Little wonder then that the young doctors and nurses had little time to administer to their patients. What's more, when life was a little quieter, it gave the medics a chance to fall in love with each other with alarming regularity. All these comings and goings went on under the watchful eye of Ada Simmonds, whose kiosk was ideally placed opposite the reception desk, lift and Casualty department.
The Young Doctors centered on the lives of the staff at the Albert Memorial Hospital in Sydney. It was created the man responsible for Crossroads in the UK, and there were similarities between the two soaps - they were both low budget fare that was constantly mauled by the critics, but loved by the viewers (what do critics know anyway?!). The show, which started in the same week as wartime soap The Sullivans, was originally commissioned for just 13 weeks. Initially, the cast and crew were told that the Nine Network would not be renewing the soap's contract, but during the wrap party they learned that they had been given an eleventh hour reprieve. From what should have been a short 3 month run, The Young Doctors went on to be the longest running soap of its day.
The medical soap was not one for expensive sets or extensive outside locations. The cramped studios where it was filmed were so hot in the summer that ice packs had to be placed on the cameras to stop them overheating, and the actors' make up would melt and run down their faces (remember how some characters in the early days often seemed to have very oily skin?!). Especially in the early years, the action focused mainly on the hospital lobby, or Bunny's Place, the restaurant across the road from the Albert that was popular with hospital staff. Another commonly used location was the office of Hospital Superintendent Dr Brian Denham. From the luxury of his leather swivel chair he would listen to the trials and tribulations of his staff, before commenting "Hmmm..", "I see..." or "I don't know what the board will have to say about this." His most classic line though, used to describe more than one of his staff, was "he/she is obviously mentally ill."
The show's glamour came from its young cast; it had more than its fair share of dashing doctors and pretty nurses. Not surprisingly, many a storyline featured romances between the young interns and the female nursing staff. Undoubtedly, the biggest love story of all was between Spanish hunk Dr Tony Garcia and sugary sweet nurse Tania Livingston. The couple's wedding was a huge media event a decade before Scott and Charlene's on Neighbours and the couple were loved by audiences worldwide.
The first season's cliffhanger centred on the "will they, won't they" marriage between the pair. Early 1978 saw them wed, but their happiness was short lived. Tony was ambitious, and left the Albert and Tania to establish himself in pastures new, which was pretty much also the behind the scenes reason for his exit.
Weddings could also be literally the kiss of death for a character. A gunman opened fire at nurse Julie Holland's wedding, while Liz Kennedy was electrocuted by a faulty lamp after returning from hers. Not all the actors left in such a dramatic fashion though. Many characters simply disappeared from the screen, being referred to from time to time to give the impression they were still in the hospital. Some would return to the screen a few months later as if they hadn't been away, while others simply ceased to be mentioned at all.
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