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* LethalChef: Several episodes of ''Doctor in the House'' involve Waring being portrayed as a truly awful cook. His approach involves taking tins of baked beans and then throwing tins of whatever else comes to hand in with them to create all manner of noxious concoctions (he even prepares porridge with leftover beans from the previous night). His flatmates - Upton, Stuart-Clark, Briddock, and Evans - have no alternative but to eat whatever he cooks up, though they complain non-stop as they do so.
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* TwinSwitch: When Lawrence Bingham's identical brother Lionel shows up at St. Swithin's on his day off, he and Waring decide to play a prank on Collier, who lied to Sir Geoffrey that Lawrence was in favour of his application for a house surgeon position on his firm, by passing off Lionel as Lawrence. However, as they are PolarOppositeTwins (Lawrence is a teetotal non-smoker; Lionel smokes in the doctor's office and carries a flask of scotch everywhere), the disguise has a few cracks, especially when he tells Collier he will talk to Sir Geoffrey and keeps addressing him as "Mr. Loftus" rather than "Prof. Loftus" or "Sir Geoffrey". When Lawrence returns, he becomes flustered as people keep talking about encounters with him that he doesn't remember having.
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* TwinSwitch: When Lawrence Bingham's identical brother Lionel shows up at St. Swithin's on his day off, off in "Brotherly Hate" from ''Doctor in Charge'', he and Waring decide to play a prank on Collier, who lied to Sir Geoffrey that Lawrence was in favour of his application for a house surgeon position on his firm, by passing off Lionel as Lawrence. However, as they are PolarOppositeTwins (Lawrence is a teetotal non-smoker; Lionel smokes in the doctor's office and carries a flask of scotch everywhere), the disguise has a few cracks, especially when he tells Collier he will talk to Sir Geoffrey and keeps addressing him as "Mr. Loftus" rather than "Prof. Loftus" or "Sir Geoffrey". When Lawrence returns, he becomes flustered as people keep talking about encounters with him that he doesn't remember having.
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* TwinSwitch: When Lawrence Bingham's identical brother Lionel shows up at St. Swithin's on his day off, he and Waring decide to play a prank on Collier, who lied to Sir Geoffrey that Lawrence was in favour of his application for a house surgeon position on his firm, by passing off Lionel as Lawrence. However, as they are PolarOppositeTwins (Lawrence is a teetotal non-smoker; Lionel smokes in the doctor's office and carries a flask of scotch everywhere), the disguise has a few cracks, especially when he tells Collier he will talk to Sir Geoffrey and keeps addressing him as "Mr. Loftus" rather than "Prof. Loftus" or "Sir Geoffrey". When Lawrence returns, he becomes flustered as people keep talking about encounters with him that he doesn't remember having.
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** The ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "Mum's the Word" involves Loftus and the other board members having to choose between Waring and Bingham as a junior doctor representative on the board; Stuart-Clark claims that Waring's mother is a Countess (she is, in fact, a policeman's wife). As she is at St. Swithin's as a patient, the board members decide to meet her, Stuart-Clark dons a blonde wig, blue eyeshadow, and women's clothing and pretends to be Mrs. Waring while the real Mrs. Waring is kept out of sight. His disguise manages to fool the board members, especially when he reveals inside knowledge of the Chairman's "friendship" with Lady Cornford.
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** The ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "Mum's the Word" involves Loftus and the other board members having to choose between Waring and Bingham as a junior doctor representative on the board; Stuart-Clark claims that Waring's mother is a Countess (she is, in fact, a policeman's wife). As she is at St. Swithin's as a patient, the board members decide to meet her, and Stuart-Clark dons a blonde wig, blue eyeshadow, and women's clothing and pretends to be Mrs. Waring while the real Mrs. Waring is kept out of sight. His disguise manages to fool the board members, especially when he reveals inside knowledge of the Chairman's "friendship" with Lady Cornford.
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* DoorstopBaby: Waring finds a baby in a basket on his doorstep in "When Did You Last See Your Mother?", the second series opener of ''Doctor on the Go''. The baby is accompanied by a card reading "Baby Duncan", leading him to assume he must be the father and try to track down the mother from among his ex-girlfriends, but eventually the baby's real mother - whom Waring has never met - shows up to reclaim her child.
* IncrediblyConspicuousDrag: In true British comedy tradition, several episodes across the franchise featured the male students/doctors dressing as women, never making much effort to look believable.
** In "Doctor on the Box" from ''Doctor in the House'', Waring, Collier, and Briddock dress Hooley up as elderly patient Mrs. Crabtree to sabotage an interview as part of the documentary on St. Swithin's; the fact that he is supposed to be an old woman does not stop him from squeezing the female interviewer's bottom. Chaos ensues when Upton and Stuart-Clark discover the deception and decide to administer an enema, and then the real Mrs. Crabtree returns.
** The ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "Mum's the Word" involves Loftus and the other board members having to choose between Waring and Bingham as a junior doctor representative on the board; Stuart-Clark claims that Waring's mother is a Countess (she is, in fact, a policeman's wife). As she is at St. Swithin's as a patient, the board members decide to meet her, Stuart-Clark dons a blonde wig, blue eyeshadow, and women's clothing and pretends to be Mrs. Waring while the real Mrs. Waring is kept out of sight. His disguise manages to fool the board members, especially when he reveals inside knowledge of the Chairman's "friendship" with Lady Cornford.
** "A Turn for the Nurse" from ''Doctor on the Go'' sees Stuart-Clark trying to enter a ringer for a "best nurse" competition so that he can get the prize money (the mere existence of which he has lied about); Waring and Mackenzie persuade her to drop out of the competition, and when Stuart-Clark finds out and reveals the non-existence of the prize money and the importance of "winning it back", Waring has to dress up in drag as their entrant. Sir Geoffrey recognises Waring immediately, but bites his tongue; meanwhile, Highcross board member Sir Edmund Steele takes quite a liking to Waring...
** In "Doctor on the Box" from ''Doctor in the House'', Waring, Collier, and Briddock dress Hooley up as elderly patient Mrs. Crabtree to sabotage an interview as part of the documentary on St. Swithin's; the fact that he is supposed to be an old woman does not stop him from squeezing the female interviewer's bottom. Chaos ensues when Upton and Stuart-Clark discover the deception and decide to administer an enema, and then the real Mrs. Crabtree returns.
** The ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "Mum's the Word" involves Loftus and the other board members having to choose between Waring and Bingham as a junior doctor representative on the board; Stuart-Clark claims that Waring's mother is a Countess (she is, in fact, a policeman's wife). As she is at St. Swithin's as a patient, the board members decide to meet her, Stuart-Clark dons a blonde wig, blue eyeshadow, and women's clothing and pretends to be Mrs. Waring while the real Mrs. Waring is kept out of sight. His disguise manages to fool the board members, especially when he reveals inside knowledge of the Chairman's "friendship" with Lady Cornford.
** "A Turn for the Nurse" from ''Doctor on the Go'' sees Stuart-Clark trying to enter a ringer for a "best nurse" competition so that he can get the prize money (the mere existence of which he has lied about); Waring and Mackenzie persuade her to drop out of the competition, and when Stuart-Clark finds out and reveals the non-existence of the prize money and the importance of "winning it back", Waring has to dress up in drag as their entrant. Sir Geoffrey recognises Waring immediately, but bites his tongue; meanwhile, Highcross board member Sir Edmund Steele takes quite a liking to Waring...
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* ProfessionalButtKisser: Bingham sucks up shamelessly to Prof. Loftus throughout ''Doctor at Large'' and ''Doctor in Charge'' in a bid to get the more plum appointments on his firm, but he is not shy about switching his allegiance if the situation seems to call for it, as in "The Merger" when he hopes to get a similarly prestigious post at High Cross after the rumoured merger with St. Swithin's.
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* ProfessionalButtKisser: Bingham sucks up shamelessly to Prof. Loftus throughout ''Doctor at Large'' and ''Doctor in Charge'' in a bid to get the more plum appointments on his firm, but he is not shy about switching his allegiance if the situation seems to call for it, as in "The Merger" when he hopes to get a similarly prestigious post at High Cross Highcross after the rumoured merger with St. Swithin's.
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** With Richard O'Sullivan leaving to star in ''Man About the House'' after ''Doctor in Charge'', Bingham was written out as becoming father to triplets and then leaving St. Swithin's for rival hospital High Cross (to Waring and Stuart-Clark's disgust). The character's shadow remained, though; when Sir Geoffrey finds Gascoigne seeing patients in half a dozen cubicles in casualty in the ''Doctor on the Go'' episode "Money Spasms", his reaction is to mutter, "Bingham?"
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** With Richard O'Sullivan leaving to star in ''Man About the House'' after ''Doctor in Charge'', Bingham was written out as becoming father to triplets and then leaving St. Swithin's for rival hospital High Cross Highcross (to Waring and Stuart-Clark's disgust). The character's shadow remained, though; when Sir Geoffrey finds Gascoigne seeing patients in half a dozen cubicles in casualty in the ''Doctor on the Go'' episode "Money Spasms", his reaction is to mutter, "Bingham?"
