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The Doctor Blake Mysteries

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The Doctor Blake Mysteries
Series title over a blurred image and red cross
GenreMystery
Crime
Period drama
Created byGeorge Adams
Tony Wright
StarringCraig McLachlan
Nadine Garner
Rick Donald
Cate Wolfe
Joel Tobeck
Charlie Cousins
ComposerDale Cornelius
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of series5
No. of episodes37 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersTony Wright
Carole Sklan
Christopher Gist
ProducerGeorge Adams
Production locationAustralia
Running time1 hour (56–59 mins)
Production companyDecember Media
Original release
NetworkABC
Release1 February 2013 (2013-02-01) –
present (present)

The Doctor Blake Mysteries is an Australian television series that premiered on ABC TV on 1 February 2013 at 8:30 pm.[1] The series stars Craig McLachlan in the lead role of Doctor Lucien Blake, who returns home to Ballarat, northwest of Melbourne, in the late 1950s to take over his late father's general medical practice and role as police surgeon after an absence of 30 years. Four series aired as of 2016. A fifth series was in production in 2016, with a telemovie expected to close the programme.

Original broadcasts

Doctor Blake is a keeper of secrets and a solver of mysteries.[2] The series is produced by Tony Wright and George Adams.[3] A fifth series was commissioned as the final season of the programme, followed by a telemovie to end the series in 2017;[4] It was anticipated that the fifth series would air from April 2017, but instead commenced in September, so that the movie-length finale can be shown at the close of the series with no gap.[5]

Synopsis

Doctor Lucien Blake left Australia in his 20s to study medicine in Scotland. Following a posting at a London hospital, he joined the British Army as a medical officer. During World War II, Blake's service included the Far East, where he fell in love with and married a Chinese woman, with whom he had a child. However, at the fall of Singapore, he lost sight of both of them. He searched for them all the time he was away, and continues the search after he arrives in Ballarat. Dr Blake also spent time in Thailand's Ban Pong POW camp. After a 33-year absence, Blake returned home in 1959 to take over his late father's practice as a medical general practitioner and also becomes the Ballarat area police surgeon.

Jean Beazley is Blake's receptionist and housekeeper. Having previously served in the same capacity for his father, Jean has difficulty adjusting to Lucien's eccentric and sometimes oblivious behaviour; although considered old-fashioned in her ideas about womanhood, she occasionally challenges Blake's expectation that she wait on him hand and foot. Her husband died in the war and she is aware that her living with the unattached Blake is a source of gossip. Shrewd and observant, she guards her territory zealously, missing nothing and expertly sifting gossip for kernels of fact, which she dispenses when necessary. Her maternal tendencies are often a source of annoyance to her nephew Danny Parks, whom she treats like a son, and lodger Mattie O'Brien, whose outgoing attitude she does not understand at all. When Danny Parks moves out, police sergeant Charlie Davis is a lodger in the house.

Cast

  • Craig McLachlan as Doctor Lucien Blake
  • Nadine Garner as Jean Beazley
  • Cate Wolfe as Matilda "Mattie" O'Brien (Series 1–4.2)
  • Joel Tobeck as Chief Superintendent (later Chief Inspector) Matthew Lawson (Series 1–4.1, 5.1–)
  • Rick Donald as Constable Daniel Parks (Series 1)
  • Sara Gleeson as Joy McDonald (Series 1-2.1)
  • Charlie Cousins as Constable (later Sergeant) Charlie Davis (Series 2–)
  • Belinda McClory as Alice Harvey (Series 2–)
  • John Wood as Patrick Tyneman
  • Craig Hall as Chief Supt William Munro (Series 3)
  • John Stanton as Douglas Ashby (Series 1–3)
  • David Whiteley as Sergeant Bill Hobart
  • Ian Rooney as Cec Drury
  • Lee Beckhurst as Edward Tyneman
  • Rodger Corser as Chief Supt Frank Carlyle (Series 4)
  • Anna McGahan as Rose Anderson (Series 4–)
  • Ling-Hsueh Tang as Mei Lin Blake (Series 4)

