The
lowdown: 'Distant
Shores' is a British comedy-drama starring Peter Davison and Samantha Bond
as Bill
and
Lisa Shore. Bill is a successful plastic surgeon in London, who is self-centred,
regards his patients with
disdain
and is more interested in his career and his brand new Bentley than his
family. Bill is a difficult man to
like
when we first meet him. Indeed, even his family does not like him very
much. His 16-year-oldGoth daughter
calls
him a dick, while his son prefers his imaginary, invisible father named
Malcolm. Little wonder then that
Lisa
threatens to leave him. She is offered a job as a veterinary researcher
on Hildasay, a Northumbrian island
with
a population of just 326. The job is only for six months, but she gives
Bill an ultimatum - go to Hildasay
with
her and the children or she will leave him. Bill reluctantly becomes the
island's GP while the local doctor
is
on a sabbatical in India.
Bill
is warmly welcomed by the locals on Hildasay, but he quickly realises that
he hates the rural lifestyle and
wants
to go home. His first day work is disastrous; his new Bentley won't start,
he has a close encounter with
a
bull, finds that his doctor's surgery is at the back of the local pub,
and although his waiting room is full, none
of
his patients are sick - they just want to talk or play chess. To make matters
worse, he soon learns that the
locals
lied about the island's doctor, who has actually died, and they want him
to stay - permanently. The first
series
of 'Distant Shores' was broadcast on ITV1 in January 2005. The second series
has not yet been shown
on
ITV, although all 12 episodes of 'Distant Shores have aired on Canadian
cable TV channel VisionTV, and it
premiered
on the Seven Network in Australia on 29 December 2007.
The
verdict: 'Distant Shores' is an entertaining
comedy-drama that bears some similarities to 'Doc Martin' and
'Northern
Exposure' (the city doctor forced to take a job in a rural backwater inhabited
by oddball locals seems
to
be a popular theme in TV-land). Despite this, it is a highly enjoyable
show with an excellent cast. Davison in
particular
is superb as Bill, in the sort of role in which he excels. Like 'Doc Martin',
this show features a lot of
low-key,
gentle humour. A running gag in the first episode has many of the locals
offering Bill advice on avoiding
seasickness
- stuff your ears with cotton wool and wear a pair of your wife's tights.
He reluctantly tries this
remedy,
with embarassing consequences.
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