Plot
Dr Finlay discovers the source of a scarlet fever outbreak, but no-one believes him, including the area's medical officer, who puts his political ambitions before the safety of the community.
What I liked
The element of 'What would I have done' -- closing the farm to prevent the fever spreading, would have ruins the farmer's livelihood and reputation.
Medical drama -- medics are exciting because they are forced to make life-or-death decisions that most of us never face. It can offer a lot in the way of human interest, too.
Regional voices -- apparently it's not hard to sell a play with regional accents. These sounded OK to me -- but I'm not very familiar with the niceties of Scottish accents.
What I learnt
That thing with the names again -- small boy called Robbie; the farmer was called Rob. It's such a tiny thing and pretty easy to change.
I would have made the farmer and his wife more sympathetic -- the real 'baddie' here was the medical officer. I think their anger, quite understandable and believeable in the circumstances, would have offered a good dramatic point. But perhaps having them as pretty unlikeable characters made it all the more interesting when Dr Finlay had to talk about the fever in the milk.
Sense of place -- I really didn't get much sense of place from the sound effects (my teacher talks a lot about this in writing radio plays). Mostly dialogue was used; people making effort noises, or commenting on their work to show they were outside; someone serving food to show they were inside. Feverish mutterings to indicate a bedside scene. I'm not sure if this is bad -- the play didn't not work because it didn't go all out to make a soundscape.
The ending was very abrupt, but incredibly touching. The Medical Officer coming in at the wrong time with the test results; and the ruined farm a place that Dr Finlay always avoids.
Compare to...
Sector General; The Archers; All Creature Great and Small
Broadcast: BBC 7, 17 December 2007
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