A Very Peculiar Practice

A Very Peculiar Practice
This is the main title caption that was seen throughout the series.
Created by	Andrew Davies
Starring	Peter Davison Graham Crowden David Troughton Barbara Flynn John Bird
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	15
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC2
Original release	1986 – 1992

A Very Peculiar Practice is a BBC comedy-drama series, which ran for two series in 1986 and 1988. The series was a surreal black comedy, set in the health centre of a British university. The two series were followed by a 90-minute made-for-television film following some of the characters to a new setting in Poland.

It was written by Andrew Davies, and was inspired by his experiences as a lecturer at the University of Warwick.

In 2010, The Guardian ranked the serial at number 5 in their list of "The Top 50 TV Dramas of All Time".

The series is a black comedy with surreal elements. It concerned an idealistic young doctor, Stephen Daker (Peter Davison), taking up a post as a member of a university medical centre. The centre is staffed by a group of misfits including the bisexual Rose Marie (Barbara Flynn), self-absorbed Bob Buzzard (David Troughton), and decrepit Scot, Jock McCannon (Graham Crowden) who heads the team in the first series. One of the themes of the series is the increasing commercialisation of higher education in Britain following the government cuts of the early 1980s, with the Vice-Chancellor Ernest Hemmingway (John Bird) trying to woo Japanese investors in the face of resistance from the academic old guard. Hugh Grant made one of his first television appearances as an evangelical preacher; Kathy Burke also had a bit part. In the second series an American Vice-Chancellor Jack Daniels (Michael J. Shannon) took over from Hemingway, continuing the running joke of naming the VC after a famous American (although the whiskey distiller's name was Jack Daniel).