Comedy A surreal comedy series tracking the career of Stephen Daker, a young doctor who works for the health centre of a modern British university. A Very Peculiar Practice (1986) Add Image 2 photos Related news articles ». After the first season ended on the slightly bizarre merger between the University and a police college it was hard to see what direction Andrew Davies was.

• A Very Peculiar Practice

While this thread is about, anyone remember any other university based dramas from the 80's? I think The History Man was repeated fairly recently and there was also Nice Work with Hayden Gwynne and Warren Clarke. I enjoyed both!

A Very Peculiar Practice

Oh, what wouldn't I give to see Nice Work again?! It was so beautifully done, really moving and in places very funny at the same time. Warren Clarke was brilliant. I agree, it would be fantastic to see a season of repeats of this sort of intelligent, of-its-time drama from the 80s. Speaking of 'of-its-time' 80s drama, does anyone remember a series called 'Campaign', about an ad agency? It was a bit hammy and cheesy in places but it really captured that Thatcher years greed and glamour flavour. I'd love to see that again too.

Just thought I'd resurrect this old thread to see if anyone's been watching the series 2 repeats that are being shown on Sky Arts on Sundays? I haven't seen this series for years and it's just as much fun as I remember! I'm so jealous.I only have Freeview so I'm missing this treat. Wonder if there's any chance of the new Freeview Channel 'Dave' showing it sometime? That (Dave) seems to be mainly BBC shows, so maybe there's a chance it might pop up there.

I'd.love. to see the second series again.it was just perfect TV. I've registered with Sky Player (I don't have Sky), and according to the website you can still download stuff on a pay-per-view basis if you don't have Sky TV.but I can't find AVPPS2 listed in the programmes available to download. What should I do? Are only selected programmes available on Sky Player? Or will it become available after it's been shown on TV (9.00 tonight)? I'm totally new to this Sky mallarkey (backward?

Moi?) and I haven't a clue what I'm doing. Any advice.very. gratefully received.I am absolutely DESPERATE to see this much-loved show!

A young doctor in his new job as part of a group practice at Lowlands University. But his enthusiasm takes a knock as he gets to know his new colleagues and observes life at the University. During the 1980s, universities, like many other public sector bodies, were rocked by the Tory government's funding cuts and promotion of private enterprise.

A Very Peculiar Practice ( BBC, 1986-88), set in the fictional Lowlands University, is a cutting but touching satire on a university in crisis. Idealistic doctor Stephen Daker ( Peter Davison) starts work in the medical centre. His colleagues are alcoholic radical Dr Jock McCannon, unprincipled feminist Rose Marie and underachieving entrepreneur Bob Buzzard. Daker has to cope with students' emotional trauma, an academic on the verge of a breakdown, an outbreak of a sexually transmitted disease and, finally, the restructuring forced on the university by financial cuts. Meanwhile, through his slowly developing relationship with research student and policewoman Lyn, he tries to redeem himself as a human being. Andrew Davies, now best known for his adaptations of 19th century novels, won a BAFTA for a script full of memorable lines, from Rose Marie's 'Illness is one of the things that men do to women' to Jock's 'this University is a swamp of fear and loathing'. The budding affinity between the raddled Jock and the na誰ve Daker is as moving as the savage characterisation of Buzzard and Rose Marie is humorous.

While Davison is always effective at portraying gawky innocence, the series' most impressive performance is Graham Crowden as Jock, keenly capable of feeling his patients' pain but deprived by alcoholism of the ability to cure. Like King Lear, he taunts his colleagues with the prospect of his demise and their succession, dictating into a tape recorder, 'The Sick University', a text with echoes of 1960s radical psychiatry. A black surrealism complements the series' social commentary: each episode begins with the ever more bizarre antics of two nameless nuns, and Jock's alcoholic mania becomes ever more apocalyptic.

Davies' sense that reality might be overtaking his satire comes to life in the character of Rust, a creative writing tutor penning a television series based on Lowlands, who complains to Stephen that 'every damn fool thing I think up really happens'. In the second series, American Jack Daniels takes over as Vice Chancellor, instituting further privatisation that results in a student rent strike, and the closure of the university. A final, one-off sequel, A Very Polish Practice (BBC, tx.6/9/1992) saw Stephen and his new wife Grete living and working in Poland. In 1986, Davies published a novel based on the series.

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