'In The House' concluded with the students finally passing their medical exams, so it looked like the end for the show. Frank Muir had moved on, to be replaced as Head of Comedy at L.W.T. by Barry Took. But two weeks after the last episode was recorded, Humphrey Barclay contacted the cast to inform them it would be coming back.
The result was 'Doctor In Large', and it saw Upton, Collier, and Stuart-Clark moving on from St. Swithins to venture into the wide world. A paring down of the cast was inevitable - out went 'Duncan Waring' ( Robin Nedwell joined the cast of the Jack Rosenthal sitcom 'The Lovers' ), 'Danny Hooley' ( although he would reappear in the final episode of 'In Charge' ) and 'Dave Briddock', in came 'Lawrence Marwood Bingham', a conceited creep of the first order, excellently played by Richard O'Sullivan. His character was not only popular with the public, but some of the writers as well, in particular Garden and Oddie.
The new series went from St. Swithins to Dr.Maxwell's inner-city surgery, Dr.Whiteland's Harley Street practice, Paul's uncle's ( Dr.Griffin ) country surgery, before returning to the hospital.
An industrial dispute resulted in a number of I.T.V. programmes being recorded in black and white, and the first six episodes of 'Large' were amongst them. Not that viewers were too bothered, many still hadn't upgraded to colour.
What is astonishing about 'Large' is its length - British sitcoms traditionally last six episodes per season, but this was on air for an incredible eight months, totalling twenty-nine episodes. What is equally astonishing is how good many of them are; 'No Ill Feeling!' and 'Its The Rich Wot Gets The Pleasure' being two outstanding examples. John Cleese ( apparently in need of money following a failed business venture ) and Graham Chapman ( working with Bernard McKenna ) provided some fine scripts.
The punishing schedule, alas, took its toll on Barry Evans, and after the show ended, he announced he would not be returning.
CODA: In the 'Comedy Classics' documentary broadcast on I.T.V.-1 on 7/10/08, George Layton revealed that Barry Evans was in fact sacked from the show due to his 'erratic behaviour'.
The result was 'Doctor In Large', and it saw Upton, Collier, and Stuart-Clark moving on from St. Swithins to venture into the wide world. A paring down of the cast was inevitable - out went 'Duncan Waring' ( Robin Nedwell joined the cast of the Jack Rosenthal sitcom 'The Lovers' ), 'Danny Hooley' ( although he would reappear in the final episode of 'In Charge' ) and 'Dave Briddock', in came 'Lawrence Marwood Bingham', a conceited creep of the first order, excellently played by Richard O'Sullivan. His character was not only popular with the public, but some of the writers as well, in particular Garden and Oddie.
The new series went from St. Swithins to Dr.Maxwell's inner-city surgery, Dr.Whiteland's Harley Street practice, Paul's uncle's ( Dr.Griffin ) country surgery, before returning to the hospital.
An industrial dispute resulted in a number of I.T.V. programmes being recorded in black and white, and the first six episodes of 'Large' were amongst them. Not that viewers were too bothered, many still hadn't upgraded to colour.
What is astonishing about 'Large' is its length - British sitcoms traditionally last six episodes per season, but this was on air for an incredible eight months, totalling twenty-nine episodes. What is equally astonishing is how good many of them are; 'No Ill Feeling!' and 'Its The Rich Wot Gets The Pleasure' being two outstanding examples. John Cleese ( apparently in need of money following a failed business venture ) and Graham Chapman ( working with Bernard McKenna ) provided some fine scripts.
The punishing schedule, alas, took its toll on Barry Evans, and after the show ended, he announced he would not be returning.
CODA: In the 'Comedy Classics' documentary broadcast on I.T.V.-1 on 7/10/08, George Layton revealed that Barry Evans was in fact sacked from the show due to his 'erratic behaviour'.