Production

The series is set and mostly filmed in the gold rush city of Ballarat, in Victoria.[3] It features Lydiard Street and many of the heritage buildings, including the Colonists Club, of which Lucien Blake is a member. External shots of the house and studio formerly owned by the muralist Napier Waller, in Melbourne, are used as a backdrop to represent Dr Blake's house.[6][7]

The Doctor Blake Mysteries is produced by Melbourne-based December Media in association with Film Victoria and ABC Television, which also broadcasts it in Australia on ABC. The international sales are handled by British ITV Studios Global Entertainment.[8]

The fourth series began airing on 5 February 2016.[9] In March 2017, it was announced that the programme would be ending, with a television-movie airing after season five.[4] Filming of the fifth season began in August 2016, then recommenced in August 2017 for filming of the movie-length finale.[10] The fifth series began airing on 17 September 2017.[11]

Broadcast

It premiered in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2013 on BBC One.[12] It is also shown by a number of other European TV channels and in New Zealand.[13] The series airs on selected Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) stations in the United States.[14]The series is also available on Netflix.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Doctor Blake Mysteries episodes

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee Result
2014 Logie Awards Most Outstanding Actor[15] Craig McLachlan Nominated
2015 Most Popular Actor[16] Nominated
2016 Best Actor[17] Nominated

Home Media

DVD Title Episodes Aspect ratio Running time Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Series One 10 16:9 570 minutes April 26, 2016 December 9, 2013 April 24, 2013
Series Two 10 16:9 570 minutes September 30, 2016 March 30, 2015 June 9, 2014
Series Three 8 16:9 570 minutes January 3, 2017 January 8, 2016 April 30, 2015
Series Four 8 16:9 450 minutes TBA January 30, 2017 May 5, 2016
Series Five 8 16:9 450 minutes TBA TBA June 2017

References

  1. ^ "The Doctor Blake Murder Mysteries – ABC TV". Abc.net.au. 5 March 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Inside Film: Film and Television Industry News and Issues for Australian Content Creators". If.com.au. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.[dead link]
  3. ^ a b "Craig MacLachlan & Nadine Garner Sign On For 1959 Crime Drama TV Series 'The Dr Blake Mysteries'". Thelowdownunder.com. 9 April 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  4. ^ a b Knox, David (3 March 2017). "Axed: Doctor Blake Mysteries telemovie to follow 2017 season". TV Tonight. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  5. ^ Vickery, Colin (11 April 2017). "Screening of the fifth season of The Doctor Blake Mysteries has been delayed by the ABC". News Corp Australia Network. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  6. ^ Barrett, Peter (7 March 2015). "Melbourne's mural man". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  7. ^ ""The Five Lamps of Learning" by Napier Waller; the Waller House – Fairy Hills". Flickr raaen99. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  8. ^ "ITV Studios Global Entertainment Renews Output Deal With TVNZ". ITV Studios Global Entertainment. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  9. ^ Perry, Kevin (19 August 2017). "AIRDATE: Doctor Blake Mysteries return with fifth and possibly final season". decidertv.com. Retrieved 19 August 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ "Filming to resume on Doctor Blake Mysteries". TV Tonight. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  11. ^ "Returning: The Doctor Blake Mysteries S5". TV Tonight. 20 August 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  12. ^ Deeks, Sue (5 July 2013). "Daytime acquires Australian crime drama The Doctor Blake Mysteries" (Press release). BBC Media centre. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  13. ^ Knox, David (8 April 2014). "Renewed: The Doctor Blake Mysteries 2". TV Tonight. TV Tonight. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  14. ^ "The Doctor Blake Mysteries". WETA. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  15. ^ Knox, David (27 April 2014). "Logie Awards 2014: Winners". TV Tonight. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  16. ^ Willis, Charlotte (22 March 2015). "Here's the full List of 2015 Logies nominations". news.com.au. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  17. ^ Knox, David (8 May 2016). "2016 Logie Awards: Winners". TV Tonight. Retrieved 11 May 2016.

External links

Template:Australian drama TV series

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