''Dr Willoughby'' is a

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location ...

broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

from 14 November - 13 December 1999. The show was set on the set of a fictional

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

, also called Dr Willoughby and followed the often over dramatic storylines and the personal lives of the cast and crew.

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...

plays Donna Sinclair, who plays the fictional part of Dr Willoughby. Donna is less than popular with her co-stars and her producer and gets less fanmail than anyone else, including new cast member Crystal and long standing co-star Ralph Whatman. Ralph Whatman is the male lead in Dr Willoughby and whenever Donna Sinclair has bad publicity or is heading for a fall he wastes no time in trying to make the show his own. Emma Goodliffe is the shows producer, unable to cope with the stress she is begging to be removed from the show. She is even heard in one episode to be applying for a job in a supermarket only to be told she is over qualified. Crystal is the new girl, she is receiving more fan mail than Donna after just two weeks on the show, something which Donna cannot stand. She demands that producer Emma remove her from the show but her request is rejected leading to Donna to advise Crystal not to wear a bra in order to put off her male fans. Andy is the shows runner, he is at the beck and call of Donna. When Donna takes a shine to a new actor, she is furious when she walks into a store cupboard only to find that Andy is in there with him. Dr Willoughby was originally broadcast in 1999 on ITV in the UK, it lasted for just one series of 6 episodes. It was produced by Witzend Productions. It was written and created by Laurie Rowley, produced by Tony Charles and directed by David Skinner.

Cast

Several episodes are available on YouTube and the following cast credits are taken from this. *

- Donna Sinclair *

Brian Protheroe Brian Protheroe (born 16 June 1944) is an English musician, actor and narrator. He is best known for his first single, "Pinball", which was released in August 1974, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. ...

- Ralph Whatman * Isobel Middleton - Emma Goodliffe * Paula Bacon - Crystal Reynolds *

Ian Puleston-Davies Ian Puleston-Davies (born 6 September 1958) is a Welsh actor and writer. He is best known for his role as builder Owen Armstrong in the ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 2010 to 2015. In November 2014, ITV announced ...

- Steve Lipton *

Gillian Barge Gillian Barge (born Gillian Betty Bargh, 27 May 1940 – 19 November 2003) was an English stage, television and film actress. She was born in Hastings, Sussex. She started acting at the age of 17, training at the Birmingham Theatre School. ...

- Mrs Ajax *

Tanya Moodie Tanya may refer to: * Tanya (Judaism),an early work of Hasidic philosophy by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. * Tanya (name), a given name and list of people with the name * Tanya or Lara Saint Paul (born 1946) * List of Mortal Kombat characters#Tany ...

- Geraldine *

Ursula Holden-Gill Ursula Holden-Gill is an English Actress and Dramatherapist, best known for her roles as school secretary Carol on Channel 4's comedy drama ''Teachers'' (2001–2004), Alice Dingle on ITV's soap opera ''Emmerdale'' (2004–2006) and Miss Fitzg ...

- Gill * Scott Hickman - Andy *

Michelle Joseph Michelle Joseph (born May 1970) is a British actress. Acting career Joseph is most famous for playing Walford's first lesbian resident, Della Alexander, in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' from 1994–1995. Other acting credits include: * ...

- Kelly * Fritha Goodey - Moira Gatewood

Episodes

All episodes were broadcast at 22:00 on ITV every Monday apart from the first episode which aired on a Sunday. * 1. Fan Mail (14 November 1999) * 2. Young Pretender (15 November 1999) * 3. Family Wedding (22 November 1999) * 4. Speculation (29 November 1999) * 5. Scandal (6 December 1999) * 6. Awards (13 December 1999)

DVD release

The series is available on DVD in both the UK and USA.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor Willoughby 1999 British television series debuts 1999 British television series endings 1990s British sitcoms ITV sitcoms 1990s British medical television series Television series by Fremantle (company) English-language television shows