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* UnexpectedInheritance: In "It's the Rich Wot Gets the Pleasure" from ''Doctor at Large'', Stuart-Clark's wealthy uncle James has died and left him £50,000; he, Upton, and Bingham get stinking drunk to celebrate. It is not until they are hauled up before the St. Swithin's Board of Directors that Loftus points out that the money is not his directly, but is his to donate to the hospital of his choice. He threatens to donate it to rival hospital High Cross unless he, Upton, and Bingham are re-instated at St. Swithin's.
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* UnexpectedInheritance: In "It's the Rich Wot Gets the Pleasure" from ''Doctor at Large'', Stuart-Clark's wealthy uncle James has died and left him £50,000; he, Upton, and Bingham get stinking drunk to celebrate. It is not until they are hauled up before the St. Swithin's Board of Directors that Loftus points out that the money is not his directly, but is his to donate to the hospital of his choice. He threatens to donate it to rival hospital High Cross Highcross unless he, Upton, and Bingham are re-instated at St. Swithin's.
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* BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats: The Freemasons make an appearance in "Climbing the Ladder" from ''Doctor in Charge'', in which Stuart-Clark is invited to join the society and Waring and Collier play a joke on him by inviting him to a fake initiation ceremony. In revenge, Stuart-Clark invites them to an imaginary orgy; suspecting the trick, they call the police on the "orgy", which turns out to be a Masonic meeting with attendees including Prof. Loftus and the Chief Constable.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The first few episodes of ''Doctor in Charge'' featured recurring appearances by Victor Platt and Mollie Sugden as Duncan Waring's parents, and Sammie Winmill as his girlfriend Sandra Crumpton. The characters were dropped a few episodes in so that the series could focus on events at St. Swithin's rather than dividing attention between the hospital and Waring's home life.
* CoolCar: When Waring returns from America at the beginning of ''Doctor in Charge'', he has his vintage Oldsmobile shipped back to England, impressing his colleagues at St. Swithin's. Collier likes it so much that he borrows it to impress a girl in "Which Doctor?" - but as he didn't ask Waring first, he assumes the car was stolen and files a police report.
* CoolCar: When Waring returns from America at the beginning of ''Doctor in Charge'', he has his vintage Oldsmobile shipped back to England, impressing his colleagues at St. Swithin's. Collier likes it so much that he borrows it to impress a girl in "Which Doctor?" - but as he didn't ask Waring first, he assumes the car was stolen and files a police report.
* TheMissusAndTheEx: "For Your Own Good" from ''Doctor on the Go'' features a gender-inverted version, in which Gascoigne's father is admitted to St. Swithin's with a head injury, and his wife turns out to be an old girlfriend of Loftus' whom the elder Gascoigne seduced away from him while he was on holiday several decades earlier.
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* ShoutOut: The character of Dick Stuart-Clark is believed to be named for Chris Stuart-Clark, a Cambridge Footlights contemporary of early series writers Creator/GrahamChapman, Creator/JohnCleese, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie.
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* ShoutOut: The character of Dick Stuart-Clark is believed to be named for Chris Stuart-Clark, a Cambridge Footlights contemporary of early series writers Creator/GrahamChapman, Creator/JohnCleese, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie.Oddie, and series producer Humphrey Barclay. Chris Stuart-Clark appeared in early performances of the 1963 revue ''A Clump of Plinths'' alongside Chapman, Cleese, Oddie, and ''Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain'' cast members Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Hatch, and Jo Kendall,[[note]] Garden did not appear in the revue, but did write some of the sketches; Barclay was the production's director.[[/note]] but he left to become a teacher and was replaced by fellow Footlights member and future ''Doctor in the House'' cast member and writer Jonathan Lynn.
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The franchise made one final return to the small screen (and one final ChannelHop) in 1991 with ''Doctor at the Top'', which aired for seven episodes on Creator/TheBBC. Waring and Stuart-Clark were back at St. Swithin's, but were now firmly part of the establishment rather than rebelling against it, with Waring now married to Loftus' daughter Geraldine and father to five daughters, while Stuart-Clark had succeeded Sir Geoffrey as Professor of Surgery, and a returning Paul Collier divided his time between the hospital and a regular television engagement.
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The franchise made one final return to the small screen (and one final ChannelHop) in 1991 with ''Doctor at the Top'', which aired for seven episodes on Creator/TheBBC. Waring and Stuart-Clark were back at St. Swithin's, but were now firmly part of the establishment rather than rebelling against it, with Waring now married to Loftus' daughter Geraldine and father to five daughters, while Stuart-Clark had succeeded Sir Geoffrey as Professor of Surgery, and a returning Paul Collier divided his time between the hospital and a regular television engagement.
engagement. The position of resident suck-up was now taken by Dr. Lionel Snell (Roger Sloman).
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* WeddingDay:
** The ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "This is Your Wife" sees Lawrence Bingham marrying Waring's former AbhorrentAdmirer Dr. Mary Parsons, although as Bingham is worried Parsons might not get a promised promotion if it is known she is married, he and Waring try to keep the ceremony a secret until the last minute (inevitably arousing suspicion in Stuart-Clark and Collier).
** The last episode of ''Doctor on the Go'', "Happy Ever After", seems to be building toward the marriage of Duncan Waring and Kate Wright, but they eventually have second thoughts and decide to call it off, remaining JustFriends.
** The ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "This is Your Wife" sees Lawrence Bingham marrying Waring's former AbhorrentAdmirer Dr. Mary Parsons, although as Bingham is worried Parsons might not get a promised promotion if it is known she is married, he and Waring try to keep the ceremony a secret until the last minute (inevitably arousing suspicion in Stuart-Clark and Collier).
** The last episode of ''Doctor on the Go'', "Happy Ever After", seems to be building toward the marriage of Duncan Waring and Kate Wright, but they eventually have second thoughts and decide to call it off, remaining JustFriends.
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* GrandFinale: Sometimes played straight, sometimes averted.
** ''Doctor in the House'' was the only series to end with a real sense of finality, with the main cast passing their final exams and qualifying as doctors, although ''Doctor at Sea'' did end with an abortive return to St. Swithin's by Waring and Stuart-Clark (only to find Sir Geoffrey has booked passage on the ''Begonia'' after they go back to sea), while ''Doctor on the Go'' finished with Duncan Waring and Kate Wright calling off their engagement.
** The other series completely averted this with "just another episode" finales; ''Doctor at Large'' ended with Upton struggling to get Stuart-Clark a vacant position on Loftus' firm, ''Doctor in Charge'' finished with an abortive reunion between the main characters and a down on his luck Danny Hooley, ''Doctor Down Under'' concluded with an episode in which hospital orderlies mix up patient nametags, causing confusion among the doctors, and ''Doctor at the Top'' wound up with Waring trying his luck at Collier's private practice on Harley Street but deciding to return to St. Swithin's.
** ''Doctor in the House'' was the only series to end with a real sense of finality, with the main cast passing their final exams and qualifying as doctors, although ''Doctor at Sea'' did end with an abortive return to St. Swithin's by Waring and Stuart-Clark (only to find Sir Geoffrey has booked passage on the ''Begonia'' after they go back to sea), while ''Doctor on the Go'' finished with Duncan Waring and Kate Wright calling off their engagement.
** The other series completely averted this with "just another episode" finales; ''Doctor at Large'' ended with Upton struggling to get Stuart-Clark a vacant position on Loftus' firm, ''Doctor in Charge'' finished with an abortive reunion between the main characters and a down on his luck Danny Hooley, ''Doctor Down Under'' concluded with an episode in which hospital orderlies mix up patient nametags, causing confusion among the doctors, and ''Doctor at the Top'' wound up with Waring trying his luck at Collier's private practice on Harley Street but deciding to return to St. Swithin's.
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** ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor on the Go'' had two 13-episode seasons each, while ''Doctor at Sea'' had just one 13-episode season. ''Doctor Down Under'' spread 13 episodes across two seasons, and ''Doctor at the Top'' had a single seven-episode season.
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** ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor on the Go'' had two 13-episode seasons series each, while ''Doctor at Sea'' had just one 13-episode season. series. ''Doctor Down Under'' spread 13 episodes across two seasons, series, and ''Doctor at the Top'' had a single seven-episode season.series.
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* BritishBrevity: Sometimes played straight, sometimes averted. The seven series in the franchise had a total of 157 episodes, but they were rather unevenly distributed:
** ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor on the Go'' had two 13-episode seasons each, while ''Doctor at Sea'' had just one 13-episode season. ''Doctor Down Under'' spread 13 episodes across two seasons, and ''Doctor at the Top'' had a single seven-episode season.
** At the other end of the scale, ''Doctor at Large'' ran for a single 29-episode series, while ''Doctor in Charge'' had two series, one of 27 episodes and one of 16 episodes.
** ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor on the Go'' had two 13-episode seasons each, while ''Doctor at Sea'' had just one 13-episode season. ''Doctor Down Under'' spread 13 episodes across two seasons, and ''Doctor at the Top'' had a single seven-episode season.
** At the other end of the scale, ''Doctor at Large'' ran for a single 29-episode series, while ''Doctor in Charge'' had two series, one of 27 episodes and one of 16 episodes.
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* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: As mentioned in ActingForTwo, Sir Geoffrey Loftus has an identical twin brother, Captain Norman Loftus of the MS ''Begonia'', while Lawrence Bingham is part of a set of identical ''triplets'' along with his brothers Lionel and Leonard.
* BottleEpisode:
** "A Stitch in Time" from ''Doctor in the House'' is set entirely in the casualty ward at St. Swithin's, with only Upton, Waring, and Loftus from the main cast appearing in the episode. Upton and Waring treat a shopkeeper injured in a robbery, and then the robber, whose ear was severely cut, shows up to receive treatment (Loftus, who is in as a patient rather than as a doctor, stitches the crook's ear to a pillow and a carelessly bandaged policeman is able to knock him unconscious).
** The ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Long, Long Night" follows in the footsteps of "A Stitch in Time" by being set entirely in casualty, with just Waring and Bingham from the regular cast and three other actors (two patients and a medical officer). The plot revolves around a sailor just back from Asia showing all the symptoms of smallpox (actually chicken pox) whose pet mouse bites Waring and Bingham (forcing them to be quarantined for rabies).
** "A Stitch in Time" from ''Doctor in the House'' is set entirely in the casualty ward at St. Swithin's, with only Upton, Waring, and Loftus from the main cast appearing in the episode. Upton and Waring treat a shopkeeper injured in a robbery, and then the robber, whose ear was severely cut, shows up to receive treatment (Loftus, who is in as a patient rather than as a doctor, stitches the crook's ear to a pillow and a carelessly bandaged policeman is able to knock him unconscious).
** The ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Long, Long Night" follows in the footsteps of "A Stitch in Time" by being set entirely in casualty, with just Waring and Bingham from the regular cast and three other actors (two patients and a medical officer). The plot revolves around a sailor just back from Asia showing all the symptoms of smallpox (actually chicken pox) whose pet mouse bites Waring and Bingham (forcing them to be quarantined for rabies).
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* TheEveryman: Though Upton did occasionally get drunk and pursue women, he was far more moderate than most of his fellow students, and tended to play the role of TheStraightMan in most of the hijinks that went on at St. Swithin's.
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* TheEveryman: Though Upton did occasionally get drunk and pursue women, he was far more moderate than most of his fellow students, and tended to play the role of TheStraightMan in most of the hijinks that went on at St. Swithin's. The tone of the series became somewhat wackier after Waring returned to become the central character starting with ''Doctor in Charge''.
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* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** In "The Taming of the Wolf" from ''Doctor in Charge'', Loftus delivers a third-person version to Stuart-Clark, Collier, and Waring in front of a new group of female physiotherapists as a way of stopping the doctors' attempts to seduce them before they start. He describes Stuart-Clark as a "lanky, straw-haired tailor's dummy" who masks his voracious sexual appetite with oily charm, Collier as having an ambition to grow up and become a doctor and having only succeeded in the latter, and Waring as a beer-swilling lecher who presents himself as harmless but is really a danger to anything in a skirt. (Bingham gets dismissed completely as part of the same tirade.)
** Waring and Collier deliver a well-intentioned one to Stuart-Clark in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "A Deep Depression Centred over St. Swithin's" after he accidentally brings the wrong patient in for a leg amputation (which Sir Geoffrey only just notices before he makes the first cut). They point out that he's frankly incompetent as an anaesthetist (in several other episodes, Loftus remarks that Stuart-Clark is more likely to be asleep during operations than his patients are), and is getting too old to still be enthusiastically pursuing young nurses.
** In "The Taming of the Wolf" from ''Doctor in Charge'', Loftus delivers a third-person version to Stuart-Clark, Collier, and Waring in front of a new group of female physiotherapists as a way of stopping the doctors' attempts to seduce them before they start. He describes Stuart-Clark as a "lanky, straw-haired tailor's dummy" who masks his voracious sexual appetite with oily charm, Collier as having an ambition to grow up and become a doctor and having only succeeded in the latter, and Waring as a beer-swilling lecher who presents himself as harmless but is really a danger to anything in a skirt. (Bingham gets dismissed completely as part of the same tirade.)
** Waring and Collier deliver a well-intentioned one to Stuart-Clark in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "A Deep Depression Centred over St. Swithin's" after he accidentally brings the wrong patient in for a leg amputation (which Sir Geoffrey only just notices before he makes the first cut). They point out that he's frankly incompetent as an anaesthetist (in several other episodes, Loftus remarks that Stuart-Clark is more likely to be asleep during operations than his patients are), and is getting too old to still be enthusiastically pursuing young nurses.
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* TheCasanova: Though most of the main characters were inveterate skirt-chasers, the king of womanising was Dick Stuart-Clark, who never missed an opportunity to turn the charm on around an attractive fellow student or nurse. Several episodes revolved around characters warning him that eventually that charm would come across as creepy, pushing him over the line to DirtyOldMan.
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* TheCasanova: Though most of the main characters were inveterate skirt-chasers, the king of womanising was Dick Stuart-Clark, who never missed an opportunity to turn the charm on around an attractive fellow student or nurse. Several episodes revolved revolve around characters warning him that eventually that charm would will come across as creepy, pushing him over the line to DirtyOldMan.DirtyOldMan.
* CoughSnarkCough: "Mother and Father Doing Well" from ''Doctor at Large'' features an example as Upton, Stuart-Clark, Collier, and Huw Evans are trying to help Evans' wife Pippa bluff her way through impersonating a nurse as Loftus stitches a cut on Evans' forehead. After first interpreting Loftus' instruction to put some antiseptic in a gallipot (a glass dish) to mean "put the bottle itself in the dish", she opens the bottle and pours in a tiny dribble of antiseptic. Collier fakes a sneeze while shouting "MORE!"
* CoughSnarkCough: "Mother and Father Doing Well" from ''Doctor at Large'' features an example as Upton, Stuart-Clark, Collier, and Huw Evans are trying to help Evans' wife Pippa bluff her way through impersonating a nurse as Loftus stitches a cut on Evans' forehead. After first interpreting Loftus' instruction to put some antiseptic in a gallipot (a glass dish) to mean "put the bottle itself in the dish", she opens the bottle and pours in a tiny dribble of antiseptic. Collier fakes a sneeze while shouting "MORE!"
* OnOneCondition: Dick Stuart-Clark's wealthy aunt had a clause in her will stating that he would receive a fixed amount of money each year while he was studying to be a doctor. By the time ''Doctor in the House'' starts, he has deliberately failed his first-year exams five times so that he can keep receiving the income without actually having to work for it.
* UnexpectedInheritance: In "It's the Rich Wot Gets the Pleasure" from ''Doctor at Large'', Stuart-Clark's wealthy uncle James has died and left him £50,000; he, Upton, and Bingham get stinking drunk to celebrate. It is not until they are hauled up before the St. Swithin's Board of Directors that Loftus points out that the money is not his directly, but is his to donate to the hospital of his choice. He threatens to donate it to rival hospital High Cross unless he, Upton, and Bingham are re-instated at St. Swithin's.
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** Creator/DavidJason played a non-English-speaking patient in the ''Doctor in the House'' episode "What Seems to Be the Trouble?", and later appeared as a gardener and psychiatry patient in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Let's Start at the Beginning".
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** Creator/DavidJason played a non-English-speaking patient in the ''Doctor in the House'' episode "What Seems to Be the Trouble?", and later appeared as a gardener and psychiatry patient in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Let's Start at the Beginning".Beginning", and a Spaniard stowing away on the ''Begonia'' to get back home to Tenerife in the ''Doctor at Sea'' episode "Go Away, Stowaway!".
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** Harold Bennett, familiar as Young Mr. Grace in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', played a similar sort of senile old man to Young Mr. Grace, first as a visiting dignitary in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Merger", and then in a recurring role as elderly hospital board member Mr. Reeves.
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** Harold Bennett, familiar as Young Mr. Grace in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', played a similar sort of senile old man to Young Mr. Grace, first in a recurring role as elderly hospital board member Mr. Reeves starting with ''Doctor at Large'', then as a visiting dignitary in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Merger", and then in a recurring role as elderly hospital board member Mr. Reeves.Merger".
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* GenderBlenderName: "A Little Help from My Friends" from ''Doctor at Large'' finds Upton reviewing potential replacements for Collier as a staff member at his current employer, and the best application comes from a Dr. Nicky Barrington. When he meets Dr. Barrington, he discovers that "Nicky" is short for "Nicola" (female doctors still being seen as highly unusual in 1971).
