The Young Doctors
| The Young Doctors | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Created by | Alan Coleman |
| Directed by |
Alan Coleman Reg Watson Ian Coughlan Max Varnel David C. Wilson Brian Faull Peita Letchford Kendal Flanagan Chris Adshead Mike Murphy Chris Connelly Michael Pattinson Phillip Bowman Rusty Buckley Denny Lawrence |
| Starring | (see detailed cast and character list below) |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 1,396 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | TCN-9 Willoughby, New South Wales |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Reg Grundy Organisation |
| Distributor | FremantleMedia |
| Release | |
| Original network | Nine Network |
| Picture format | 4.3 PAL |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 8 November 1976 – 30 March 1983 |
The Young Doctors was an Australian early-evening soap opera. The series was set in the fictional Albert Memorial hospital and primarily concerned with romances between younger members of the hospital staff, rather than typical medical issues and procedures. It screened on the Nine Network from Monday, 8 November 1976 until Wednesday, 30 March 1983. The program was shown in numerous international locations, particularly throughout the United Kingdom, North America and also in France and Spain.
The series was created and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation and started a week earlier than the Nine Networks' other soap opera, The Sullivans, which was produced by Crawford Productions. Nine Network made it clear only one of the series would be kept after 13 weeks.
After the 13-week trial period The Sullivans (which had a budget which was three times bigger than The Young Doctors) emerged as the critical success, so The Young Doctors was cancelled. Fans of The Young Doctors lobbied Channel 9, who reversed their decision. The Young Doctors continued in its 6.00 pm slot and had a successful run. After several years, many long running characters left the series and in the final season during 1982 several new cast members were added.
Producer and creator Alan Coleman also left, and was replaced by Sue Masters shortly before the series finished production in late 1982. Masters went on to produce Grundy's stablemate Prisoner from 1983; several The Young Doctors cast members, including Judy McBurney, Genevieve Lemon, Babs McMillan and Peter Bensley also went into leading roles in Prisoner after The Young Doctors finished.
The advent of one-day cricket led to Channel 9 moving the show around the schedules. These factors contributed to a decline in ratings which saw the series cancelled in late 1982. The final episode was aired in March 1983.
When the series ended after 1396 episodes, it held the record of Australia's longest-running commercial television drama serial, which was previously held by Number 96. This was later surpassed by A Country Practice and then Neighbours, which is currently the longest-running Australian drama serial.
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