History Series / DoctorInTheHouse

** 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''.

''Doctor in the House'' is the collective name for a series of seven British [[PuttingTheMedicInComedic 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 variously starring Dirk Bogarde and Creator/LesliePhillips in the lead roles, and several stories from which were adapted into two radio series entitled ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor at Large'' in 1968-69 starring Creator/RichardBriers. The series finally [[SoundtoScreenAdaptation made the leap to television]] in 1969, and remained a fixture of British screens for most of the following decade.

* 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.

* WeddingDay:

** 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?"

* PuttingTheMedicInComedic

* SixIsNine: In "Honeymoon Special" from the first series of ''Doctor in Charge'', Waring has to stay the night at the same hotel as the Binghams after driving them there to spend their honeymoon; he is given Room 9 while the Binghams are given Room 6. When Stuart-Clark and Collier call the hotel late at night to confess that the plaster cast on Bingham's leg is purely cosmetic, Waring and the Binghams leave their rooms, and Lawrence goes down to reception while Mary visits the bathroom and Waring goes back to his room, slamming the door and causing the "9" to flip upside-down. When Mary exits the bathroom, she enters what she thinks is Room 6, and when Lawrence returns, he also enters what he thinks is Room 6 and [[BedmateReveal finds Waring and Mary in bed together.]]

'''''Doctor in the House''''' is the collective name for a series of seven British [[AccidentAndEntertainment 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 variously starring Dirk Bogarde and Creator/LesliePhillips in the lead roles, and several stories from which were adapted into two radio series entitled ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor at Large'' in 1968-69 starring Creator/RichardBriers. The series finally [[SoundtoScreenAdaptation made the leap to television]] in 1969, and remained a fixture of British screens for most of the following decade.

'''''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 variously starring Dirk Bogarde and Creator/LesliePhillips in the lead roles, and several stories from which were adapted into two radio series entitled ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor at Large'' in 1968-69 starring Creator/RichardBriers. The series finally [[SoundtoScreenAdaptation made the leap to television]] in 1969, and remained a fixture of British screens for most of the following decade.

'''''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 variously starring Dirk Bogarde and Creator/LesliePhillips in the lead roles, and several stories from which were adapted into two radio series entitled ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor at Large'' in 1968-69 starring Creator/RichardBriers. The series finally [[SoundtoScreen made the leap to television]] in 1969, and remained a fixture of British screens for most of the following decade.

'''''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 variously starring Dirk Bogarde and Creator/LesliePhillips in the lead roles, and several stories from which were adapted into two radio series entitled ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor at Large'' in 1968-69 starring Creator/RichardBriers. The series finally made the leap to television in 1969, and remained a fixture of British screens for most of the following decade.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doctor_in_love_movie.jpg]]

''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 variously starring Dirk Bogarde and Creator/LesliePhillips in the lead roles, and several stories from which were adapted into two radio series entitled ''Doctor in the House'' and ''Doctor at Large'' in 1968-69 starring Creator/RichardBriers. The series finally made the leap to television in 1969, and remained a fixture of British screens for most of the following decade.

* YouLookFamiliar: With over a hundred and fifty episodes and hundreds of speaking roles, the franchise inevitably cast some of the same actors in multiple roles. Just to name a few examples:
** Creator/DavidJason played a non-English-speaking patient in the ''Doctor in the House'' episode "What Seems to Be the Trouble?", a gardener and psychiatry patient in the ''Doctor at Large'' episode "Let's Start at the Beginning", and a Spaniard stowing away on the ''Begonia'' to get back home to Tenerife in the ''Doctor at Sea'' episode "Go Away, Stowaway!".
** Several cast members of ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' showed up in multiple roles:
*** Nicholas Smith (Mr. Rumbold) played a morgue attendant in "Nice Bodywork - Lovely Finish" from ''Doctor in the House'', and a patient trapped in the hospital during a suspected typhoid outbreak in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Epidemic".
*** Mollie Sugden (Mrs. Slocombe) 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 (Young Mr. Grace) played a similar sort of senile old man to his role on ''Are You Being Served?'', 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".
*** Arthur Brough (Mr. Grainger) played a hotelier in "The Viva" from ''Doctor at Large'', then showed up as a Health Ministry official in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Long, Long Night".
** 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''.

