''G.P.'' is an Australian television series produced by Roadshow, Coote & Carroll for the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

, the series was broadcast for 8 seasons between 1989 and 1996.

Synopsis

The series, screened on the ABC, is set around a fictional general medical practice, in the vein of the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

serial ''

A Country Practice ''A Country Practice'' is an Australian television soap opera which broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 5 November 1993, airing at 7:30 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,058 episodes were p ...

''. Whereas ''A Country Practice'', hence the title was set in a rural setting, ''G.P.'' was set at a clinic in an inner-

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

suburb, and explored both the personal and professional lives of the general practitioners working together, and the other doctors and staff who worked there, as well as patients who attend the surgery.

History and popularity

The series began on-air in March 1989, and while it initially failed to attract a major audience it went on to win numerous television awards (including the first

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

for an ABC-TV Drama in 15 years) and became the highest rating drama series on ABC-TV. ''G.P.'' ran for 8 seasons and a book about the series was written by producer

Harvey Shore Harvey Shore (born 14 February 1947) is an Australian film and television writer-producer. Shore was the producer of the children's TV show, ''Simon Townsend's Wonder World'' from 1980 to 1986, which won five Logie Awards during his tenure. E ...

Cast

Main cast

* Michael Craig as Dr. William Sharp *

John McTernan John McTernan (born 1959) is a British political strategist and commentator. He has been a political adviser to the Labour Party. McTernan was Prime Minister Tony Blair's Director of Political Operations from 2005 to 2007. He then worked on ...

as Dr. Robert Sharp * Michael O'Neill as Dr. Steve Harrison * Sarah Chadwick as Dr. Cathy Mitchell *

Denise Roberts Denise Roberts (born in Glasgow, Scotland), is an Australian actress and director who has worked in theatre, film and television since 1980. She gained initial fame when she played Julie Winters in the ABC-TV medical drama ''G.P.'' from 1989 to 19 ...

as Julie Winters * Brian Rooney as Michael Winters * Judy McIntosh as Dr. Nicola Tanner * Marilynne Paspaley as Dr. Tessa Korkidas *

Tony Llewellyn-Jones Tony Llewellyn-Jones is a British-born Australian actor. He was nominated for the 1976 AFI Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in '' Picnic at Hanging Rock''. Born in London, England, Llewellyn-Jones lived in Singapore, Kua ...

as Dr. Ian Browning *

Damian Rice Damian Rice (born 1961) is an Australian actor who has appeared in various Australian drama series, including '' G.P.'', ''Fire'', '' All Saints'' and ''Blue Heelers''. TV credits *'' Love Child'' (2014) *'' Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch ...

as Dr. Martin Dempsey *

Zoe Carides Zoe Carides (born 19 February 1962) is an Australian actress of film and television, who is best known for her roles in '' Death in Brunswick'' as Sophie, ''G. P.'' as Dr. Sonia Kapek and ''Grass Roots'' as Liz Murray. Family Carides was born ...

as Dr. Sonia Kapek *

Steve Bisley Steve Bisley (born 26 December 1951) is an Australian writer, film and television actor. He is best known for his roles in the films ''Mad Max'' and ''The Great Gatsby''. On TV, some of his better-known roles include Detective Sergeant Jack Chr ...

as Dr. Henry King *

Melissa Jaffer Melissa Jaffer (born 1 December 1936) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her stage and television roles, but has also appeared in many films. Career Jaffer started her career in theatre productions in the mid 1950s has made many a ...

as Dr. Maureen Riordan *

Leah Vandenberg Leah Vandenberg is a New Zealand-born Australian theatre, television, and film actress. She has appeared in many well-known Australian productions including the award-winning Netflix series ' The Letdown' and SBS Drama 'The Hunting'. Leah recei ...

as Dr. Yasmin Richards

Recurring cast

Peter Bryant Peter Bryant (27 October 1923 – 19 May 2006) was an English television producer, script editor and former actor. He acted in ''The Grove Family'' as a regular cast member and later became the producer of ''Doctor Who'' from 1967 to 1969 ...