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* NaughtyNurseOutfit: "Take Off Your Clothes... and Hide" from ''Doctor in the House'' finds the main characters at a strip club when one of the dancers falls ill on stage. They take her to St Swithin's where, out of boredom, [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold she starts helping around the ward]]. The boys do ther best to convince her to give up stripping and become a nurse, and it seems that they succeed. At the end of the episode, she is seen in a nurse's uniform - but it's just a new costume for her latest routine at the club.
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* TitleThemeDrop: The series' theme tune (which mostly remained unchanged, apart from being mixed with "Sailor's Hornpipe" for ''Doctor at Sea'') appeared in a variety of guises as incidental music. For example, in the ''Doctor in the House'' episode "All for Love..." a slow, bittersweet violin version plays as Upton reflects on the end of his relationship with Loftus' daughter (unaware that, right behind him, she is now seeing Huw Evans), while in "Take Off Your Clothes... and Hide", a burlesque version plays as stripper Rita peels off her nurse's costume.
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* ProfessionalButtKisser: Bingham sucks up shamelessly to Prof. Loftus throughout ''Doctor at Large'' and ''Doctor in Charge'' in a bid to get the more plum appointments on his firm, but he is not shy about switching his allegiance if the situation seems to call for it, as in "The Merger" when he hopes to get a similarly prestigious post at High Cross after the rumoured merger with St. Swithin's.
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* HypocriticalHumour: In the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Merger", Bingham is talking the hospital chaplain's ears off about his latest surgery, while the chaplain tries to get a word in edgewise about his discovery that the hospital chapel is over eight hundred years old, making St. Swithin's Britain's oldest hospital. Eventually Bingham joins Waring, Stuart-Clark, and Collier... and immediately complains about how the chaplain doesn't know when to shut up.
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* HenpeckedHusband: Mr. Clifford, the proprietor of the hotel at which Upton is staying in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "No Ill Feeling!", lives very much under the thumb of his wife. The episode was written by Creator/JohnCleese, and the dynamic between the Cliffords was an inspiration for the dynamic of Basil and Sybil Fawlty's marriage in ''Series/FawltyTowers'' (for which "No Ill Feeling!" is often named as a heavily-disguised pilot).
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* HenpeckedHusband: Mr. Clifford, the proprietor of the hotel at which Upton is staying in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "No Ill Feeling!", lives very much under the thumb of his wife. The episode was written by Creator/JohnCleese, and the dynamic between the Cliffords was an inspiration for the dynamic of Basil and Sybil Fawlty's marriage in ''Series/FawltyTowers'' (for which "No Ill Feeling!" is often named as a heavily-disguised pilot).pilot, Cleese's script being written soon after his sojourn at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay which first gave him the idea for ''Fawlty Towers'').
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* HenpeckedHusband: Mr. Clifford, the proprietor of the hotel at which Upton is staying in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "No Ill Feeling!", lives very much under the thumb of his wife. The episode was written by Creator/JohnCleese, and the dynamic between the Cliffords was an inspiration for the dynamic of Basil and Sybil Fawlty's marriage in ''Series/FawltyTowers'' (for which "No Ill Feeling!" is often named as a heavily-disguised pilot).
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** When Huw Evans' wife is disguised as a nurse and smuggled into the operating theatre where Evans is having stitches put in a cut in his forehead in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Mother and Father Doing Well", Loftus offers to perform the surgery himself and assumes Mrs. Evans really is a nurse. When Upton tries to stall by claiming surgery can't begin because the nurse hasn't arrived, Loftus looks over his shoulder at Mrs. Evans and drily remarks, "Is there a history of insanity in your family, Upton?"
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** When Huw Evans' heavily pregnant wife is disguised as a nurse and smuggled into the operating theatre where Evans is having stitches put in a cut in his forehead in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Mother and Father Doing Well", Loftus offers to perform the surgery himself and assumes Mrs. Evans really is a nurse. When Upton tries to stall by claiming surgery can't begin because the nurse hasn't arrived, Loftus looks over his shoulder at Mrs. Evans and drily remarks, "Is there a history of insanity in your family, Upton?"
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** Harold Bennett, familiar as Young Mr. Grace in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', played a similar sort of senile old man to Young Mr. Grace, first as a visiting digitary in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Merger", and then in a recurring role as elderly hospital board member Mr. Reeves.
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** Harold Bennett, familiar as Young Mr. Grace in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', played a similar sort of senile old man to Young Mr. Grace, first as a visiting digitary dignitary in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Merger", and then in a recurring role as elderly hospital board member Mr. Reeves.
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* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Hospital administrator Adrian Quint, as played by Angus Deayton in the ''Doctor at the Top'' episode "The V.I.P.", refuses to spend much-needed money on improving the hospital's outdated wards and equipment until Waring tricks him into thinking the Prince of Wales is arriving at the hospital for surgery (it is, in fact, a young child who happens to be named Charles Windsor).
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* SternTeacher: Loftus plays this role in ''Doctor in the House''; he has a very no-nonsense approach to his position as Professor of Surgery, as he takes medicine extremely seriously and demands that anyone wishing to become a doctor do likewise. In "It's All Go..." he almost paralyses Upton with terror by shouting that if he can't answer an anatomy question correctly, his (imaginary) patient will bleed to death in 30 seconds. However, he does know talent when he sees it, and admits to being so tough on the students to prod them into tapping into their natural abilities if only to show him up.
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** When Huw Evans' wife is disguised as a nurse and smuggled into the operating theatre where Evans is having stitches put in a cut in his forehead in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Mother and Father Doing Well", Loftus offers to perform the surgery himself and assumes Mrs. Evans really is a nurse. When Upton tries to stall by claiming surgery can't begin because the nurse hasn't arrived, Loftus looks over his shoulder at Mrs. Evans and drily remarks, "Is there a history of insanity in your family, Upton?"
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* OhCrap: The students/doctors often had this look when Loftus found evidence of their scheming or shirking. A notable example comes from the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Operation Loftus", when he returns from an extended trip to America to take up his position as Professor of Surgery at St. Swithin's. In his absence, Stuart-Clark has been running all sorts of money-making schemes, and dumping all the real work on the more than willing Bingham. He gets a series of increasingly alarmed looks when Loftus returns (finding Stuart-Clark in the bar, which he now opens for lunch) and announces that he is not only resuming his position as Professor of Surgery, but has been appointed to the Board of Governors and will be conducting a thorough review of everything that goes on at St. Swithin's.
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* SpitTake: In "Pass or Fail", the first series finale from ''Doctor in the House'', the main cast are drinking a toast "to absent friends" after hearing that Loftus will be in New Zealand for exam season... just as Loftus walks in behind them. Briddock sees him first and spits out the mouthful of beer he has just drunk.
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Waring and Stuart-Clark returned to dry land and St. Swithin's for ''Doctor on the Go'', which aired for two series in 1975 and 1977. Still under Loftus' thumb, they found new allies in Scottish physician Andy Mackenzie (Jonathan Kane), bright surgeon Kate Wright (Jacqui-Ann Carr), and UpperClassTwit James Gascoigne (Andrew Knox). The series more or less picked up where ''Doctor in Charge'' had left off, with Waring and Stuart-Clark trying to enjoy themselves and avoid the worst of Sir Geoffrey's wrath.
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Waring and Stuart-Clark returned to dry land and St. Swithin's for ''Doctor on the Go'', which aired for two series in 1975 and 1977. Still under Loftus' thumb, they found new allies in Scottish physician Andy Mackenzie (Jonathan (John Kane), bright surgeon Kate Wright (Jacqui-Ann Carr), and UpperClassTwit James Gascoigne (Andrew Knox). The series more or less picked up where ''Doctor in Charge'' had left off, with Waring and Stuart-Clark trying to enjoy themselves and avoid the worst of Sir Geoffrey's wrath.
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** Christopher Biggins (alias Nero in ''Series/IClaudius'') may hold the record with appearances in four series: an expectant father ''Doctor at Large'', a patient in ''Doctor in Charge'', a ship's steward in ''Doctor at Sea'', and a male nurse in ''Doctor on the Go''.
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The franchise made one final return to the small screen (and one final ChannelHop) in 1991 with ''Doctor at the Top'', which aired for seven episodes on Creator/TheBBC. Waring and Stuart-Clark were back at St. Swithin's, but were now firmly part of the establishment rather than rebelling against it, with Waring now married to Loftus' daughter Valerie and father to five daughters, while Stuart-Clark had succeeded Sir Geoffrey as Professor of Surgery, and a returning Paul Collier divided his time between the hospital and a regular television engagement.
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The franchise made one final return to the small screen (and one final ChannelHop) in 1991 with ''Doctor at the Top'', which aired for seven episodes on Creator/TheBBC. Waring and Stuart-Clark were back at St. Swithin's, but were now firmly part of the establishment rather than rebelling against it, with Waring now married to Loftus' daughter Valerie Geraldine and father to five daughters, while Stuart-Clark had succeeded Sir Geoffrey as Professor of Surgery, and a returning Paul Collier divided his time between the hospital and a regular television engagement.
