The Return

I remember Dr Kildare's Casebook not because I am very old. The BBC liked to repeat a surviving episode when one of the main cast members died as a tribute.

ITV resurrected Dr Kildare and moved away slightly from the cosy image of a Scottish country practice.

The first episode sees John Finlay (David Rintoul) as a wartime doctor who has returned to his practice and relishes the introduction of the new National Health Service.

It might look quaint people going to see their GP and paying for the privilege. Dr Finlay has no truck to those who oppose the NHS and there is a lot of it in the opening episode.

There is also an upstart Dr Neil (Jason Flemyng) who has arrived on the same train as the new locum who realises that the man he did not give his seat to, is the partner in the practice.

Ian Bannen is the veteran Dr Cameron, who kept the practice going during the war but passed it. It is for Dr Finlay to get the surgery ready for a new post war Britain.

This is an introduction to the characters, the story takes a back seat which highlights a misdiagnosis made by Dr Cameron.