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Reef Doctors

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Reef Doctors
GenreDrama[1]
Directed by
  • Colin Budds
  • Grant Brown
Starring
Opening theme"Medicine Woman", by Billie Jade Hastings
Ending theme"Medicine Woman"
Composers
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
ProducerJonathan M. Shiff
CinematographyZenon "Butch" Sawko
EditorPhilip Watts
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time42 minutes
Production companyJonathan M. Shiff Productions
Original release
Network
Release9 June (2013-06-09) –
7 September 2013 (2013-09-07)

Reef Doctors is an Australian television drama series that premiered on Network Ten on 9 June 2013.[1]

Premise

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The show revolves around Dr. Sam Stewart, the leader of a team of doctors serving the remote Hope Island Clinic.[2] They look after residents of a small island community and neighbouring islands on the Great Barrier Reef, as well as holidaymakers and thrillseekers who visit the area.[3] Sam is a single mother with an unusual interest in venom, hoping to extract the hidden secrets that may have the power to cure fatal diseases.[4]

Pre-production

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Reef Doctors is the first non-children's show Jonathan M Shiff has produced. As well as starring in the series, Lisa McCune is a co-producer.[5] Filming commenced on 28 November 2011 in Queensland, around the Great Barrier Reef, and finished in April 2012. The series was due to be broadcast from September 2012, but was pushed back to June 2013.[6][5]

Ratings and reception

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The series received mixed reviews upon its long-overdue premiere.[7]

The first episode finally aired on 9 June 2013 at 6:30pm, attracting low ratings of just 357,000 for Network Ten.[8] These low figures caused Ten to move the show into a different time-slot, on Fridays at 9:30pm,[9] but even that proved to be too much to ask, because it then failed to attract reasonable viewing figures in its changed time-slot. As a result, the show was subsequently moved to Ten's digital channel Eleven from 29 June 2013.[10]

Cast

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Episodes

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No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateAustralian viewers
(thousands)
1"Venom Doc"Colin BuddsJutta Goetze9 June 2013 (2013-06-09)357,000
2"Episode Two"Colin BuddsFiona Wood21 June 2013 (2013-06-21)193,000
3"Episode Three"Colin BuddsMia Tolhurst29 June 2013 (2013-06-29)N/A
4"Episode Four"Colin BuddsSue Hore6 July 2013 (2013-07-06)N/A
5"Episode Five"Colin BuddsJohn Ridley13 July 2013 (2013-07-13)N/A
6"Episode Six"Colin BuddsAnthony Morris20 July 2013 (2013-07-20)N/A
7"Episode Seven"Colin BuddsDeb Parsons27 July 2013 (2013-07-27)N/A
8"Episode Eight"Grant BrownElizabeth Coleman3 August 2013 (2013-08-03)N/A
9"Episode Nine"Grant BrownAnnie Beach10 August 2013 (2013-08-10)N/A
10"Episode Ten"Grant BrownFiona Wood17 August 2013 (2013-08-17)N/A
11"Episode Eleven"Grant BrownMeaghan Rodriguez24 August 2013 (2013-08-24)N/A
12"Episode Twelve"Grant BrownAnthony Morris31 August 2013 (2013-08-31)N/A
13"Episode Thirteen"Grant BrownJutta Goetze7 September 2013 (2013-09-07)N/A

Home media

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Series DVD release dates Distributor
Region 4[11]
1 7 November 2013 (2013-11-07) (AUS) Universal Home Entertainment
1 20 July 2022 (2022-07-20) (AUS) Via Vision Entertainment

References

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  1. ^ a b Reef Doctors: Sun, sand and snakes galore | Sydney Morning Herald 16 May 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013
  2. ^ Sam Dallas Lisa McCune heads up cast of Jonathan M. Shiff's Reef Doctors at if.com.au, 28 November 2011
  3. ^ David Knox Cameras roll on Reef Doctors at TV Tonight, 28 November 2011
  4. ^ Reef Doctors at Australian Television Information Archive, 26 November 2011
  5. ^ a b Airdate: Reef Doctors | TV Tonight 24 May 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013
  6. ^ Vickery, Colin (3 September 2012). "Lisa McCune's new series Reef Doctors shelved by Channel 10 until 2013". news.com.au. News Limited. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  7. ^ "Homepage".
  8. ^ Reef Doctors sinks on debut | The Australian 13 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013
  9. ^ "Reef Doctors an object lesson in mis-scheduling | TV Tonight".
  10. ^ "Bumped: Reef Doctors (Again) | TV Tonight".
  11. ^ "Reef Doctors; S1". Sanity. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
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