* ActingForTwo:
** In the second series ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "Brotherly Hate", Richard O'Sullivan plays ''three'' roles: Lawrence Bingham, his identical brother Lionel (who impersonates Lawrence to persuade Sir Geoffrey to take Collier on as a surgeon), and, in the episode's final scene, Lawrence and Lionel's identical brother Leonard. All three appear on screen at once via the use of green screening (although the effects are rather obvious, as the colours don't quite match).
** Ernest Clark plays both Sir Geoffrey Loftus and Captain Norman Loftus in ''Doctor at Sea'', with both brothers appearing in the first and last episodes, "Sir John and Baby Doc" and "But It's So Much Nicer to Come Home". As in "Brotherly Hate", Clark's appearance as both characters on screen simultaneously is achieved through green screen techniques.
** In the second series ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "Brotherly Hate", Richard O'Sullivan plays ''three'' roles: Lawrence Bingham, his identical brother Lionel (who impersonates Lawrence to persuade Sir Geoffrey to take Collier on as a surgeon), and, in the episode's final scene, Lawrence and Lionel's identical brother Leonard. All three appear on screen at once via the use of green screening (although the effects are rather obvious, as the colours don't quite match).
** Ernest Clark plays both Sir Geoffrey Loftus and Captain Norman Loftus in ''Doctor at Sea'', with both brothers appearing in the first and last episodes, "Sir John and Baby Doc" and "But It's So Much Nicer to Come Home". As in "Brotherly Hate", Clark's appearance as both characters on screen simultaneously is achieved through green screen techniques.
** Martin Shaw left ''Doctor in the House'' after one series; Huw Evans was mentioned as participating in an obstetrics programme in Portsmouth, with Danny Hooley taking over as the cast's resident non-English doctor. Hooley then disappeared after the second series of ''Doctor in the House''. Both characters appeared in one episode each after their departure, Evans as a nervous expectant father in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Mother and Father Doing Well" and Hooley struggling after having been struck off in the ''Doctor in Charge'' finale "Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?"
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** Bingham only ever drank tomato juice; the few times the other characters ordered him a Bloody Mary in secret, it took very little to get him fall-down drunk.
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** Bingham only ever drank tomato juice; the few times the other characters ordered him a Bloody Mary in secret, secret (such as "It's the Rich Wot Gets the Pleasure" in ''Doctor at Large'' or "Face the Music" in ''Doctor in Charge''), it took very little to get him fall-down drunk.
* FreudianExcuse: In "Brotherly Hate" from ''Doctor in Charge'', we learn that Lawrence Bingham's "all work and (almost) no play" attitude is at least partly due to feeling inferior to his brothers Lionel and Leonard. Lionel in particular was captain of the school rugby team, while Lawrence was active instead in the trainspotter's club, and at one point Lawrence shouts, "Nanny loved you best!"
* LadykillerInLove: Duncan Waring spent most of the series enthusiastically pursuing nurses, but in ''Doctor on the Go'' he entered a serious relationship with fellow surgeon Kate Wright, getting engaged at the end of the first series. However, on their wedding day, they had second thoughts and called it off, deciding to remain JustFriends. Waring was back to his old ways by the beginning of ''Doctor Down Under'', but ends up married to Loftus' daughter in ''Doctor at the Top''.
* LadykillerInLove: Duncan Waring spent most of the series enthusiastically pursuing nurses, but in ''Doctor on the Go'' he entered a serious relationship with fellow surgeon Kate Wright, getting engaged at the end of the first series. However, on their wedding day, they had second thoughts and called it off, deciding to remain JustFriends. Waring was back to his old ways by the beginning of ''Doctor Down Under'', but ends up married to Loftus' daughter in ''Doctor at the Top''.
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** Martin Shaw left ''Doctor in the House'' after one series; Huw Evans was mentioned as participating in an obstetrics programme in Portsmouth, with Danny Hooley taking over as the cast's resident non-English doctor. Hooley then disappeared after the second series of ''Doctor in the House''. Both characters appeared in one episode each after their departure, Evans as a nervous expectant father in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Mother and Father Doing Well" and Hooley struggling after having been struck off in the ''Doctor in Charge'' finale "Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?"
** Simon Cuff as Dave Briddock also left the series after ''Doctor in the House'', although Briddock's name still turned up a few times in ''Doctor at Large''.
** Simon Cuff as Dave Briddock also left the series after ''Doctor in the House'', although Briddock's name still turned up a few times in ''Doctor at Large''.
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* YouLookFamiliar: Several actors made multiple appearances across the various series.
** Creator/DavidJason played a non-English-speaking patient in the ''Doctor in the House'' episode "What Seems to Be the Trouble?", and later appeared as a gardener and psychiatry patient in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Let's Start at the Beginning".
** Mollie Sugden, best known as Mrs. Slocombe in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', played a white witch's patient in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "It's All in the Mind", and later had a recurring role as Duncan Waring's mother in the first few episodes of ''Doctor in Charge''.
** Harold Bennett, familiar as Young Mr. Grace in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', played a similar sort of senile old man to Young Mr. Grace, first as a visiting digitary in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Merger", and then in a recurring role as elderly hospital board member Mr. Reeves.
** Creator/DavidJason played a non-English-speaking patient in the ''Doctor in the House'' episode "What Seems to Be the Trouble?", and later appeared as a gardener and psychiatry patient in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Let's Start at the Beginning".
** Mollie Sugden, best known as Mrs. Slocombe in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', played a white witch's patient in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "It's All in the Mind", and later had a recurring role as Duncan Waring's mother in the first few episodes of ''Doctor in Charge''.
** Harold Bennett, familiar as Young Mr. Grace in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', played a similar sort of senile old man to Young Mr. Grace, first as a visiting digitary in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Merger", and then in a recurring role as elderly hospital board member Mr. Reeves.
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The increasingly unreliable Barry Evans was let go after ''Doctor at Large'', so Robin Nedwell was brought back as Duncan Waring to be the central character of ''Doctor in Charge'', which aired for two series in 1972 and 1973. Waring, Stuart-Clark, Collier, and Bingham were now established doctors on Loftus' firm: Waring and Bingham as surgeons, Stuart-Clark as an anaesthetist (and more likely to fall asleep in the operating theatre than his patients), and Collier as a radiologist. A notable story arc from the first series saw Loftus put forth for a knighthood; the first series finale involved the hijinks involved in getting him to Buckingham Palace to become Sir Geoffrey Loftus.
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The increasingly unreliable Barry Evans was let go after ''Doctor at Large'', so Robin Nedwell was brought back as Duncan Waring to be the central character of ''Doctor in Charge'', which aired for two series in 1972 and 1973. Waring, Stuart-Clark, Collier, and Bingham were now established doctors on Loftus' firm: firm at St. Swithin's: Waring and Bingham as surgeons, Stuart-Clark as an anaesthetist (and more likely to fall asleep in the operating theatre than his patients), and Collier as a radiologist. A notable story arc from the first series saw Loftus put forth for a knighthood; the first series finale involved the hijinks involved in getting him to Buckingham Palace to become Sir Geoffrey Loftus.
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''Doctor in the House'' was the first series in the TV franchise, airing on [[Creator/{{ITV}} London Weekend Television]] for two series in 1969 and 1970. It starred Barry Evans as doctor's son [[TheEveryman Michael Upton]], eager to follow in his father's footsteps at the same hospital at which his father trained. His fellow students include self-styled comic Duncan Waring (Robin Nedwell), suave upper-class charmer [[TheCasanova Dick Stuart-Clark]] (Geoffrey Davies), academic struggler Paul Collier (George Layton), and hard-drinking rugby players Dave Briddock (Simon Cuff) and Huw Evans (Martin Shaw); in the second series, Evans was replaced by Irish boxer Danny Hooley (Jonathan Lynn). The students lived in fear of the autocratic yet brilliant surgeon Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark), who had no patience for their pranks or debauchery.
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''Doctor in the House'' was the first series in the TV franchise, airing on [[Creator/{{ITV}} London Weekend Television]] for two series in 1969 and 1970. It starred Barry Evans as doctor's son [[TheEveryman Michael Upton]], eager to follow in his father's footsteps at the same hospital at which his father trained. His fellow students include included self-styled comic Duncan Waring (Robin Nedwell), suave upper-class charmer [[TheCasanova Dick Stuart-Clark]] (Geoffrey Davies), academic struggler Paul Collier (George Layton), and hard-drinking rugby players Dave Briddock (Simon Cuff) and Huw Evans (Martin Shaw); in the second series, Evans was replaced by Irish boxer Danny Hooley (Jonathan Lynn). The students lived in fear of the autocratic yet brilliant surgeon Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark), who had no patience for their pranks or debauchery.
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George Layton left the franchise to star in ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'', while Richard O'Sullivan took the lead role in ''Series/ManAboutTheHouse'', so in the next series from 1974, ''Doctor at Sea'', the central cast was down to Waring and Stuart-Clark, with Ernest Clark appearing as Sir Geoffrey's twin brother, Captain Norman Loftus. Having fallen out with Sir Geoffrey, Waring and Stuart-Clark get jobs on the cruise ship MS ''Begonia'' as ship's surgeons, but are far more interested in drinking and pursuing the female passengers than in actually practising medicine.
