''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' is a television drama series that was produced and broadcast by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

from 1962 until 1971. Based on

A. J. Cronin Archibald Joseph Cronin (Cronogue) (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981) was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is ''The Citadel (novel), The Citadel'' (1937), about a Scottish physician who serves in a Welsh coal mining, minin ...

's 1935 novella ''Country Doctor'', the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae during the late 1920s. Cronin was the primary writer for the show between 1962 and 1964.

Characters

The main characters were Dr. Finlay, the junior partner in the practice, played by

Bill Simpson Bill or Billy Simpson may refer to: * Billy Simpson (jockey) (c. 1840–1873), South Australian jockey * Billy Simpson (footballer, born 1878) (1878–1962), English football player for Sunderland and Lincoln City * Billy Simpson (footballer, born ...

, Dr. Cameron, the craggy senior partner, played by

Andrew Cruickshank Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 190729 April 1988) was a Scottish actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', which ran for 191 episodes from 1962 until ...

and Janet, their unflappable housekeeper and receptionist at Arden House, played by

Barbara Mullen Barbara Mullen (9 June 19149 March 1979) was an American-born actress well known in the United Kingdom for playing the part of Janet McPherson, the housekeeper in ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook''. Although the role of Janet brought her fame in later ye ...

. Other recurrent characters included Dr. Snoddie, Finlay's crusty detractor and Janet's admirer, played by Eric Woodburn and gossipy Mistress Niven (the district nurse whose formal title was mistress midwife), played by Effie Morrison.

Cast

as Dr. Alan Finlay *

as Dr. Angus Cameron *

as Janet MacPherson *

Eric Woodburn Eric Woodburn (''né'' Eric Melville Reis; 9 March 189425 October 1981) was a Scottish stage, film and television actor. Prior to this he had a long career on the stage and was also a noted baritone singer. His most important role was as Docto ...

as Dr. Alexander Snoddie *Effie Morrison as Mistress Niven *Neil Wilson as Sgt. Gilbey *David Macmillan as Constable Dickie *

Molly Urquhart Molly Sinclair Urquhart (6 January 1906 – 6 October 1977) was a Scottish actress. Early life Urquhart was born in Glasgow as Mary Sinclair Urquhart. She was the daughter of post office clerk Ann McCallum and sea-going engineer William Urquh ...

as Matron * Robert James as Mr. Gibson *Delia Paton as Sister * Bryden Murdoch as Galbraith *Marigold Sharman as Mrs. Rae * James Copeland as 'Hooky' Buchanan *

Helena Gloag Helena Gloag (23 February 1909 – 15 June 1973) was a Scottish actress. She had roles in films such as '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'', '' Ring of Bright Water'', ''Country Dance A country dance is any of a very large number of soci ...

as Mrs. Ballantyne *

Leonard Maguire Leonard Maguire (26 May 1924 – 12 September 1997) was a Scottish stage, television and film actor. He was born in England but lived much of his life in Scotland. Maguire's acting career began in the 1940s. Early life Maguire was born in Manch ...

as Lewis Gilbride *Calum Mill as Andrew McGregor * John Clegg as Dr Mitchell * Janet Davies as Nurse

Filming location

Although it is documented that location work for the original series was filmed in the town of

Callander Callander (; ) is a small town in the council area of Stirling (district), Stirling in Scotland, situated on the River Teith. The town is located in the historic county of Perthshire and is a popular tourist stop to and from the Highlands. De ...

in Perthshire, the very first six episodes were filmed in Tannoch Drive,

Milngavie Milngavie ( ; ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden. Milngavie is a commuter t ...

, where the fictional Arden House was situated on the right-hand side as one approaches Tannoch Loch. It was the ducks and swans on that

loch ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or "inlet, sea inlet" in Scottish Gaelic, Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes calle ...

that formed part of the opening sequence of the programme. The preceding shot is of the Red Bridge over the

River Teith The River Teith is a river in Scotland, which is formed from the confluence of two smaller rivers, the '' Garbh Uisge'' (River Leny) and '' Eas Gobhain'' at Callander, Stirlingshire. It flows into the River Forth near Drip north-west of Stirling ...

. Other outdoor scenes were filmed in

Kilbarchan Kilbarchan (; ) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is almost contiguous with Johnstone, about 5 miles or 8 km west of the centre of Paisley. The village's name means "cell (chape ...

, Church Street in particular has changed little since filming took place. Bridge - geograph

In one of those first episodes, Dr. Finlay (Bill Simpson) crashed his old Bullnose Morris into the wall of Arden House—and that was not in the script. Another episode, filmed at night along Mugdock Road, found the local policeman, somewhat inebriated, on his bicycle in a scene with Dr. Snoddie. Episode 1 of series 8 was filmed in Kippen Stirlingshire using the local grocers and butchers shops and also the school. The interior scenes were shot in BBC studios in London and Glasgow. Uplawmoor railway station was temporarily renamed 'Tannochbrae' in 1966 for an episode of Dr. Finlay's Casebook. BR Class J36 0-6-0 steam locomotive No. 65345 was repainted at Thornton m.p.d. for use in the filming.

