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EPISODES: 16.
LENGTH: 30 mins.
FORMAT: Mono, Kinescope.
PRODUCTION: 1959 GTV-9 Production.
ORIGINAL SCREENING: 1959.
RUNNING ORDER: Airdate.
NETWORK: GTV-9 Melbourne, ATN-7 Sydney.

CAST:
Dr. Geoffrey Thompson.......BRIAN JAMES
George Rogers.......SYD CONABERE
Nurse Jill Adamson.......JUDITH GODDEN
Support:
Matron Evans.......MOIRA CARLETON
May.......NATALIE RAINE
Ambulance officer.......NEVIL THURGOOD

CREW:
Producer.......Roland Strong
Director.......Denzil Howson
Scripts.......Roland Strong, Denzil Howson
(scripts were often written under pseudonyms)

EPISODE TITLES
1.  (Title Unknown)
2.  (Title Unknown)
3.  Blackout
4.  Lethal Bag
5.  Gunshot
6.  (Title Unknown)
7.  Operate Remote
8.  Knockout
9.  Death Drive
10.  Alibi
11.  False Alarm
12.  '44 Incident
13.  Diamonds For Leona
14.  Talent Quest
15.  Mind Over Matter
16.  Broken Appointment

Note: Three episode titles are unknown as written records are incomplete. Episodes do not feature on-screen titles.

 

1. (Title unknown)

Mr. Green.......Frank Gatcliffe
Mrs. Green.......Joyce Turner
Shirley Green.......Diane Sinnamon
May.......Natalie Raine
Ambulance officer.......Nevil Thurgood

Synopsis: A car crashes through a safety fence and rolls down a hillside in Fern Tree Gully. Two injured passengers, a man and wife, are taken to hospital, where they regain consciousness and ask for their daughter, who was also in the car. A search party is sent back to the accident site to find the missing child.

Notes: The opening titles feature a voice-over stating "the doors never close in casualty, the lights never go out". A copy of this episode is held in the Nine Network archive, without opening or closing credits.

Airdate: Melbourne 16/2/59, Sydney 23/2/59

Brian James.

 

2. (Title unknown)

Miss Marshall.......Patricia Kennedy
Mrs. Marshall.......Lorna Forbes
Watkins.......Paul Bacon
Miss Marshall's friend.......Madeline Herle
Matron Evans.......Moira Carleton
May.......Natalie Raine

Script.......Roland Strong

Synopsis: A stubborn daughter is convinced that her mother, suffering from a serious disease but gradually recovering, would receive better care in a private hospital. Dr. Thompson and the matron realise that the 'hospital' is run by a 'quack', and strongly advise the woman to let her mother remain where she is. The daughter refuses and places her mother in the care of the 'quack' whose 'miracle cure' consists mainly of starving his patients. When her mother becomes weak and dangerously ill, she rushes her back to the Emergency Ward, but she is beyond help and dies shortly after.

Notes: A complete copy of this episode is held in the Nine Network archive, as episode No. 4.

Airdate: Melbourne 23/2/59

3. Blackout

Girl.......Golda Prince

Synopsis: A lost and frightened girl arrives by train in Melbourne and a kindly policeman takes her to hospital. Her memory is gone, but kind and persistent treatment by the team in the Emergency Ward restores both her memory and her happiness.

Airdate: Melbourne 2/3/59

Syd Conabere.

4. Lethal Bag

.......Peter Aanensen
.......Philip Jordan
.......Kenneth Jackson

Synopsis: Dr. Thompson's car is stolen and wrecked by thieves. Two small boys play among the wreckage and later leave with Dr. Thompson's medical bag, which contains dangerous drugs. There follows a frantic race against time to locate the children, one of whom has forced the other to swallow some of the drugs.

Airdate: Melbourne 9/3/59

5. Gunshot

Edna Remington.......Anne Harvey

Synopsis: Edna Remington, associate of criminals, is shot and taken to hospital. The criminals, however, are desperate to silence her, and break into the hospital. Threats are made to the hospital staff - if the lady lives lives, they will pay.

Notes: A complete copy of this episode is held in the Nine Network archive, as episode No. 6.