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George Layton left the franchise to star in ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'', while Richard O'Sullivan took the lead role in ''Series/ManAboutTheHouse'', so in the next series from 1974, ''Doctor at Sea'', the central cast was down to Waring and Stuart-Clark, with Ernest Clark appearing as Sir Geoffrey's twin brother, Captain Norman Loftus. Having fallen out with Sir Geoffrey, Waring and Stuart-Clark get got jobs on the cruise ship MS ''Begonia'' as ship's surgeons, but are were far more interested in drinking and pursuing the female passengers than in actually practising medicine.
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''Doctor in the House'' was the first series in the TV franchise, airing on [[Creator/{{ITV}} London Weekend Television]] for two series in 1969 and 1970. It starred Barry Evans as doctor's son [[TheEveryman Michael Upton]], eager to follow in his father's footsteps at the same hospital at which his father trained. His fellow students include self-styled comic Duncan Waring (Robin Nedwell), suave upper-class charmer [[TheCasanova Dick Stuart-Clark]], academic struggler Paul Collier (George Layton), and hard-drinking rugby players Dave Briddock (Simon Cuff) and Huw Evans (Martin Shaw); in the second series, Evans was replaced by Irish boxer Danny Hooley (Jonathan Lynn). The students lived in fear of the autocratic yet brilliant surgeon Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark), who had no patience for their pranks or debauchery.
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''Doctor in the House'' was the first series in the TV franchise, airing on [[Creator/{{ITV}} London Weekend Television]] for two series in 1969 and 1970. It starred Barry Evans as doctor's son [[TheEveryman Michael Upton]], eager to follow in his father's footsteps at the same hospital at which his father trained. His fellow students include self-styled comic Duncan Waring (Robin Nedwell), suave upper-class charmer [[TheCasanova Dick Stuart-Clark]], Stuart-Clark]] (Geoffrey Davies), academic struggler Paul Collier (George Layton), and hard-drinking rugby players Dave Briddock (Simon Cuff) and Huw Evans (Martin Shaw); in the second series, Evans was replaced by Irish boxer Danny Hooley (Jonathan Lynn). The students lived in fear of the autocratic yet brilliant surgeon Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark), who had no patience for their pranks or debauchery.
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Will have to do the cross-wicking later; putting all of the series on one page for now, may divide them up if the page gets too large.
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''Doctor in the House'' is the collective name for a series of seven British sitcoms about the misadventures of a group of medical students, later qualified doctors, at the fictional St. Swithin's Hospital in London. The ''Doctor'' franchise started as a series of books by Richard Gordon, several of which were [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted into films]] in the 1950s and 1960s starring Dirk Bogarde, and several stories from which were adapted into two radio series entitled ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor at Large'' in 1968-69 starring Richard Briers. The series finally made the leap to television in 1969, and remained a fixture of British screens for most of the following decade.
''Doctor in the House'' was the first series in the TV franchise, airing on [[Creator/{{ITV}} London Weekend Television]] for two series in 1969 and 1970. It starred Barry Evans as doctor's son [[TheEveryman Michael Upton]], eager to follow in his father's footsteps at the same hospital at which his father trained. His fellow students include self-styled comic Duncan Waring (Robin Nedwell), suave upper-class charmer [[TheCasanova Dick Stuart-Clark]], academic struggler Paul Collier (George Layton), and hard-drinking rugby players Dave Briddock (Simon Cuff) and Huw Evans (Martin Shaw); in the second series, Evans was replaced by Irish boxer Danny Hooley (Jonathan Lynn). The students lived in fear of the autocratic yet brilliant surgeon Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark), who had no patience for their pranks or debauchery.
The students graduated from St. Swithin's at the end of ''Doctor in the House'', so ''Doctor at Large'', which followed in 1971, found Upton, Stuart-Clark, and Collier as newly qualified doctors (Nedwell left to join the cast of ''The Lovers'', so Waring was PutOnABus, as were Briddock, Evans, and Hooley) trying to obtain gainful employment. The series also introduced the grovelling, uptight Lawrence Bingham (Richard O'Sullivan), a highly competent yet snobbish and humourless doctor who was often on the receiving end of pranks by the more laid-back main trio. Loftus was absent for most of the series, but returned just over halfway through, as determined as ever to squash the doctors' more irresponsible behaviour.
The increasingly unreliable Barry Evans was let go after ''Doctor at Large'', so Robin Nedwell was brought back as Duncan Waring to be the central character of ''Doctor in Charge'', which aired for two series in 1972 and 1973. Waring, Stuart-Clark, Collier, and Bingham were now established doctors on Loftus' firm: Waring and Bingham as surgeons, Stuart-Clark as an anaesthetist (and more likely to fall asleep in the operating theatre than his patients), and Collier as a radiologist. A notable story arc from the first series saw Loftus put forth for a knighthood; the first series finale involved the hijinks involved in getting him to Buckingham Palace to become Sir Geoffrey Loftus.
George Layton left the franchise to star in ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'', while Richard O'Sullivan took the lead role in ''Series/ManAboutTheHouse'', so in the next series from 1974, ''Doctor at Sea'', the central cast was down to Waring and Stuart-Clark, with Ernest Clark appearing as Sir Geoffrey's twin brother, Captain Norman Loftus. Having fallen out with Sir Geoffrey, Waring and Stuart-Clark get jobs on the cruise ship MS ''Begonia'' as ship's surgeons, but are far more interested in drinking and pursuing the female passengers than in actually practising medicine.
Waring and Stuart-Clark returned to dry land and St. Swithin's for ''Doctor on the Go'', which aired for two series in 1975 and 1977. Still under Loftus' thumb, they found new allies in Scottish physician Andy Mackenzie (Jonathan Kane), bright surgeon Kate Wright (Jacqui-Ann Carr), and UpperClassTwit James Gascoigne (Andrew Knox). The series more or less picked up where ''Doctor in Charge'' had left off, with Waring and Stuart-Clark trying to enjoy themselves and avoid the worst of Sir Geoffrey's wrath.
The series made not just a ChannelHop but a country hop in 1979, with ''Doctor Down Under'' airing on UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}'s Creator/SevenNetwork. Waring was now at St. Barnabbas' Hospital in Australia, with Stuart-Clark following in the first episode, both of them under the disapproving eye of surgeon Professor Norman Beaumont (Frank Wilson), and competing with the toadying Dr. Maurice Griffin (John Derum). Waring and Stuart-Clark were still drinkers and skirt-chasers, never shy about turning on their English charm around the Australian nurses.
The franchise made one final return to the small screen (and one final ChannelHop) in 1991 with ''Doctor at the Top'', which aired for seven episodes on Creator/TheBBC. Waring and Stuart-Clark were back at St. Swithin's, but were now firmly part of the establishment rather than rebelling against it, with Waring now married to Loftus' daughter Valerie and father to five daughters, while Stuart-Clark had succeeded Sir Geoffrey as Professor of Surgery, and a returning Paul Collier divided his time between the hospital and a regular television engagement.
The writers for ''Doctor in the House'', ''Doctor at Large'', and ''Doctor in Charge'' included Creator/MontyPython's Creator/GrahamChapman and Creator/JohnCleese, Barry Cryer, and ''Series/TheGoodies''[='=] Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie; the later series' writers included former cast members Jonathan Lynn and George Layton. Though the series were comedies first and foremost, due attention was paid to getting the medical details as close to correct as the rules of comedy would allow (Chapman and Garden had both graduated in medicine from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Garden and Oddie later joked that they divided their scripts so that Garden would write the medical scenes and Oddie would write the gags).
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!!Provides examples of:
* ArtShift: The climax of "There's No Fire Without Smoke" from the first series of ''Doctor in Charge'', in which Waring and Stuart-Clark are trying to get to a fire which Bingham believes is just a drill, is played as a parody of silent films, complete with title cards to render the dialogue and dramatic piano accompaniment.
* BigShutUp: Stuart-Clark delivers one of these when a massive argument breaks out between the anxious fathers in the maternity ward's waiting room in "Mother and Father Doing Well" from ''Doctor at Large''. He is genuinely surprised when it actually gets the fighting to stop.
* BrokeEpisode: The second series ''Doctor on the Go'' episode "Money Spasms" finds Waring, Stuart-Clark, and Mackenzie all financially in the red, and having to resort to pretending to be actors in order to be considered eligible for a drug trial which will pay them £50 each.
* TheBusCameBack:
** Robin Nedwell left the franchise after ''Doctor in the House'' to appear in ''The Lovers'' alongside Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox. However, he returned for ''Doctor in Charge'', and appeared in every episode of every further series. His absence was explained by Duncan Waring having been a research doctor at a hospital in Baltimore for the duration of ''Doctor at Large''.
