Doctor in the House

Doctor in the House is a 1954 British comedy film, directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty Box. It was the most popular box office film of 1954 in Great Britain, made Dirk Bogarde one of the biggest British stars of the 1950s. The film was seen by more people in its first year on cinema release than any other in British cinema history (Morley). Its success spawned six sequels and a television series.

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Other well known British actors featured in the film were Kenneth More, Donald Sinden and Donald Houston. James Robertson Justice appeared as the irascible chief surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt, a role he would repeat in many of the sequels. Joan Hickson and Joan Sims starred, and Shirley Eaton played comedy, not just a dumb blonde.

The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Ronald Wilkinson, is based on the novel by Richard Gordon, and follows a group of students through their first year at medical school. Betty Box picked up a copy of the book at Crewe during a long rail journey, and saw its possibility as a film. But Box and Ralph Thomas had a job convincing Rank executives that people would go to a film about doctors, and that Bogarde, who up to then had played spivs and Service heroes, had sex appeal and could play light comedy. They got a low budget, and were only allowed to use available Rank contract artists.

Sequels

Films

The other films in the series were:

• Doctor at Sea (1955) — with Bogarde
• Doctor at Large (1957) — with Bogarde
• Doctor in Love (1960) — with Michael Craig and Leslie Phillips instead of Bogarde
• Doctor in Distress (1963) — with Bogarde
• Doctor in Clover (1966) — with Phillips
• Doctor in Trouble (1970) — with Phillips

Television series

Main article: Doctor in the House (TV series)

A successful television series from London Weekend Television followed:

• Doctor in the House
• Doctor at Large
• Doctor in Charge
• Doctor at Sea
• Doctor on the Go
• Doctor Down Under — filmed and set in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
• Doctor at the Top