A Country Practice is an Australian television soap opera/serial which broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 5 November 1994, airing at 7:30 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,088 episodes were produced. The show was produced at the ATN-7's production facility at Epping, New South Wales, Pitt Town and Oakville, suburbs on the outskirts of northwest Sydney, Australia, were used for most of the exterior filming, with the historic heritage-listed Clare House, built in 1838, serving as the location of the Wandin Valley Bush Nursing Hospital. Many other fictional locations, including Dr. Terence Elliot's (Shane Porteous) medical practice, Frank and Shirley Gilroy's house Brian Wenzel and Lorrae Desmond, the Wandin Valley Church and Burrigan High School where filmed in the Hawkesbury. Several of the regular cast members became popular celebrities as a result of their roles in the series. It also featured a number of native Australian animals, particularly the iconic 'Fatso the wombat' adding to its appeal both domestically and internationally. After the series was cancelled by the Seven Network in 1993, the series was relaunched on the Network Ten in 1994. At the time of its cancellation, A Country Practice was the longest-running Australian TV drama; however, by the late 1990s, that record was surpassed by Network Ten series Neighbours. At the height of its popularity, the show attracted 8–10 million Australian viewers weekly (at a time when the population of Australia was 15 million). The series was eventually sold to, and broadcast in 48 countries. Creation A Country Practice creator and executive producer James Davern had previously worked on a similar rural-based series as the producer and director of the long-running Bellbird, which screened on ABC Television (1967–1977). In 1979, he entered the pilot episode for a script contest by Network Ten, which was looking for a new hit soap opera after the demise of Number 96. Davern came third and won a merit award. Although TEN turned the series down, rival TV station Seven Network picked it up. Davern's contribution to the industry was recognised when he was honoured with the Order of Austraklia (OAM) in 2014. Production Format Though sometimes considered a soap opera, the storylines of the show's two 45 minute episodes screened over any one week formed a self-contained narrative block. The storylines were meant to have a primary appeal to adult and older youthful