* ShownTheirWork: Not only did the series have a medical adviser to look over the scripts, but several of the main writers, most notably Creator/GrahamChapman and Graeme Garden, had trained as doctors.[[note]] Chapman and Garden both started their studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, then finished their training at hospitals in London; Chapman at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Garden at King's College Hospital. Neither ever practised medicine, however.[[/note]] As such, all of the series in the franchise not only feature a great deal of medical terminology (mostly accurate unless the RuleOfFunny takes priority over reality), but also include a few "tricks of the trade" for medical students. For example, in "Pass or Fail" from ''Doctor in the House'', Stuart-Clark gives Upton the mnemonic "Luscious French Tarts Sit Naked In Anticipation" as a way to remember the seven nerves which pass through the superior orbital fissure in the skull to control eye movement: Lacrimal, Frontal, Trochlear, Superior oculomotor, Nasociliary, Inferior oculomotor, Abducens.[[note]] Though the actual mnemonics used by medical students are often too vulgar for anything other than late night television![[/note]]

* SixIsNine: In "Honeymoon Special" from the first series of ''Doctor in Charge'', Waring has to stay the night at the same hotel as the Binghams after driving them there to spend their honeymoon; he is given Room 6 while the Binghams are given Room 9. When Stuart-Clark and Collier call the hotel late at night to confess that the plaster cast on Bingham's leg is purely cosmetic, Waring and the Binghams leave their rooms, and Lawrence goes down to reception while Mary visits the bathroom and Waring goes back to his room, slamming the door and causing the "6" to flip upside-down. When Mary exits the bathroom, she enters what she thinks is Room 9, and when Lawrence returns, he also enters what he thinks is Room 9 and [[BedmateReveal finds Waring and Mary in bed together.]]

* BedmateReveal: In "Honeymoon Special" from ''Doctor in Charge'', Waring has reluctantly driven the newly married Binghams in their hired car to a country hotel after Stuart-Clark and Collier have encased Lawrence's leg in plaster as a prank, and must stay the night as public transport has stopped running by the time they arrive. Waring takes Room 9 while the Binghams take Room 6, but when they leave their rooms when Collier phones the hotel late at night to confess the prank, Waring returns to his room and slams the door, causing the number 9 to fall upside-down and leading Mary (who has visited the bathroom on the way back to the rooms) to assume the room is hers. Then Lawrence returns to what he thinks is his room, switches on the light, and finds Waring and Mary in bed together - to the shock of all three.

''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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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 Screen}}ing (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 GreenScreen techniques.

* AccidentalInnuendo:[[invoked]] "The Fox" from ''Doctor in Charge'' contains a {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d example. Loftus is giving Waring a dressing down for his behaviour in front of Matron Fox (with whom Loftus crossed paths, to his cost, as a young doctor), and at one point shouts, "She's a very forceful woman! And it takes me all my time to stay on top of her!" Waring cannot keep from sniggering at this choice of words, which only angers Loftus further.

* TheSlacker: Dick Stuart-Clark has turned laziness and lack of ambition into an art form. As his aunt's will covers his living expenses while he remains a medical student, by the time ''Doctor in the House'' begins he has already failed his first-year exams five times (despite having effectively mastered the material) and plans to keep doing so indefinitely, devoting his time instead to drinking, skirt-chasing, and playing rugby. When he ends up passing his exams and becoming qualified as a doctor, he remains similarly unambitious, becoming an anaesthetist so that he merely has to ensure the patient is asleep for the operation (which Loftus often points out is less likely than Stuart-Clark himself being asleep) and still being a junior houseman on Loftus' firm in his 30s.[[note]] Junior houseman was, at the time, the lowest rank for a qualified doctor in the UK National Health Service, and doctors would generally be promoted to senior houseman after a year, registrar after another two years (or longer), and finally consultant after another four to six years (longer for highly specialised disciplines such as neurosurgery). As such, by his 30s, Stuart-Clark should have been a registrar, or a senior houseman at the very least.[[/note]]

* SequentialSymptomSyndrome: Bumbling medical student Reggie Grace experiences this in the ''Doctor in Charge'' episode "The Epidemic", first when a fellow student answers Waring's question about the symptoms of gastroenteritis (including stomachache, fever, and vomiting, the last manifesting as dry heaves in Grace's case), and then again when Waring recites the symptoms of Ménière's disease (including deafness, tinnitus, and sudden attacks of vertigo). Waring later tells Stuart-Clark and Collier that Grace went on to show symptoms of pneumonia, leukaemia, whooping cough, gout, syphilis, trench foot, and hepatitis as they examined patients with those diseases.

* YouLookFamiliar: Several actors made multiple appearances across the various series.

** 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 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".