** George Layton left after ''Doctor in Charge'' to star in ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'', with Paul Collier leaving St. Swithin's after going out for coffee and simply not returning (though he apparently did return briefly while Waring and Stuart-Clark were at sea). He came back for ''Doctor at the Top''.
* ButtMonkey: As a sexually abstinent, teetotal square who was nevertheless not above scheming and deception to get ahead, Lawrence Bingham was the most frequent victim of the other characters' pranks.
** In "A Joke's a Joke" from ''Doctor at Large'', he hides the signup sheet for anatomy demonstration candidates until the last minute, and, in revenge, is stripped naked in the hospital library with only a knight's helmet and a large medical reference book to hide his shame.
** In "Face the Music" from ''Doctor in Charge'', Bingham worms his way into becoming the replacement organist for the funeral service of a wealthy hospital donor's father; Waring, Stuart-Clark, and Collier spike his glasses of tomato juice and get him so drunk that he performs a raucous rendition of "Good Golly, Miss Molly" at the funeral.
* CantHoldHisLiquor:
** Bingham only ever drank tomato juice; the few times the other characters ordered him a Bloody Mary in secret, it took very little to get him fall-down drunk.
** Gascoigne only ever drank the odd half pint; any more than that and he would be flat on the floor. In "For Your Own Good" from the second series of ''Doctor on the Go'', he drinks half a pint of ''whiskey'' after an argument with his father and signs the latter up for every painful medical test he can think of.
* TheCasanova: Though most of the main characters were inveterate skirt-chasers, the king of womanising was Dick Stuart-Clark, who never missed an opportunity to turn the charm on around an attractive fellow student or nurse. Several episodes revolved around characters warning him that eventually that charm would come across as creepy, pushing him over the line to DirtyOldMan.
* DeadpanSnarker: Prof. Loftus had two modes of communication: barking with white-hot fury and the most deadpan of deadpan snarkery, generally opting for the former in the operating room and the latter everywhere else.
** In "All for Love..." from the first series of ''Doctor in the House'', Loftus discovers that Upton has lied about having to attend his grandmother's funeral to get out of having to write an essay and thus go on a date with a girl who turns out to be Loftus' daughter. His reaction is a deadpan "And did my daughter enjoy your grandmother's funeral?"
** In "Hot off the Presses" from the second series of ''Doctor in the House'', Loftus puts what he thinks is a patient's X-ray on a projector, only to find a negative of a cheesecake photo of Briddock's girlfriend. He turns to the nurse and says simply, "Will you break the news to Mr. Williamson or shall I?"
* TheEveryman: Though Upton did occasionally get drunk and pursue women, he was far more moderate than most of his fellow students, and tended to play the role of TheStraightMan in most of the hijinks that went on at St. Swithin's.
* ManipulativeEditing: "Doctor on the Box" from the second series of ''Doctor in the House'' sees Upton and Stuart-Clark being interviewed for a documentary on medical students. When the documentary finally airs, the footage has been chopped up and dubbed so that they look like alcoholic, skirt-chasing clowns who are wasting the taxpayer money used to fund their education (the fact that Waring, Collier, Briddock, and Hooley engage in some creative sabotage of the interviews just makes the editors' jobs easier). For example, Stuart-Clark tells a female interviewer that the popular perception of medical students is that they spend all their time "boozing, playing rugger, chasing women, that sort of thing". In the broadcast, he appears to be telling the (now male) interviewer that this is how they really ''do'' spend all their time.
* MediumBlending: In "Change Your Partners" from ''Doctor at Large'', Upton has a confrontation with Stuart-Clark over his romantic interest in his employer's daughter; Collier imagines this as a scene from a soap opera-like comic (drawn by Pat Gavin).
* PutOnABus: Happened quite frequently between series.
** Martin Shaw left ''Doctor in the House'' after one series; Huw Evans was mentioned as participating in an obstetrics programme in Portsmouth, with Danny Hooley taking over as the cast's resident non-English doctor. Hooley then disappeared after the second series of ''Doctor in the House''. Both characters appeared in one episode each after their departure, Evans as a nervous expectant father in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Mother and Father Doing Well" and Hooley struggling after having been struck off in the ''Doctor in Charge'' finale "Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?"
** Simon Cuff as Dave Briddock also left the series after ''Doctor in the House'', although Briddock's name still turned up a few times in ''Doctor at Large''.
** Barry Evans was obliged to leave the franchise due to personal problems affecting his reliability; Upton was written out as having proposed to Nurse Willett (nicknamed "Nurse Willing") in a drunken haze, and then running away in embarrassment to join the Merchant Navy. The other characters still referred to him periodically right through to ''Doctor at the Top''.
** With Richard O'Sullivan leaving to star in ''Man About the House'' after ''Doctor in Charge'', Bingham was written out as becoming father to triplets and then leaving St. Swithin's for rival hospital High Cross (to Waring and Stuart-Clark's disgust). The character's shadow remained, though; when Sir Geoffrey finds Gascoigne seeing patients in half a dozen cubicles in casualty in the ''Doctor on the Go'' episode "Money Spasms", his reaction is to mutter, "Bingham?"
* ShoutOut: The character of Dick Stuart-Clark is believed to be named for Chris Stuart-Clark, a Cambridge Footlights contemporary of early series writers Creator/GrahamChapman, Creator/JohnCleese, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie.
* UpperClassTwit: James Gascoigne from ''Doctor on the Go'' comes from a wealthy family, and though he is a skilled doctor and more likely to join in the other doctors' fun than Bingham ever was, he is still portrayed as a pompous buffoon who is often on the receiving end of pranks by the other doctors.
* UpperClassWit: Dick Stuart-Clark comes from old money, with his aunt's will providing the funds for his medical education; in ''Doctor in the House'', he has been abusing a loophole in the will which funds him a certain amount per year until he graduates by deliberately failing his exams so that the money keeps coming and he never has to do any real work. Even after he qualifies as a doctor, he seems to coast by doing as little work as possible, dividing his time between drinking and chasing women. He is intelligent and savvy, though more likely to apply that intelligence to scheming than medicine.
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''Doctor in the House'' was the first series in the TV franchise, airing on [[Creator/{{ITV}} London Weekend Television]] for two series in 1969 and 1970. It starred Barry Evans as doctor's son [[TheEveryman Michael Upton]], eager to follow in his father's footsteps at the same hospital at which his father trained. His fellow students include self-styled comic Duncan Waring (Robin Nedwell), suave upper-class charmer [[TheCasanova Dick Stuart-Clark]], academic struggler Paul Collier (George Layton), and hard-drinking rugby players Dave Briddock (Simon Cuff) and Huw Evans (Martin Shaw); in the second series, Evans was replaced by Irish boxer Danny Hooley (Jonathan Lynn). The students lived in fear of the autocratic yet brilliant surgeon Professor Geoffrey Loftus (Ernest Clark), who had no patience for their pranks or debauchery.
The students graduated from St. Swithin's at the end of ''Doctor in the House'', so ''Doctor at Large'', which followed in 1971, found Upton, Stuart-Clark, and Collier as newly qualified doctors (Nedwell left to join the cast of ''The Lovers'', so Waring was PutOnABus, as were Briddock, Evans, and Hooley) trying to obtain gainful employment. The series also introduced the grovelling, uptight Lawrence Bingham (Richard O'Sullivan), a highly competent yet snobbish and humourless doctor who was often on the receiving end of pranks by the more laid-back main trio. Loftus was absent for most of the series, but returned just over halfway through, as determined as ever to squash the doctors' more irresponsible behaviour.
The increasingly unreliable Barry Evans was let go after ''Doctor at Large'', so Robin Nedwell was brought back as Duncan Waring to be the central character of ''Doctor in Charge'', which aired for two series in 1972 and 1973. Waring, Stuart-Clark, Collier, and Bingham were now established doctors on Loftus' firm: Waring and Bingham as surgeons, Stuart-Clark as an anaesthetist (and more likely to fall asleep in the operating theatre than his patients), and Collier as a radiologist. A notable story arc from the first series saw Loftus put forth for a knighthood; the first series finale involved the hijinks involved in getting him to Buckingham Palace to become Sir Geoffrey Loftus.
George Layton left the franchise to star in ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'', while Richard O'Sullivan took the lead role in ''Series/ManAboutTheHouse'', so in the next series from 1974, ''Doctor at Sea'', the central cast was down to Waring and Stuart-Clark, with Ernest Clark appearing as Sir Geoffrey's twin brother, Captain Norman Loftus. Having fallen out with Sir Geoffrey, Waring and Stuart-Clark get jobs on the cruise ship MS ''Begonia'' as ship's surgeons, but are far more interested in drinking and pursuing the female passengers than in actually practising medicine.
Waring and Stuart-Clark returned to dry land and St. Swithin's for ''Doctor on the Go'', which aired for two series in 1975 and 1977. Still under Loftus' thumb, they found new allies in Scottish physician Andy Mackenzie (Jonathan Kane), bright surgeon Kate Wright (Jacqui-Ann Carr), and UpperClassTwit James Gascoigne (Andrew Knox). The series more or less picked up where ''Doctor in Charge'' had left off, with Waring and Stuart-Clark trying to enjoy themselves and avoid the worst of Sir Geoffrey's wrath.