Airdate: Melbourne 16/3/59

6. (Title unknown)

West.......John Morgan

Script.......Denzil Howson

Synopsis: A man is knocked down by a car and brought to hospital, and after treatment he is discharged. Soon afterwards he returns to the hospital in mysterious circumstances, and Dr. Thompson and George Rogers are faced with a possible suicide attempt.

Notes: Script is credited to Graeme Herbert, a pseudonym for Denzil Howson. A complete copy of this episode is held by the National Film & Sound Archive.

Airdate: Melbourne 23/3/59

7. Operate Remote

Synopsis: A man is badly injured in an accident on a country road and bleeding from a severed artery. He is saved through the use of a taxi's radio when Dr. Thompson relays instructions to the driver. Matters are complicated by a criminal and his girlfriend.

Notes: Also listed in program guides as 'Operation Remote'.

Airdate: Melbourne 30/3/59

8. Knockout

Girlfriend.......Judith Thompson
Mick Fenton.......John Godfrey

Synopsis: Boxer Mick Fenton is threatened unless he 'throws' an important match. Fenton also risks losing his eyesight if struck in the head; his girlfriend knows this, and says she will leave if he fights. He fights, wins the bout, and is viciously bashed on his way home. An emergency operation is performed, his eyesight hanging in the balance.

Airdate: Melbourne 6/4/59

9. Death Drive

.......Edward Howell

Synopsis: Two reckless teenage boys are involved in a car accident, and later involve their parents in a tangled web of consequences.

Airdate: Melbourne 13/4/59

10. Alibi

Synopsis: A young man commits a robbery, and attempts to create an alibi for himself by slashing himself with a broken bottle - but fate intervenes.

Airdate: Melbourne 20/4/59

11. False Alarm

.......Bruce Wishart
.......Margaret Reid

Synopsis: Young Bobby Farrel rings the police for a joke and reports a bogus bus crash involving 30 people. Dr. Thompson, en route to visit the boy's mother, is diverted to the hospital in readiness to tend to the accident victims. Meanwhile, the mother's sudden fainting turn at home causes her to collapse beside her stove's leaking gas jet.

Airdate: Melbourne 27/4/59

12. '44 Incident

Phillip Bateson.......Ron Pinnell
Mrs. Lewis.......Marjorie White
Detective.......John Hughes
Ambulance officer.......Nevil Thurgood

Synopsis: During the Anzac Day march, one of the men marching collapses and is taken to the hospital, where he is recognised by George Rogers as a man who served in Italy during World War 2 and deserted following the suspicious death of another soldier.

Notes: Also listed in program guides as 'Anzac Day'. A complete copy of this episode is held by the Nine Network archive, as episode No. 14.

Airdate: Melbourne 4/5/59

13. Diamonds For Leona

Leona.......Marcella Burgoyne
.......Noel Ferrier
.......Clive Winmill

Synopsis: A jeweller's apprentice learns that the girl he loves is using him to gain information for a jewel robbery. He is later stabbed in a fight with her accomplice, but manages to board a bus and reach the hospital.

Airdate: Melbourne 11/5/59

14. Talent Quest

Synopsis: An ambitious mother of a little girl wants her to be a stage star, entering her in competitions and overworking her to the point of collapse. The mother then starts using 'pep pills' to keep her going. Finally, the child collapses and is rushed to hospital.

Airdate: Melbourne 18/5/59

15. Mind Over Matter

Petula Rogers.......Sheila Florance
Amelia Stephens.......Eve Wynne
John Hartley.......Williams Lloyd
Elizabeth.......Judith George
Ambulance officer.......Nevil Thurgood
May.......Natalie Raine

Script.......Denzil Howson

Synopsis: After having been led to believe, by malicious gossip, that she is dying from cancer, a distraught woman attempts to kill herself.

Notes: Originally scheduled for 23/3/59, as episode 6. A complete copy of this episode exists in the Nine Network archive, as episode No. 7.

Airdate: Melbourne 25/5/59

16. Broken Appointment

.......Kenric Hudson

Synopsis: A young man determines to marry the girl of his choice, in spite of his parents wishes. On his way to visit her, he is involved in an accident and rushed to hospital. His girlfriend, thinking he has deserted her, takes an overdose of sleeping tablets and is also rushed to hospital. Eventually she and her boyfriend are happily reunited.

Airdate: Melbourne 1/6/59