''Quacks'', created by
James Wood, is a
BBC sitcom about four
Victorian era doctors. The series combines
satire,
absurdist comedy and traditional
slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...
, with stories often being based on real history.
Despite generally favourable reviews it was cancelled after one series.
Cast
Main characters
*
Rory Kinnear as Robert Lessing, a
showman surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
who smokes cigarettes and wears a filthy bloodstained apron when performing operations before a public audience.
*
Lydia Leonard as Caroline, Robert's professionally- and sexually-frustrated wife.
*
Mathew Baynton as William, an
alienist (an early
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
) and Robert's best friend.
*
Tom Basden as John, a dentist and early
anaesthetist who experiments freely with drugs and owes money to a
loan shark.
*
Rupert Everett as Dr Hendricks, the paranoid and
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
principal of the
medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
.
Recurring characters
*
Andy Linden as Fitz, the old
warder at the
lunatic asylum.
*Adam Ewan as Tom, Robert's
working class assistant.
*Osi Okerafor as Butterworth, a
debt collector who routinely threatens and assaults John.
*
Lisa Jackson as Mina, William's fiancée.
*Miranda Hennesey as Nicola, John's lover.
*
Selina Griffiths as a
Matron
*Geoffrey McGivern as Landlord
*Ed Gaughan as Peters
One-off characters
*Millie Thomas as
Florence Nightingale.
*
Andrew Scott as
Charles Dickens.
*
Roger Ashton-Griffiths as the Bishop of Lambeth.
*
Nicholas Blane
Nicholas Blane is an English actor.
Career
He is best known for his roles in stage productions such as '' Year of the Rat'', '' See How They Run'' and ''Democracy''.
He has appeared in numerous British television and film projects, including ...
as the Duke of Bedford.
*
Fenella Woolgar as Lady Campbell.
*
Kayvan Novak as Mr Kapoor, an
Indian restaurant owner who moonlights as a hypnotist.
*
Simon Farnaby as Dr Flowers, purveyor of liniments and lotions.
*
Ben Willbond as Patrice Dupont, a renowned surgeon.
Episodes
Production
Chatham Dockyard in
Kent doubled as streets of Victorian London. It was also used as the location of the apothecary and bareknuckle boxing fight featured in the series.
Critical response
The series has received positive reviews, with many critics comparing it with ''
Blackadder
''Blackadder'' is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robins ...
''.
[
The first episode, which aired on ]BBC 2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
at 10pm on 15 August 2017, received positive reviews from '' The Independent'' and '' The Guardian''.Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' noted the similarities to ''Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
'' and ''Blackadder'', and praised the scriptwriters' ability to weave the series' surreal humour with anecdotes of bizarre real historical events.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Quacks (Tv Series)
2017 British television series debuts
2017 British television series endings
2010s British medical television series
2010s British sitcoms
BBC high definition shows
BBC medical television shows
BBC television sitcoms
English-language television shows
Television series set in the 1840s
Television shows set in London