The Flying Doctors

The Flying Doctors
Title card used from Season 4
Starring	Andrew McFarlane Liz Burch Lenore Smith Robert Grubb
Theme music composer	Garry McDonald and Laurie Stone
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	221 (regular series) 3 (mini-series) (list of episodes)
Production
Production location	Australia
Running time	55 minutes
Production company	Crawford Productions
Budget	$3 million (mini-series)[1]
Original release
Network	Nine Network
Release	26 May 1986 (1986-05-26) – 6 October 1992 (1992-10-06)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.

It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing (set in the real life town of Minyip in north-western rural Victoria). The success of the mini-series led to its return the following year as an ongoing series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season, and actor Robert Grubb arrived as new doctor Geoff Standish. McFarlane later returned to the series, resuming his role.

The series' episodes were mostly self-contained and about medical items. The Australian society was mirrored in handling more or less controversial social problems as the abuse of women within marriage, alcohol abuse, and the position of Indigenous Australians. It also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings (Lenore Smith). Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson (Peter O'Brien), mechanic Emma Plimpton (Rebecca Gibney), local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers (Terry Gill) and Vic and Nancy Buckley (Maurie Fields and Val Jellay), who ran The Majestic, a local pub/hotel.