Each week, we will be taking an in depth look at some of the best sitcoms and comedy shows from both the UK and the USA.

Today we will be looking at a comedy that aired on BBC Two last year – Quacks

Opening Sequence / Theme Tune

About the Show

Summary of Plot

In Victorian London four pioneers, friends, and rivals fighting to make a mark on the world and save lives.-IMDb

Number of Seasons / Episodes

1 seasons

Characters:

Rory Kinnear – Robert

Tom Basden – John

Matthew Baynton – William

Lydia Leonard – Caroline

Trivia

• The surgery scenes are filmed in Europe’s oldest surviving operating theatre – dated to 1822 and located in the attic of a church in Southwark, London. In 1962, after 100 years of disuse, the garret and operating theatre were opened to the public as a museum.
• Throughout the series there are repeated references to Robert Lessing’s experience aboard the Medusa which contributed to his ‘affliction’ and his corresponding refusal to discuss his trauma. It seems likely, although with some historical complication, that this might be a reference to the wreckage of the Medusa (Méduse), a vessel that struck the Bank of Arguin and inspired the painting ‘Raft of the Medusa’ by Théodore Géricault. The evacuating passengers of the vessel were lost in a panic; many drowned, some rebelling drunkards were shot by officers, and the rest were forced into cannibalism in order to survive. If Lessing survived his experience adrift of the Medusa, the implication is that he must have engaged in cannibalism.

Clips

A Record Breaking Amputation

The Bladder Stone

William Meets Charles Dickens