About this season
The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going 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 came in as new doctor Geoff Standish. The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.
Episodes (26)
1. What A Guy
Aired 24 January 1991 • 50 min
A new doctor and nurse show up in Cooper's Crossing. He is charming but arrogant and she's fed up with overbearing city doctors, so the stage is set for a clash.
2. Bad Moon Rising
Aired 31 January 1991 • 50 min
A man collapses whilst drilling an oil rig and after Johnno and David show up at the scene they discover the boss is an old enemy of Johnno's.
3. A New Life
Aired 7 February 1991 • 50 min
A pregnant woman is being flown to the hospital with Kate as the only other passenger on board and they run into a bad storm. Kate is forced to deliver the baby after they woman goes into labour and she then rejects her baby and won't hold it or see it. Clare loses everything following a fire at her house. The doctors do everything they can to get the new mother to accept her new born baby.
4. Through Thick And Thin
Aired 14 February 1991 • 50 min
After a couple of English girls are stranded in the outback, the doctors are called out to help.
5. Deceptions
Aired 21 February 1991 • 50 min
David decides that the time has come to leave Cooper's Crossing and do something else with his life. A jackeroo is fired because he has been seeing the boss' daughter. David's efforts to save a life go disasterously wrong.
6. None So Blind
Aired 28 February 1991 • 50 min
After battery acid explodes in her face, Kate could loose her sight.
7. Sleep Of Reason
Aired 7 March 1991 • 50 min
After Kate's younger sister Penny shows up town, she immediately causes a stir. Magda is hiding a secret and makes a surprise announcement.
8. My Mother’s Child
Aired 14 March 1991 • 50 min
Clare is feeling stressed and her work starts to suffer after an agency contacts her about Steve, the son she had adopted. Penny is finding to hard to adapt in the outback and is feeling bored. After Clare's son arrives in town though things improve.
9. Swinging On The Rope
Aired 21 March 1991 • 50 min
An influential landowner manages ro cause problems for the team after he insists that his injured son is sent to a specialist in Melbourne. A new doctor arrives in town and manages to offend the locals with her brusque manner.
10. Father and Son
Aired 4 April 1991 • 50 min
Vic decides to invest in a tourist enterprise. A father has to come to terms with a tragedy.
11. A Little Miracle
Aired 11 April 1991 • 50 min
Geoff and Kate decide to go camping hoping that some time together and some privacy will help them conceive a child. The end up camping near a fundamentally religious family and things go wrong after the father wants to sacrifice his son in an attempt to replicate Abraham.
12. Murphy’s Law
Aired 18 April 1991 • 50 min
After Vic accidentally runs over a girl, it is the beginning of a whole chain of events.
13. Breaking down the wall
Aired 25 April 1991 • 50 min
After a tour guide dies of a heart attack whilst showing people around some caves, Guy, Penny, Steve and a German couple find themselves lost inside the caves. Kate is not feeling well but a pregnancy test explains the cause of her sickness.
14. Once Bitten
Aired 2 May 1991 • 50 min
Geoff is struck down with a mystery illness and after nobody seems to be able to diagnose what it wrong, it appears the only option is to amputate his arm.
15. Clipped Wings
Aired 9 May 1991 • 50 min
Johnno is determined to fly back to town despite some bad weather conditions and ending up losing his pilot's license forcing him to take both his practical and theory tests again. After there is a medical emergency he decides to break his ban and fly the hurt man back to the hospital against regulations.
16. Walk Don’t Run
Aired 16 May 1991 • 50 min
Kate is determined to compete in the town's annual cross country horse race even though she is pregnant. Her main rival is her sister Penny and neither of them is prepared to let the other one win.
17. Masquerade
Aired 23 May 1991 • 50 min
Guy attempts to help a battered housewife. Jackie attempts to fend off the affections of a dentist.
18. Against The Current
Aired 30 May 1991 • 50 min
Penny and Steve are looking forward to going on a camping trip but things take an unpleasant turn after they see something shocking. Penny runs off to Melbourne.
19. Last Of The Cochranes
Aired 6 June 1991 • 50 min
Geoff finds himself involved with the Cochrane family again. He goes to Melbourne after receiving a mystifying telephone call and he meets Old Ma Cochrane, mother of Carbine and Pharlap. The 91 year old woman wants to return to the Crossing so that she can die.
20. Double Life
Aired 13 June 1991 • 50 min
Guy receives a massive surprise after his fiancee Fern Wentworth turns up. She wants to win back his heart and turn him into the man she knew before he moved to Coopers Crossing.
21. Something, Nothing
Aired 20 June 1991 • 50 min
Johnno ends up having a near death experience, after flying in a storm, and he thinks about his life. He buys a farm from his friend who is ill with MS and admits his true feelings to Rowie.
22. Family
Aired 27 June 1991 • 50 min
Geoff and Kate get ready to celebrate the birth of their first child. Geoff receives a visit from a paediatrician friend called Colin. After the baby is born, she is ill and needs an operation. The person who is best qualified to perform the surgery is Colin but unfortunately he is now an alcoholic. Kate finds out about his drinking problem and doesn't want him to perform the procedure but if baby Scarlett does not get the operation soon, she will die.
23. Being Positive
Aired 4 July 1991 • 50 min
Jackie is pleased after Jerry Davis return to Coopers Crossing but romance is the last thing on his mind. After talking with Geoff about a scar he has on his neck after being involved in a medical emergency, he has some shocking news to deal with.
24. Open Day
Aired 11 July 1991 • 50 min
A young boy who is disfigured with scars is kept away from society by his worried mother. Geoff attempts to rehabilitate them and encourage them back into the community but the mother refuses. After the boy becomes suicidal though it's up to Penny to try to resolve the situation.
25. Changing Times
Aired 18 July 1991 • 50 min
Geoff and Kate experience city life after they relocate to Melbourne after he has been been given the opportunity to train as a cardiologist. They end up deciding not to leave the Crossing though and move back after not enjoying life in Melbourne. Rowie and Johnno finalise their wedding arrangements and she she gets cold feet.
26. Freedom
Aired 25 July 1991 • 50 min
A couple of young lovers decide to hide away in the cellar of a farmhouse to avoid the anger of their feuding families. After Jackie finds them, their secret becomes common knowledge with tragic consequences.