On The Buses', 'Upstairs, Downstairs' and 'Please Sir!'.

Its great news that this twenty-nine part series is finally available on D.V.D. For anyone who loves bawdy '70's Britcoms, its a must.

By the way, 'Congratulations! Its A Toad!' features David Jason as 'The Voice Of The Toad'. The scene where Arthur Lowe tries to get an ice cube containing a tadpole ( don't ask ) out of Fulton Mackay's whisky glass without him knowing is worth the price of the collection alone.

In what would be Barry Evans final series in the lead Doctor At Large proved to be an interesting sequel to the Doctor In The House series.
Doctor At Large was first broadcast between February to September
1971 and it was truly a bumper season of both mixed comedy and mixed
situations giving the show more scope to play with as it wasn't just
all centralised inside a hospital continously and so writers were able
to indulge the lead players into new situations with more often than
not hilarity.
This new premise covers Micheal Upton's (Barry Evans) journey as a
newly qualified Doctor with Dick Stuart-Clarke(Geoffrey Davies) and Paul
Collier(George Layton). To continue that successful formula previously held and to maintain freshness in its appeal several of the more uninteresting characters from the initial run were dropped such as Dave Briddock and Danny Hooley(whom later proving his worth as a superb writer for the series and indeed other series such as "Dont Wait Up"!.

This extended season had a massive run of 29 episodes that year and so had a lot of time to explore and delve into several different themes giving many central characters moments to shine.Doctor Upton ended up initially in a poor practise (working alongside with Dr Maxwell (veteran DADS ARMY actor Arthur Lowe) and then at the other end of the stethoscope in a Harley Street practise working for the aristocacy. Doctor In Charge runs full circle as Upton ends up returning to St Swithin's Hospital as a Junior Registrar.

EPISODES includes
* Now, Dr. Upton
* You've Really Landed Me In It This Time
* You Make Me Feel So Young
* Doctor Dish
* Modernising Major
* Congratulations, It's A Toad
* Change Your Partners
* Trains And Notes And Veins
* Lock, Stock And Beryl
* Upton Sells Out
* Saturday Matinee
* Where There's A Will
* Students At Heart
* No Ill Feeling!
* Let's Start At The Beginning
* It's All In The Mind
* Cynthia Darling
* A Little Help From My Friends
* Devon Is Lovely
* Operation Loftus
* Mother And Father Doing Well
* A Joke's A Joke
* Pull The Other One
* It's The Rich Wot Gets The Pleasure
* Things That Go Mump In The Night
* Mr Moon
* The Viva
* Bewigged, Bothered And Bewildered
* A Situation Full Of Promise

The first 6 episodes were filmed in Black & White due to a technicians strike but fear not the rest is in ever living CRYSTAL-CLEAR-COLOUR. Contributing to the writing this season again were THE GOODIES team Bill Oddie & Graeme Garden and PYTHONS duo Graham Chapman & John Cleese amongst other writers of mixed calibre. Of notable reference is the fact that joining the team this season was Richard O'Sullivan as Dr Lawrence Bingham who would go on to become an endearing regular over the next few years and then move onto the fabulous "Man About The House"!
Other regular characters include Dr Paul Collier (George Layton), Dr Dick Stuart-Clark (Geoffrey Davies) and Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark).
The guests star list again proved massive as it included Arthur Lowe ( as previously mentioned ) as well as John Le Mesurier, David Jason, Hattie Jacques, Mollie Sugden, Patricia Routledge, Fulton MacKay, Maureen Lipman and Roy Kinnear.
Here it is to be enjoyed on DVD for the first time so watch Barry Evans in his last series before the charasmatic Robin Nedwell's Duncan Waring returns the following year in "Doctor in Charge" (1972)

I really enjoyed Doctor at Large and I think it was a good idea to progress the characters through their careers rather than leaving them stagnate in the same position for many years. I would highly recommend this series.