The Young Doctors - History

History

The series was created and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation and started a week earlier than The Sullivans. Channel 9 made it clear only one of the series would be kept after 13 weeks. The odds were somewhat stacked against their favour, as The Sullivans had a budget which was three times bigger than The Young Doctors. After a 13-week trial period, The Sullivans emerged as the critical success, which resulted in The Young Doctors being axed. When this news was released, loyal fans who had enjoyed the new series protested to Channel 9, who bowed to public opinion and reversed their decision. However, the series was placed at the 18:00 "graveyard" slot. Against the odds, the soap had a successful run in this timeslot, but the advent of one-day cricket, and Channel 9's decision to move the show around the schedules eventually sealed its fate and it was eventually cancelled in 1982 - the final episode aired in March 1983.

When the series ended after 1396 episodes, it held the record of Australia's longest-running television drama series, which was previously held by Number 96. This was later surpassed by A Country Practice and then Neighbours, which is the current record-holder of longest-running Australian series.

The Young Doctors also holds the distinction, rare among long-running Australian dramas, of having never won any sort of television award. Alan Coleman produced the show for most of its run until being replaced by Sue Masters, shortly before the series finished production in late 1982. Masters immediately went on to produce Grundy's stablemate Prisoner from 1983, along with several cast members, including Judy McBurney, Genevieve Lemon, Babs McMillan and Peter Bensley who all had leading roles in Prisoner after The Young Doctors finished.