The District Nurse

The District Nurse
GenreDrama
Created byTony Holland
Julia Smith
Written byWilliam Ingram
Juliet Ace
Directed byPeter Edwards
Mary Ridge
StarringNerys Hughes
John Ogwen
Margaret John
Rio Fanning
Beth Morris
ComposerDavid Mindel
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes36
Production
Executive producerJulia Smith
ProducerBrian Spiby
EditorJohn Beattie
Running time30 min (24 episodes)
50 min (12 episodes)
Production companyBBC Wales
Original release
NetworkBBC1
Release10 January 1984 (1984-01-10) –
24 May 1987 (1987-05-24)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The District Nurse is a television series produced by BBC Wales and shown on BBC One between 1984 and 1987.[1]

The series was a period drama created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland (who both went on to create EastEnders) and starred Nerys Hughes as Megan Roberts, the titular district nurse fighting to improve living conditions for the people living in a fictional poverty-stricken mining town, Pencwm, in south Wales during the late 1920s. The school scenes were filmed at Pont-y-Gof school in Ebbw Vale, shortly before the old school was demolished. The children and teachers at the school were involved in the first two series.

The outdoor school and street scenes were filmed at Troedrhiwgwair, a small village on the outskirts of Tredegar. Most of the houses used have since been demolished; however, the street remains.

In the third series, shown in 1987 and set in the early 1930s, Megan had moved on to the seaside town of Glanmor (filmed in the Ceredigion university town of Aberystwyth) where she worked with a father/son pair of doctors: Emlyn Isaacs (Freddie Jones) and James Isaacs (Nicholas Jones).

  1. ^ Grade, Michael (1996). British television: an illustrated guide. Oxford University Press. p. 292. ISBN 9780198159278.