The series made not just a ChannelHop but a country hop in 1979, with ''Doctor Down Under'' airing on UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}'s Creator/SevenNetwork. Waring was now at St. Barnabbas' Hospital in Australia, with Stuart-Clark following in the first episode, both of them under the disapproving eye of surgeon Professor Norman Beaumont (Frank Wilson), and competing with the toadying Dr. Maurice Griffin (John Derum). Waring and Stuart-Clark were still drinkers and skirt-chasers, never shy about turning on their English charm around the Australian nurses.
The franchise made one final return to the small screen (and one final ChannelHop) in 1991 with ''Doctor at the Top'', which aired for seven episodes on Creator/TheBBC. Waring and Stuart-Clark were back at St. Swithin's, but were now firmly part of the establishment rather than rebelling against it, with Waring now married to Loftus' daughter Valerie and father to five daughters, while Stuart-Clark had succeeded Sir Geoffrey as Professor of Surgery, and a returning Paul Collier divided his time between the hospital and a regular television engagement.
The writers for ''Doctor in the House'', ''Doctor at Large'', and ''Doctor in Charge'' included Creator/MontyPython's Creator/GrahamChapman and Creator/JohnCleese, Barry Cryer, and ''Series/TheGoodies''[='=] Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie; the later series' writers included former cast members Jonathan Lynn and George Layton. Though the series were comedies first and foremost, due attention was paid to getting the medical details as close to correct as the rules of comedy would allow (Chapman and Garden had both graduated in medicine from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Garden and Oddie later joked that they divided their scripts so that Garden would write the medical scenes and Oddie would write the gags).
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!!Provides examples of:
* ArtShift: The climax of "There's No Fire Without Smoke" from the first series of ''Doctor in Charge'', in which Waring and Stuart-Clark are trying to get to a fire which Bingham believes is just a drill, is played as a parody of silent films, complete with title cards to render the dialogue and dramatic piano accompaniment.
* BigShutUp: Stuart-Clark delivers one of these when a massive argument breaks out between the anxious fathers in the maternity ward's waiting room in "Mother and Father Doing Well" from ''Doctor at Large''. He is genuinely surprised when it actually gets the fighting to stop.
* BrokeEpisode: The second series ''Doctor on the Go'' episode "Money Spasms" finds Waring, Stuart-Clark, and Mackenzie all financially in the red, and having to resort to pretending to be actors in order to be considered eligible for a drug trial which will pay them £50 each.
* TheBusCameBack:
** Robin Nedwell left the franchise after ''Doctor in the House'' to appear in ''The Lovers'' alongside Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox. However, he returned for ''Doctor in Charge'', and appeared in every episode of every further series. His absence was explained by Duncan Waring having been a research doctor at a hospital in Baltimore for the duration of ''Doctor at Large''.
** George Layton left after ''Doctor in Charge'' to star in ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'', with Paul Collier leaving St. Swithin's after going out for coffee and simply not returning (though he apparently did return briefly while Waring and Stuart-Clark were at sea). He came back for ''Doctor at the Top''.
* ButtMonkey: As a sexually abstinent, teetotal square who was nevertheless not above scheming and deception to get ahead, Lawrence Bingham was the most frequent victim of the other characters' pranks.
** In "A Joke's a Joke" from ''Doctor at Large'', he hides the signup sheet for anatomy demonstration candidates until the last minute, and, in revenge, is stripped naked in the hospital library with only a knight's helmet and a large medical reference book to hide his shame.
** In "Face the Music" from ''Doctor in Charge'', Bingham worms his way into becoming the replacement organist for the funeral service of a wealthy hospital donor's father; Waring, Stuart-Clark, and Collier spike his glasses of tomato juice and get him so drunk that he performs a raucous rendition of "Good Golly, Miss Molly" at the funeral.
* CantHoldHisLiquor:
** Bingham only ever drank tomato juice; the few times the other characters ordered him a Bloody Mary in secret, it took very little to get him fall-down drunk.
** Gascoigne only ever drank the odd half pint; any more than that and he would be flat on the floor. In "For Your Own Good" from the second series of ''Doctor on the Go'', he drinks half a pint of ''whiskey'' after an argument with his father and signs the latter up for every painful medical test he can think of.
* TheCasanova: Though most of the main characters were inveterate skirt-chasers, the king of womanising was Dick Stuart-Clark, who never missed an opportunity to turn the charm on around an attractive fellow student or nurse. Several episodes revolved around characters warning him that eventually that charm would come across as creepy, pushing him over the line to DirtyOldMan.
* DeadpanSnarker: Prof. Loftus had two modes of communication: barking with white-hot fury and the most deadpan of deadpan snarkery, generally opting for the former in the operating room and the latter everywhere else.
** In "All for Love..." from the first series of ''Doctor in the House'', Loftus discovers that Upton has lied about having to attend his grandmother's funeral to get out of having to write an essay and thus go on a date with a girl who turns out to be Loftus' daughter. His reaction is a deadpan "And did my daughter enjoy your grandmother's funeral?"
** In "Hot off the Presses" from the second series of ''Doctor in the House'', Loftus puts what he thinks is a patient's X-ray on a projector, only to find a negative of a cheesecake photo of Briddock's girlfriend. He turns to the nurse and says simply, "Will you break the news to Mr. Williamson or shall I?"
* TheEveryman: Though Upton did occasionally get drunk and pursue women, he was far more moderate than most of his fellow students, and tended to play the role of TheStraightMan in most of the hijinks that went on at St. Swithin's.
* ManipulativeEditing: "Doctor on the Box" from the second series of ''Doctor in the House'' sees Upton and Stuart-Clark being interviewed for a documentary on medical students. When the documentary finally airs, the footage has been chopped up and dubbed so that they look like alcoholic, skirt-chasing clowns who are wasting the taxpayer money used to fund their education (the fact that Waring, Collier, Briddock, and Hooley engage in some creative sabotage of the interviews just makes the editors' jobs easier). For example, Stuart-Clark tells a female interviewer that the popular perception of medical students is that they spend all their time "boozing, playing rugger, chasing women, that sort of thing". In the broadcast, he appears to be telling the (now male) interviewer that this is how they really ''do'' spend all their time.
* MediumBlending: In "Change Your Partners" from ''Doctor at Large'', Upton has a confrontation with Stuart-Clark over his romantic interest in his employer's daughter; Collier imagines this as a scene from a soap opera-like comic (drawn by Pat Gavin).
* PutOnABus: Happened quite frequently between series.
** Martin Shaw left ''Doctor in the House'' after one series; Huw Evans was mentioned as participating in an obstetrics programme in Portsmouth, with Danny Hooley taking over as the cast's resident non-English doctor. Hooley then disappeared after the second series of ''Doctor in the House''. Both characters appeared in one episode each after their departure, Evans as a nervous expectant father in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Mother and Father Doing Well" and Hooley struggling after having been struck off in the ''Doctor in Charge'' finale "Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?"
** Simon Cuff as Dave Briddock also left the series after ''Doctor in the House'', although Briddock's name still turned up a few times in ''Doctor at Large''.
** Barry Evans was obliged to leave the franchise due to personal problems affecting his reliability; Upton was written out as having proposed to Nurse Willett (nicknamed "Nurse Willing") in a drunken haze, and then running away in embarrassment to join the Merchant Navy. The other characters still referred to him periodically right through to ''Doctor at the Top''.
** With Richard O'Sullivan leaving to star in ''Man About the House'' after ''Doctor in Charge'', Bingham was written out as becoming father to triplets and then leaving St. Swithin's for rival hospital High Cross (to Waring and Stuart-Clark's disgust). The character's shadow remained, though; when Sir Geoffrey finds Gascoigne seeing patients in half a dozen cubicles in casualty in the ''Doctor on the Go'' episode "Money Spasms", his reaction is to mutter, "Bingham?"
* ShoutOut: The character of Dick Stuart-Clark is believed to be named for Chris Stuart-Clark, a Cambridge Footlights contemporary of early series writers Creator/GrahamChapman, Creator/JohnCleese, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie.
* UpperClassTwit: James Gascoigne from ''Doctor on the Go'' comes from a wealthy family, and though he is a skilled doctor and more likely to join in the other doctors' fun than Bingham ever was, he is still portrayed as a pompous buffoon who is often on the receiving end of pranks by the other doctors.
* UpperClassWit: Dick Stuart-Clark comes from old money, with his aunt's will providing the funds for his medical education; in ''Doctor in the House'', he has been abusing a loophole in the will which funds him a certain amount per year until he graduates by deliberately failing his exams so that the money keeps coming and he never has to do any real work. Even after he qualifies as a doctor, he seems to coast by doing as little work as possible, dividing his time between drinking and chasing women. He is intelligent and savvy, though more likely to apply that intelligence to scheming than medicine.
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