THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY February 18, 1981

Young Doctors celebrate 1000 episodes…and they said it wouldn't last

Albert Memorial Hospital's staff, who've been shot at, bombed, and occasionally married off to each other, down stethoscopes and raise champagne glasses to celebrate 1000 episodes

Since The Young Doctors premiered on the Nine Network in November 1976, the 2500 regular characters have attracted catcalls from critics and adoring letters from the viewers. And to mark the 1000th episode on February 20 champagne will be flowing.

Producer Alan Coleman said the most popular characters have always been men. "Which is not surprising considering we have a predominantly female audience," he added.

Over the past four years the series' three big fan mail receivers have been Tony Alvarez, Peter Lochran and Peter Bensley. But not all the viewers have been enraptured by the actors. Joe Hasham, who played the evil Ken Hansen in 1978, was attacked by women on the street for jilting Jill Gordon (Joanne Gordon). "I warned Joe that he had better be prepared to be attacked when he took the role," said Coleman.

Chris King, who portrays underpaid orderly Dennis Jamison, was also accosted off the set. At the races one day he was assaulted by a woman who screamed at him for frittering away his money when only recently on The Young Doctors he'd told his wife (Kim Wran) that he was broke.

Marriage, but not divorce, plays a big role in the Doctors. Divorce is out because it may upset younger viewers. Among those showered with confetti on the show have been Alvarez and Judy McBurney, Tim Page and Anne Lucas, Alfred Sandor and Karen Petersen, and Diana McLean and Robert Meikle. Most love affairs on the show are so convoluted that viewers virtually need a score card to remember who's with whom.

Coleman pointed out hurriedly that these on-screen affairs rarely continue after the director calls "Cut." "The performers are perhaps working too closely to have romances," he said. "After all, they've been playing at it all day. They work and eat together, but that doesn't mean they sleep together. I remember in London that many of the cast of the nude revue Oh Calcutta! Lost their sex drive."

All the Doctors' cast have signed again for another 12 months of taping, but Coleman allows the performers to take a break if they're offered a film or play. Later this year, the series will presumably reach the magic 1218th episode - the long-running record set by the Ten Network's Number 96. Episode 1219 will trigger a round of celebrations at the drab but functional Doctors' studios in North Sydney.

Five days a week, the cast and crew crowd into the hangar-like building with its furniture-stacked corridors to record the show. However, Coleman said that this year there would be more outdoor scenes in the show. Surf rescues and multiple accidents are two possible outdoor ideas.

Coleman has always been confident about the series, but the Nine Network was once not so enthusiastic. The show was headed for the guillotine in December 1976, but was reprieved at the last moment. The cast heard the good news during the end of the party thrown to mourn the show's death. The wake became a riotous celebration.

Only seven performers have survived the years since the series started. Gwen Plumb, Alfred Sandor, Tim Page, Michael Beecher, Chris King, Lyn James and Judy McBurney have seen more than 40,000 pages of script in that time. Michael Beecher, who plays Dr Denham, is quoted as saying "a long run in a soap opera is the only security an actor has."

The series has not only offered security but also a spring-board for performers like Lynda Stoner, Tony Alvarez, Bartholomew John, Peter Lochran and Delvene Delaney whose only previous exposure was as models or singers.

Other Doctors stars had already worked in television. English girl Ros Wood, now featuring as nurse Kate Rhodes, first edged her way into Australian show business by playing a mouse called O'Henry in a Buster Fiddess comedy show on Channel 7. Hungarian-born Alfred Sandor appeared in 1960s US shows like Sergeant Bilko and The Naked City while some of his current Doctors performers were still playing with dolls and choo-choo trains.

Gwen Plumb, the series' Mother Confessor, also had a sturdy career before she signed on as Ada Simmonds. Lyn James, portraying Helen Gordon, said that Doctors is her third medical series. Before coming to Australia she was in two in Britain.

Coleman was philosophical about the lack of awards for the Doctors. "We've never won a Logie or a Sammy," said Coleman. "But we get a lot of praise from organisations like the Multiple Sclerosis Society - that shows the programme works." Greg Flynn

NOTES: Judy McBurney didn't actually begin her role as Tania Livingston until 16 weeks into the show. Chris King (Dennis) and Gwen Plumb (Ada) were there from the beginning - but not the very first episode.

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