Doctor at Sea (1974) User Reviews

Duncan jumps ship!

[Rabical-91 · 8/10 · 27 May 2018]

After 'Doctor In Charge' ended, two of its cast members dropped out. Richard O'Sullivan moved onto 'Man About The House' whilst George Layton, though he continued still to provide scripts for the show, moved over to the BBC to appear in 'It Ain't Half Hot, Mum!'. Thus, the path was clear for Robin Nedwell and Geoffrey Davies to take charge at the helm in this short lived sequel.

Dick finally gets the sack from St. Swithin's as a result of his drunken shenanigans and when Professor Loftus refuses to reinstate him, Duncan resigns in protest. The two then secure a job on a luxury holiday cruise liner H. M. S Begonia. However, the job isn't as easy as they hoped it would be as the Captain of the ship is one Norman Loftus, twin brother of Professor Geoffrey Loftus.

A Bingham-esque character included the wonderful John Grieve as a bootlicking Purser whilst Elisabeth Counsell provided some romance as the sexy Nurse Joyce Winton.

'Doctor At Sea' was superior to its last two predecessors 'At Large' and 'In Charge', partly because the move from St. Swithin's made for a nice change, however the public at the time just didn't know what to make of it. Perhaps the absence of Collier and Bingham proved too much for some. Personally, I felt that John Grieve's Purser was far funnier than O'Sullivan's Bingham. The Purser is more of a creep than Bingham and John Grieve is far more naturally funny. Elizabeth Counsell later went on to with Karl Howman in John Esmonde & Bob Larbey's 'Brush Strokes'.

Only 13 episodes ever got made. Despite the final episode being left open-ended, there was no second series. Perhaps just as well as the comic ideas had pretty much been exhausted by that point. The following year, Duncan and Dick were back on terra firma for their last LWT jaunt, 'Doctor On The Go'.

"The cruel sea!!"

[unreasonableboy · 4 February 2007]

All at sea maybe, critics at the time lambasted this as being lame by comparison of the original doctor's series. I disagree, although many of the original cast members had gone by the way side the basic chemistry between Duncan warring and Stewart-Clark which by that time was easily the backbone of the series remained intact. Even their arch nemesis professor Loftus who technically was written out of the series staged a metamorphosis to haunt the two wise cracking and juvenile doctors.

By this time they had been sacked from St.Swithans and despite this set back they thought that they had managed to wrangle a cushy little number on a cruise liner. However, to their horror it so happened that the captain of the ship was none other than Norman Loftus sir Geoffrey's twin brother who not only was identical to his brother but shared the same personality: what rotten luck

Ahoy There Shipmates!

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 9 October 2008]

On a recent I.T.V.-1 documentary about L.W.T.'s 'Doctor' series, producer Humphrey Barclay said: "'Doctor At Sea' sank without trace. Nobody wanted it, nobody talks about it now.". I think he was being unduly harsh. I like the show, and am happy to talk about it anytime to anyone. It took the doctors away from St. Swithins, something that had not happened since 'At Large'. Dick Stuart-Clark has messed up once too often, and Loftus finally gives him the sack. Duncan resigns in protest. They sign up as doctors for a two-month voyage on the cruise ship M.S. Begonia. But there is a small detail they failed to check on. The captain is one Norman Loftus, twin brother of Professor Sir Geoffrey. This piece of invention enabled the writers to lose Loftus and yet keep him.

The first episode - 'Sir John & Baby Doc' - provides effective transition between the old and new series. Rather than just let Paul Collier and Lawrence Bingham be quietly forgotten, an issue was made of their departures. A wonderful sequence has Duncan and Dick looking back at their student days. In reality, Richard O'Sullivan had left to take up residence with Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett in 'Man About The House', while George Layton became 'Bombardier Solomons' in 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum'.

As the weeks rolled by, the doctors had to contend with batty passengers, sick crewmen, a camp Purser ( superbly played by the late John Grieve ), a bipolar Entertainments Officer ( Bob Todd ), and a stowaway ( David Jason ). Duncan even got to lead a mutiny! As Captain Norman, Ernest Clark was indistinguishable from his twin, except for a beard. Elisabeth Counsell provided glamour as 'Nurse Joyce Wynton'. Foreign locales featured in the show for the first time.

With all these plus points, why isn't 'At Sea' as well remembered as the others? The absence of Bingham and Collier disappointed fans, no doubt about it, on top of which you can only do so many plots aboard a ship. 'In A Little Spanish Town' in which Duncan was falsely accused of rape provoked controversy.

When the show ended, it was decided to send Duncan and Dick back to St. Swithins.