DAILY TELEGRAPH November 5, 1979

How the Young Docs beat the knife

Writing new characters into The Young Doctors is dead easy, according to producer Alan Coleman. "All you do is open the casualty doors and someone new walks in," he says.

That could explain why The Young Doctors, three years old this month, is still going strong with another four new faces soon to make their appearance through the casualty doors. Coleman once predicted The Docs would survive the knife for five years. "Nothing has happened to change my mind," he said, in between takes of another episode of this long running saga about life at TV's Albert Memorial Hospital. "The ratings have never been better and bags of fan mail arrive every day."

Coleman is understandably proud of the number of new stars that have emerged since they stepped to stardom through the casualty doors. Performers like Kerri Eichorn, Peter Lochran, Lynda Stoner and Tony Alvarez were unknown before they were given the chance of playing doctors and nurses on the television. Some have since made their exit back out of the casualty doors to other things on television (such as Lynda Stoner, who shed her Marilyn Monroe image for the role of a detective in Cop Shop) but many of the original cast are still there.

The younger, less experienced members of the cast found the public adoration a trifle hard to take at first. Coleman says they were somewhat stunned at the way fans besieged them during shopping centre appearances. "They were absolutely in awe of the crowds," Coleman said. "But Peter Lochran, who plays the popular Dr Peter Holland, took it all in his stride. He told me that he realised people came to see Dr Holland, not him."

Meanwhile, Coleman is not resting on his laurels. "What we have to do is get bigger," he said. "We have to improve all the time, otherwise the show will fail." With that in mind, Coleman has his scriptwriters preparing for a couple of weddings "with a twist". Ian Rolph

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