# A Country Practice (1981)

> A long running Australian medical soap following the staff and townspeople of a country clinic.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/4113

## Facts

- Seasons: 13
- Episodes: 1048
- Episode runtime: 48 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: James Davern
- Network: 10, Seven Network
- Cast: Shane Porteous, Helen Scott, Lorrae Desmond, Grant Dodwell, Joyce Jacobs, Penny Cook, Syd Heylen, Brian Wenzel
- TMDB rating: 6.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086689/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: warm, sincere, communal, comforting, melodramatic

## Synopsis

A Country Practice (1981-1994) is an Australian soap opera and medical drama created by James Davern for the Seven Network, with a later run on Network Ten. Produced at the ATN-7 facility in Epping, Sydney, and filmed on location in Pitt Town, it follows the staff and patients of a small country medical practice and the townspeople who depend on it. Principal characters include the doctor Terence Elliot (Shane Porteous), the nurse Shirley Dean (Lorrae Desmond), and the doctor Simon Bowen (Grant Dodwell), along with Marta Kurtez (Helen Scott) and Frank Gilroy (Brian Wenzel). Each episode is built from a mix of everyday illness cases, workplace rivalries, and personal romances, while longer storylines carry the characters' relationships across many seasons. The show runs to roughly 1,048 episodes in a serialized soap structure, with a steady rhythm of local crises and domestic drama. Its tone is warm, sincere, and communal, with a comforting sense of a town that looks after its own. Fans of Neighbours and Doctor Doctor will find resonance in its blend of Australian community life and clinic ensemble drama.

## Shows like A Country Practice

- [Doc Martin (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/2306)
- [A Place to Call Home (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/42753)
- [Doctor's Diary (2008)](https://ember.film/tv/37810)
- [The Brokenwood Mysteries (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54875)
- [Binnelanders (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/128983)
- [Chicago Hope (1994)](https://ember.film/tv/6041)
- [Brookside (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/1438)
- [Police Rescue (1991)](https://ember.film/tv/455)
- [Casualty (1986)](https://ember.film/tv/958)
- [Virgin River (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/74982)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt