User Reviews

Rob Buckman and Chris Beetles were doctors who switched to writing radio comedy, progressing into television with episodes of the final run of 'Doctor On The Go', then landing their own sketch show, created by, written and starring themselves.

Made by London Weekend Television, 'The Pink Medicine Show' owed a great debt to 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'. The medically-themed sketches were linked by similar surreal devices; for instance, a picture on an office wall suddenly turning into the opening shot of the next sketch.

As a comedy team, Buckman and Beetles were a sort of 'Smith & Jones' with stethoscopes. They were assisted by future 'Robin Of Sherwood' star Nickolas Grace and Peter John, with sexy Lynda Bellingham as the show's equivalent of Carol Cleveland. In the first episode, the aftermath of a heart transplant operation was depicted as akin to that of a soccer match, with doctors and nurses laughing and splashing about in the showers ( viewers were treated to a lovely naked back shot of Bellingham ).

Highlights included the 'Starsky & Hutch'-style paramedics 'Fasolt & Fafner', an exploding bed-pan, a commercial for Nodrogs syrup of figs ( shot in the style of a 1960's Martini ad ), 'The Maurice Chevalier School Of Surgery', how Rudyard Kipling's poetry was affected by having his tonsils out, a music hall number called 'The Night They Invented Penicillin', and 'Signor Robino Goes To The Doctors' in which a politically incorrect foreigner ( Buckman ) causes havoc when he visits his G.P. Somewhat less successful were Buckman's monologues to camera.

The show either tickled your funny bone or had you writhing in agony. I liked it! It was unusually rude for a comedy that went out at 7.30 P.M. on a Friday night - which endeared it to us filthy-minded kids!

EXAMPLE: Doctor Beetles responds to an emergency. He finds his patient, Buckman, sitting up in bed.

BEETLES: What's the matter?

BUCKMAN: I empty my bowels every morning at eight.

BEETLES: So what's the problem?

BUCKMAN: I don't get up until nine!

'The Pink Medicine Show' was a mixed bag of sketches that worked well sometimes and fell rather flat at others. I think the variability was what finished it off; which was a shame because there was definitely the substance of top-drawer - if one-dimensional - entertainment lurking in there somewhere. The tremendous and long-running success of the 'Doctor...' series in their various incarnations demonstrated the popularity of the subject as a sit-com but perhaps it was just too narrow for an equally long-running comedy sketch series.

Even so, there was a lot to like. Another commentator with a better memory than mine has listed some of the more bizarre Pythonesque ideas. My favourites were the spoof adverts tricked-up with a medical theme, like the 'Martilini' rupture pouches presented to the 'Martini' theme. 'It's the right one (we also make the left one)'. Corny but fun. A broader base of experienced script writers might have been better.

I agree with 'ShadeGrenade' and 'Screenman'. 'The Pink Medicine Show' was a scream, a rag-bag collection of medically-themed sketches written by and starring Rob Buckman and Chris Beetles ( both former doctors who'd branched out into radio and television comedy ). The show was produced by the great Humphrey Barclay ( still going strong ). There was a definite 'Python' feel to the programme, as 'ShadeGrenade' points out, particularly the way sketches ended and began. One memorable item was a spoof commercial for 'Nostrol' cigarettes, which one smoked nasally rather than orally. Buckman and Beetles were augmented by Nikolas Grace, Peter John and Lynda Bellingham. It was unusually rude for a show in a 7.30 P.M. time-slot, but was thankfully devoid of the lavatorial content of modern shows. Perhaps a later slot ( say 10.00 P.M. on Sunday nights ) would have secured it another season. Why it has not yet been released on Network D.V.D. is strange. Sadly, two of the cast - Buckman and Bellingham - are no longer with us.

I have wanted to see this show for years. It starred and was written by Rob Buckman and Chris Beetles, both of whom were real-life doctors who became writers for radio comedy and then later television. After penning episodes of 'Doctor On The Go' ( the fifth adaption in the 'Doctor' series ), the pair got their own show by London Weekend Television in 1978 entitled 'The Pink Medicine Show', with Nikolas Grace, Peter John and Lynda Bellingham acting as support. Only six episodes were ever made and in my view that was six too many.

Each sketch was trotted out rather amateurishly and were about as funny as having your appendix removed without being put under anaesthetic. All the jokes ( well, 'jokes' may be an overstatement ) were played out to patently obvious canned laughter ( which sounded like people being forced under laughing gas ). Buckman delivered monologues to camera which were so lame they made Ronnie Corbett's armchair monologues from 'The Two Ronnies' sound hilarious.

As actors and writers, Buckman and Beetles were way out of their depth and I only hope that their medical skills were far better than their acting and writing skills.

Perhaps the only really funny sketch featured Buckman as a dental surgeon who whilst trying to remove a bad tooth from his patient's mouth, ends up accidentally pulling his head off. If 'The Pink Medicine Show' was trying to be the next 'Monty Python', then it failed miserably. It was trite and unfunny in the extreme.

'The Pink Medicine Show' is currently not available on DVD and most likely never will be. If anyone is trying to champion this show as a 'forgotten comedy classic', they need their head examined!