Radio

From 1970 until 1978, episodes from ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' were broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

with some of the same actors from the television programme. These episodes were adapted for radio from the original television scripts by the original writers, where possible. Twenty episodes were broadcast on

BBC 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

in the autumn of 2003. In 2001 and 2002,

broadcast a version of the original Cronin stories using the titles, ''The Adventures of a Black Bag'' and ''Doctor Finlay – Further Adventures of a Black Bag''; these have been rebroadcast by

. The adaptations are set in Levenford, the original setting chosen by Cronin, rather than Tannochbrae. The role of Dr. Finlay was played by

John Gordon Sinclair John Gordon Sinclair (born Gordon John Sinclair; 4 February 1962) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for playing Gregory in the 1981 film '' Gregory's Girl''. There was a Gordon Sinclair already registered with Equity, so he took John Gordon ...

. Dr. Cameron was played by

Brian Pettifer Brian Pettifer (born 1 January 1953) is a Scottish actor who has appeared in many television shows, and also on stage and in film. He is the younger brother of folk musician Linda Thompson. Biography He intended to become a photographer, but ...

, and Janet was played initially by

Katy Murphy Katy Murphy (born 8 December 1962) is a British actress and teacher from Glasgow, Scotland, who has appeared in many television programs, most of them for the BBC and ITV. While most associated with television drama, she has worked across a vari ...

, and then by

Celia Imrie Celia Diana Savile Imrie (born 15 July 1952) is a British actress and author. She is best known for her film roles, including the '' Bridget Jones'' film series, '' Calendar Girls'' (2003), '' Nanny McPhee'' (2005), '' The Best Exotic Marigold ...

David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...

was a frequent guest actor. In 1991 BBC Enterprises produced a double cassette copy of four of the radio broadcasts (as of 13 November 2016 a copy of the cover is the profile picture on this listing). The Four episodes are: Out of the Blue (TV episode Series 6 Broadcast 11 February 1968) (Radio episode 2 June 1970) The Comical Lad (TV episode Series 5 Broadcast 8 January 1967) (Radio episode 19 February 1973) The Honours List (TV episode Series 7 Broadcast 16 March 1969) (Radio episode 4 December 1973) Charlie is My Darling (TV episode Series 2 Broadcast 19 January 1964) (Radio episode 16 January 1975) The television versions of all these episodes are recorded as missing as of 13 November 2016.

Parody

The series has been parodied in a number of programmes including an episode of ''

Round the Horne ''Round the Horne'' is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The f ...

'' set in "Stomachbrae", a play on the fictional TV setting of Tannochbrae. Although the original recording is thought to be lost, an off-air recording has been restored to broadcasting standard. A parody appears in an episode of "The Men from The Ministry" when they contact an expert on mice, Mr Finlay and his assistant Cameron. At the end of the scene, the theme music to Dr Finlay plays.

Music

The programme's famous theme tune was

Trevor Duncan Trevor Duncan (27 February 1924 – 17 December 2005) was an English composer, particularly noted for his light music compositions. Born in London, and largely self-taught, he originally composed as a sideline while working for the BBC. In th ...

's march from ''A Little Suite''. The other two movements from the Suite were often used as background music. The characters from the series are featured in a song entitled ''Dr. Finlay'' by Andy Stewart, which was a minor Top 50 hit in 1965.

DVD and archive status

Simply Media TV released the first series of ''Dr Finlay's Casebook'' in March 2013, and the second series was released in April 2014. Only 10 episodes survive of the second series. The surviving episodes of series 3 and 4 were issued in 2015 and the remaining episodes of series 5, 6 & 7 were released in January 2016. The nine surviving episodes from series 8 were released in April 2016. Of the complete run of 191 episodes, 69 episodes survive and are on the DVDs, but 122 are believed to no longer exist.

Controversies

Cronin received copies of the scripts, and he wrote a blunt letter to the series' script editor in 1964, expressing his dissatisfaction with the progression of the show. Word leaked to the media, and in June 1964, stories appeared in the national press suggesting that the author wanted the series to end. One newspaper even accused the author of "maliciously doing millions out of legitimate enjoyment." The outcry from the viewing public was immediate, and sackfuls of mail were dispatched to Cronin's home in Switzerland. He issued a statement on 7 June to contest the charges made against him: By the following year, the series was a national institution. A Bill Simpson Fan Club was set up, Andy Stewart's ''Dr Finlay'' was in the Hit Parade for five weeks, and Andrew Cruickshank was invited as a guest of honour at the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...

's annual dinner to speak on medical matters as if he were a real GP. Following the

assassination of President Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline, Texas gove ...

on 22 November 1963, the BBC screened ''Dr Finlay's Casebook'' as part of its regular programming. There were reportedly over 2,000 phone calls and 500 letters and telegrams complaining about the decision.How the Kennedy assassination caught the BBC on the hop
''

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

'', 18 November 2003. Retrieved 14 December 2018

References

External links

BBC Scotland – ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook''
at

bbc.co.uk BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

(clip)
BBC article on 50th anniversary rebroadcast''Dr Finlay's Casebook'' episodes
!--More accurately: the link is to a site now advertising penile enhancement videos.-->

* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/drfinlay.shtml BBC Radio 4: ''Dr Finlay''br>''Doctor Finlay: The Further Adventures of a Black Bag''
–

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

*
National Library of Scotland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor Finlay's Casebook 1960s British drama television series 1970s British drama television series 1962 British television series debuts 1971 British television series endings 1960s Scottish television series 1970s Scottish television series BBC television dramas BBC Radio 4 Extra programmes 1960s British medical television series 1970s British medical television series Lost BBC episodes Historical television series Radio programs about health care Television shows based on works by A. J. Cronin Television shows set in Scotland Television series set in the 1920s BBC Radio 4 programmes British English-language television shows Black-and-white British television shows 1962 Scottish television series debuts 1971 Scottish television series endings