The Flying Doctors


The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan.
The series started as a 1985 mini-series set in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing, and originally ran for over seven years. Several early online episode listings split the 221 episodes into six seasons, however the National Film and Sound Archive confirms nine. Crawford Productions have released the show in DVD and on streaming in ten seasons.
The series' episodes were mostly self-contained medical dramas, but also explored social issues, such as domestic violence, alcohol abuse, and the struggles faced by Indigenous Australians.

Cast and characters

;Main cast members
The following characters are credited as "starring" in the opening credits:
;Supporting cast members
The following characters appear regularly and are credited in the closing credits alongside the guest actors:
  • Pat Evison as Violet Carnegie, local store owner and town gossip
  • Max Cullen as Horace "Hurtle" Morrison, local mechanic
  • Gil Tucker as Joe Forrest, radio operator
  • Bruce Barry as George Baxter, local property tycoon
  • Maurie Fields as Vic Buckley, local pub owner, later carried over to the spin-off RFDS
  • Val Jellay as Nancy Buckley, Vic's wife, later carried over to the spin-off RFDS
  • Mark Little as Ron Miller "the Roughneck", works for Hurtle
  • John Frawley as Dr. Frank Turner, runs the local hospital
  • Carmel Millhouse as Matron Ingrid Fischer
  • Terry Gill as Sgt. Jack Carruthers, local police officer
  • Kylie Belling as Sharon Herbert, Aboriginal receptionist at the base
  • Brian Mannix as Lionel, local eccentric who renames himself "Max" after Mad Max
  • Rebecca Gibney as Emma Patterson, Hurtle's niece, later Sam's wife
  • Lewis Fitz-Gerald as David "Gibbo" Gibson, pilot who dies as result of a plane crash
  • Sydney Jackson as Father Cliff "Jack" Jackson
  • George Kapiniaris as Demetrios "DJ" Goannides, radio operator
  • Michaela Abay as Zoe Buchannan, teenager who Chris takes under her wing
  • Mark Neal as Marty Jarvis, DJ's friend, troublemaker, mechanic
  • Anita Cerdic as Soula Polites, DJ's love interest
  • Shane Withington as Mike Lancaster, married geophysicist, Chris' love interest
  • Marie Redshaw as Maggie Hutton, takes over Violet's shop
  • Simon Thorpe as Senior Constable Larry O'Connor
  • Vikki Blanche as Paula Patterson, Sam's sister, nurse
  • Gerard Kennedy as Luke Mitchell, works at Vic's pub
  • Alex Papps as Nick Cardaci, mechanic
  • Tammy MacIntosh as Annie Rogers, nurse
  • Justin Gaffney as Gerry O'Neill, pilot
  • Beverly Dunn as Clare Bryant, radio operator
  • Melita Jurisic as Dr. Magda Heller, young doctor from Germany
  • Sophie Lee as Penny Willings, Kate's sister, later carried over to the spin-off RFDS
  • Paul Kelman as Steve MacCauley, mechanic

    Call signs

One prominent feature in the show is the communication between the aircraft and the base station in Cooper's Crossing. Their designations are spelled out using the International Civil Aviation/ICAO phonetic alphabet.
Cooper’s Crossing RFDS Base’s VCC/“Victor Charlie Charlie” call sign is issued by the Communications Authority for all Citizen’s Band/CB and usually Amateur Radio/HAM & UHF radio operators licences. All properties in country/outback are equipped with these types of radios for communication.

Episodes

''R.F.D.S.''

By 1993, the ratings were in decline, and few original characters remained in the much-changed cast. The show was then revamped under the title R.F.D.S., and its setting was changed to Broken Hill. The spin-off ran for one season on the Nine Network from January 21, 1993 to February 4, 1994 and screened internationally.
The only original cast members that were retained in the show were supporting cast members Maurie Fields and Val Jellay as Vic and Nancy Buckley, along with Sophie Lee as Penny Wellings. The storyline had the Buckleys move from Cooper's Crossing pub to Broken Hill. The show lasted just one season in this new incarnation.
Australian pay-TV channel Fox Classics secured the rights to the program from 3 July 2006. Streaming services currently include the spin-off as the tenth season of The Flying Doctors.
The show is not to be confused with the series RFDS, which shares the same premise but was produced by Endemol Shine Australia and aired on Seven Network from 2021.

Cast and characters

Main characters

  • Steve Jacobs as Dr. Jim Solomon
  • Belinda Davey as Laura Regan, Jim's wife, magistrate and coroner
  • Lewis Fitz-Gerald as Dr. Sebert Blitho
  • Elaine Smith as Dr. Sissy Wetherall
  • Peter Phelps as Sr. Dennis Taylor
  • Maurie Fields & Val Jellay as Vic & Nancy Buckley

    Supporting characters

  • Simone Buchanan as Rebecca Owens
  • Lydia Miller as Leanne Cassidy, radio operator
  • Kevin J. Wilson as Ted Eastman, pilot
  • Sophie Lee as Penny Wellings
  • Justin Connor as Rollerblades
  • Simon Grey as Jesse Solomon, Jim's son
  • Marieke Hardy as Zoe Solomon, Laura's daughter

    Broadcast history

The Flying Doctors was successfully broadcast in the UK. The original 1985 3-part mini-series was aired three times on Channel 4; first in 1985, a repeat the following year from 30 May 1986 at 10:25. A third repeat aired in 1988.
The ongoing series then broadcast on BBC One. The series initially aired on Fridays at 20:10 from 1 July 1988. On 20 August 1988, the series was moved to a Saturday early evening slot at around 17:15 where it gained a loyal audience of about 6 to 8 million viewers, until 24 August 1991. During the summer of 1992, episodes were repeated Monday to Friday at 11:05, around 8 weeks worth. From September 1992, the series settled into a new regular Friday afternoon slot, usually at around 14:30. The BBC concluded Series 6 in spring 1996 but continued to air repeats in various slots until January 1997.
The Flying Doctors was also broadcast on the satellite and cable channel UK Gold. The channel repeated all 221 episodes weekdays at 15:00 from 1998.
The Flying Doctors briefly returned to free to air when WIN Television, parent company of Crawford Productions commenced reruns of the program on 17 August 2007 at midday week day afternoons.
The series was also aired in some parts of Europe and was particularly popular in the Netherlands where it aired on VARA at 8pm on Saturday nights from 1987 to 1993. The series aired in Ireland on RTÉ One from 1988 to 1996.
The series aired in Germany in the early 90s on state broadcaster ZDF.
The series aired originally in Sweden and has been re-broadcast on TV4 Guld in 2017 with back to back episodes on weekdays.
The show also aired in New Zealand on TVNZ, where the entire series was shown in primetime, and was very popular.
From 1988 to 1992, it was broadcast in Nigeria by the Nigerian Television Authority Channel 5.

Home media

The Flying Doctors was made available to purchase in Australia. All 221 episodes plus the 13 spinoff-episodes are on a 51 disc set, complete with cast interviews, episode synopses and stills gallery. In region 2, Mediumrare Entertainment have released all nine seasons of The Flying Doctors including the miniseries also called The Flying Doctors in region 2.

Filming locations

The series was filmed at: