Doctor in Trouble
Encyclopedia
Doctor in Trouble is a 1970 British comedy film
, the last of the long-running Doctor in the House
series of British comedy films. It was directed by Ralph Thomas
it stars Leslie Phillips
as a doctor who gets accidentally trapped on an outgoing cruise ship while it begins a round the world trip. The cast was rounded out by a number of British comedy actors including James Robertson Justice
, Harry Secombe
and Angela Scoular
. It was based on the story Doctor on Toast by Richard Gordon
.
) arranges a cruise for his patient, the famous television star Basil Beauchamp (Simon Dee
). The captain of the ship is Lancelot Spratt's brother (Robert Morley
).
Doctor Burke (Leslie Phillips
) becomes a stowaway
by mistake when chasing his girlfriend (Angela Scoular
) onto the ship to propose to her. She is one of a group of models doing a fashion shoot with camp photographer (Graham Chapman
). Other passengers aboard ship include pools
winner Llewellyn Wendover (Harry Secombe
) and Mrs. Dailey (Irene Handl
), a socially ambitious lady hoping to find a wealthy match for her daughter Dawn. (Janet Mahoney
)
Burke is pursued by the Master-at-Arms
(Freddie Jones
) who, correctly suspects that he does not have a ticket. Burke tries various ruses to try to escape him, including dressing up as a doctor. Eventually he is caught and exposed as a stowaway. Captain Spratt orders him to serve as an orderly, scrubbing the ship.
When the ships doctor falls ill, from a tropical disease, Burke takes over his duties. He is called into action when a Soviet cargo ship sends a request for help, as there is a patient with a severe case of appendicitis
. Burke is transferred to that ship to perform the operation. By the time he has finished his own ship has departed, and he is forced to stay on board the Soviet vessel until it reaches Grimsby
. By the time he goes to meet the cruise ship, as it returns home, he finds his girlfriend has got married to the ship's doctor, now recovered from his illness.
Meanwhile Dawn Dailey, having failed to snare Captain Spratt, decides to marry Wendover - only to find, once they have tied the knot, that he is not quite so wealthy as she had imagined.
Guide to Films, which describes it as "innocently smutty" and feeling as been made up of "leftovers from Doctor at Sea
".
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
, the last of the long-running Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House is a 1954 British comedy film, directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty Box. The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Ronald Wilkinson, is based on the novel by Gordon, and follows a group of students through medical school.It was the most popular box office...
series of British comedy films. It was directed by Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films....
it stars Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
as a doctor who gets accidentally trapped on an outgoing cruise ship while it begins a round the world trip. The cast was rounded out by a number of British comedy actors including James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...
, Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
and Angela Scoular
Angela Scoular
Angela Margaret Scoular was an English actress.-Early life:Her father was an engineer and she was born in London. She attended St.George's School, Harpenden, Queen's College, Harley Street and RADA.-Career:...
. It was based on the story Doctor on Toast by Richard Gordon
Richard Gordon
Richard Gordon may refer to:*Richard Gordon , English novelist, screenwriter and doctor*Richard Gordon , Jewish leader*Richard Gordon , American football player*Richard F. Gordon, Jr...
.
Plot
Renowned surgeon Sir Lancelot Sprat (James Robertson JusticeJames Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...
) arranges a cruise for his patient, the famous television star Basil Beauchamp (Simon Dee
Simon Dee
Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd , better known by his stage name Simon Dee, was a British television interviewer and radio disc jockey who hosted a twice-weekly BBC TV chat show, Dee Time in the late 1960s...
). The captain of the ship is Lancelot Spratt's brother (Robert Morley
Robert Morley
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment...
).
Doctor Burke (Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
) becomes a stowaway
Stowaway
A stowaway is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an aircraft, bus, ship, cargo truck or train, to travel without paying and without being detected....
by mistake when chasing his girlfriend (Angela Scoular
Angela Scoular
Angela Margaret Scoular was an English actress.-Early life:Her father was an engineer and she was born in London. She attended St.George's School, Harpenden, Queen's College, Harley Street and RADA.-Career:...
) onto the ship to propose to her. She is one of a group of models doing a fashion shoot with camp photographer (Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman
Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
). Other passengers aboard ship include pools
Football pools
A football pool, often collectively referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of top-level association football matches set to take place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, with the potential to win huge money. Entries were traditionally...
winner Llewellyn Wendover (Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
) and Mrs. Dailey (Irene Handl
Irene Handl
-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
), a socially ambitious lady hoping to find a wealthy match for her daughter Dawn. (Janet Mahoney
Janet Mahoney
Janet Mahoney is a British actress who has appeared in film and television roles. She appeared in the several films, including Doctor in Trouble, Mutiny on the Buses and Carry On Loving. She was also in episodes of the television series Dad's Army and Up Pompeii!.*-References:...
)
Burke is pursued by the Master-at-Arms
Master-at-arms
A master-at-arms may be a naval rating responsible for discipline and law enforcement, an army officer responsible for physical training, or a member of the crew of a merchant ship responsible for security and law enforcement.-Royal Navy:The master-at-arms is a ship's senior rating, comparable in...
(Freddie Jones
Freddie Jones
Frederick Charles "Freddie" Jones is an English character actor.Jones was born in the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ida Elizabeth and Charles Edward Jones. He became an actor after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant with a firm making ceramic products,...