as Dr. Chris Wright * Theresa Wong as Su-Lin Chenn * Dominic Elmaloglou as Peter Browning * Janelle Owen as Zoe Browning * Tracie Sammut as Donna Browning * Sue Walker as Eva Fowler *

Lenka Kripac Lenka Kripac (born 19 March 1978) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress best known for her song "The Show", from her debut album, ''Lenka''. "The Show" has been used in numerous advertisements, most notably for Old Navy, as well as th ...

as Vesna Kapek

Character summary

''G.P.'' features 2 major characters, who run the clinic: Mr. William Sharp ( Michael Craig) In the beginning of the series Mr. Sharp is a part-time general surgeon with consulting rooms at the Ross St. Surgery owned by his nephew, Dr. Robert Sharp. As the series progressed he bought into the surgery with and started operating again at local public hospitals. William is characterised as a part of the 'old school' style of medicine. He can be quite forthcoming and stubborn in his opinions and is often at odds with his colleagues at the surgery. William served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a doctor and was a prisoner at the infamous

Changi Prison Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore. History First prison Before Changi Prison was constructed, the only penal facility in Singapore was at Pearl's Hill, beside t ...

. William drives a

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

and is very cultured with a great interest in and knowledge of music, poetry, food and wine. Dr. Robert Sharp (

) Originally the owner of Ross Street Surgery, Robert lives in the upstairs level of the house. The surgery was his father's and Robert took it over and raised his own family there. Robert is a widower and has a son Andrew, who makes numerous appearances in the first few series of the show. Uncle William lives with Robert and has his consulting rooms in the surgery. Like his Uncle William, Robert is very cultured but is often the more rational, liberal and socially minded of the pairing. Midway through the series, Robert develops a brain tumor. He is operated on to remove the tumor and survives, only to suffer a heart attack and die in recovery.

Episodes

Season 1 (1989)

Season 2 (1990)

Season 3 (1991)

Season 4 (1992)

Season 5 (1993)

Season 6 (1994)

Season 7 (1995)

Season 8 (1996)

International broadcasts

''G.P.'' has been shown in Canada on

CBC Country Canada Cottage Life is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Blue Ant Media. Operated as a brand extension spin-off of the magazine of the same name, the network originally aired a variety of programming focusing on the co ...

, a digital television station; and in New Zealand (on TV One and TV3), Jordan (on Channel 2), South Africa (Bop TV), Hong Kong (ATV World) and Ireland (on RTE1). In 2008 and 2009,

ABC1 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel an ...

re-broadcast Series 3 onwards at 4:30am on weekdays. In the UK,

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

and

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, the S ...

were the only contractors among the 14 members of the

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 ...

Network to screen the programme for a short period. Thames started the show on Thursdays 1 October 1992 Thursdays and Fridays for half-hour episodes at 3.20pm until the end of the year. Central axed the show on Thursday 25 March 1993 and replaced it with ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

''. The programme was shown in a daily 3.20pm slot Tuesdays to Fridays and had the hour-long episodes split into two to accommodate the half-hour slot. This was a popular format for screening acquired Australian material as had been used with ''A Country Practice'', '' E Street'', ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted the ever ...

'' and ''

HeadLand A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

'' by UK broadcasters. In 1994, the UK version of The Family Channel aired the series as half-hour editions during the week at 20:30–21:00 on Wednesday and Friday with the episode repeated as an hour long episode on Saturdays at 19:30.

Awards and nominations

Australian Film Institute Awards

Australian Writers' Guild

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

Logie Awards

References

External links

*
G.P. at the National Film and Sound Archive
{{Logie Award for Most Outstanding Drama Series on Australian Television Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Australian medical television series 1989 Australian television series debuts 1996 Australian television series endings Australian drama television series English-language television shows Television shows set in Sydney