Well, what can I cay about Sweet Medicine? It was simply fantastic. I enjoyed every minute of it.
The series revolved around the Sweet family, who were prominent figures of the community of the small Derbyshire town of Stoneford, and had a medical practice.
The first episode has Doctor Nick Sweet come home from London for the funeral of his father Ed, who had the surgery. He brings home his new wife Deb, also a doctor, and this doesn't go down well at all with his mother Georgina, who was brilliantly played by Patricia Hodge.
Let's just say Georgina and Deb don't really see eye-to-eye. However, they both want Nick to stay in Stoneford and to build a life there.
Georgina wants Nick to take on the surgery and carry it on in the family. He is reluctant at first, but by the end of the first episode he has agreed.
But, it isn't long before Nick's old flame Lillian is trying to put a wedge between him and Deb, with a little help from Georgina.
Nick also has a brother Eddie, who is the black sheep of the family, and doesn't really know where he is heading in life. In total contrast to high-flying Nick.
Ed's brother Andrew also arrives on the scene in the first episode, and becomes a consultant at a local hospital. There was a long-standing feud between him and Ed. Andrew also has a son called Geoff, who is Nick and Eddie's cousin.
He is madly in love with Lillian, although Andrew will not hear of it. And blackmails Lillian to stay away from him.
There is history between Andrew and Georgina, and a lot of chemistry between them. There is also a deep dark secret that rocks the whole family to its core, which comes to light later on in the series. This is the reason of the long-standing feud between Andrew and Ed.
This series was just perfect. It had beautiful scenery, brilliant acting, lots of glamour and great storylines that had you on the edge of your seat.
It was often compared too much to the medical drama Peak Practice, but was infact TOTALLY different.
It got off to a slow start ratings-wise but by episode 5 or 6, was easily beating BBC1 and getting a large chunk of the audience share.
So why then did ITV move it to a late night 11pm slot for episodes 9 and 10? Well, this was ITV being stupid again, and not giving anything a chance. This meant that so many people missed out on the spectacular finale.
The last line has Georgina saying:
"It all comes down to family, in the end."
Well, Georgina I certainly hope that this isn't the end. I really hope ITV comes to their senses and commissions a second series. We were really left on a cliffhanger, and would I love to see the Sweet saga continue.