) who, correctly suspects that he does not have a ticket. Burke tries various ruses to try to escape him, including dressing up as a doctor. Eventually he is caught and exposed as a stowaway. Captain Spratt orders him to serve as an orderly, scrubbing the ship.
When the ships doctor falls ill, from a tropical disease, Burke takes over his duties. He is called into action when a Soviet cargo ship sends a request for help, as there is a patient with a severe case of appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
. Burke is transferred to that ship to perform the operation. By the time he has finished his own ship has departed, and he is forced to stay on board the Soviet vessel until it reaches Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
. By the time he goes to meet the cruise ship, as it returns home, he finds his girlfriend has got married to the ship's doctor, now recovered from his illness.
Meanwhile Dawn Dailey, having failed to snare Captain Spratt, decides to marry Wendover - only to find, once they have tied the knot, that he is not quite so wealthy as she had imagined.
Cast
- Leslie PhillipsLeslie PhillipsLeslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
- Doctor Anthony Burke - Harry SecombeHarry SecombeSir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
- Llewellyn Wendover - Robert MorleyRobert MorleyRobert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment...
- Captain George Spratt - James Robertson JusticeJames Robertson JusticeJames Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...
- Sir Lancelot Spratt - Simon DeeSimon DeeCyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd , better known by his stage name Simon Dee, was a British television interviewer and radio disc jockey who hosted a twice-weekly BBC TV chat show, Dee Time in the late 1960s...
- Basil Beauchamp - Angela ScoularAngela ScoularAngela Margaret Scoular was an English actress.-Early life:Her father was an engineer and she was born in London. She attended St.George's School, Harpenden, Queen's College, Harley Street and RADA.-Career:...
- Ophelia O'Brien - Irene HandlIrene Handl-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
- Mrs. Dailey - Janet MahoneyJanet MahoneyJanet Mahoney is a British actress who has appeared in film and television roles. She appeared in the several films, including Doctor in Trouble, Mutiny on the Buses and Carry On Loving. She was also in episodes of the television series Dad's Army and Up Pompeii!.*-References:...
- Dawn Dailey - Freddie JonesFreddie JonesFrederick Charles "Freddie" Jones is an English character actor.Jones was born in the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ida Elizabeth and Charles Edward Jones. He became an actor after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant with a firm making ceramic products,...
- Master-at-Arms - Joan SimsJoan SimsJoan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...
- Russian Captain - John Le MesurierJohn Le MesurierJohn Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...
- Purser - Graham StarkGraham StarkGraham Stark is an English comedian, actor, writer and director.Stark was born in Wallasey on the Wirral in Cheshire, England. He first came to prominence on BBC Radio, making his debut in Happy Go Lucky and going on to Ray's A Laugh, Educating Archie and substitute on The Goon Show...
- Saterjee - Graham ChapmanGraham ChapmanGraham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
- Roddie - Jacki PiperJacki PiperJacqueline Barrell , better known as Jacki Piper, is a British actress, best known for her appearances in Carry On Up the Jungle, Carry On Loving, Carry On at Your Convenience, and Carry On Matron....
- Girl in taxi - Fred EmneyFred EmneyFrederick Arthur Round "Fred" Emney was an English character actor and comedian.Emney was born in Lancashire, the son of Blanche and Fred Emney , a music hall entertainer. His uncle was the actor Arthur Williams. Emney junior grew up in London.He made his film debut in 1935, having previously...
- Father - Yuri Borionko - Model
- Gerald SimGerald SimGerald Grant Sim is an English actor who is perhaps best known for playing the Rector in To the Manor Born. He is the younger brother of actress Sheila Sim and brother-in-law of actor/director Lord Attenborough.- Career :...
- 1st Doctor - Yutte StensgaardYutte StensgaardYutte Stensgaard is a Danish actress born in Thisted, Jutland, Denmark, best known for her starring role in Hammer's Lust for a Vampire.-Career:...
- Eve (Model) - Jimmy ThompsonJimmy Thompson (actor)James Edward Thompson was an English actor, writer, and director.He was born in Halifax and educated at St. Peter’s school in York...
- Ship's Doctor - Sylvana Henriques - Model
- Marcia Fox - Jean
- Tom KempinskiTom KempinskiTom Kempinski is an English playwright and actor. He is best known for his 1980 play Duet for One, which was a major success in London and New York and which has been much revived since. Kempinski also wrote the screenplay for the movie version of Duet for One...
- Stedman Green - Anthony SharpAnthony SharpAnthony Sharp was an English actor cast for roles on television and film principally from the 1950s onwards....
- Chief Surgeon - Marianne StoneMarianne StoneMarianne Stone was a British character actress. She appeared in many films from the early 1940s to the late 1980s...
- Spinster - John BluthalJohn BluthalJohn Bluthal is a Polish-born British film and television actor, mostly in comedy. He is best known for his work with Spike Milligan and for his roles in the television series Never Mind the Quality Feel the Width and The Vicar of Dibley.-Early life:Bluthal was born in Galicia, Poland, of Jewish...
- TV Doctor
Reception
The film receives two stars out of five in the Radio TimesRadio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
Guide to Films, which describes it as "innocently smutty" and feeling as been made up of "leftovers from Doctor at Sea
Doctor at Sea (film)
Doctor at Sea is a 1955 British comedy film, directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty Box. The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Jack Davies was the sequel to their film from the previous year Doctor in the House, and also starring Dirk Bogarde, playing the character of the...
".