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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 444429" data-attributes="member: 23">Never Called Me MotherThis episode gives us the first look at the studio version of the surgery’s front door, as Shirley ushers Frank out. A small tweak, but it’s fun seeing when new little areas make their debut. I must say the geography of some of the locations is a little confusing. It’s only a very recent episode that seemed to confirm that Vicky’s veterinary practice is attached to the home she and Shirley share (when music being played in the flat/house could be heard in the vets.Meanwhile, I’m still confused by that room painted dark green with the leather sofas which seems to be primarily Terence’s habitat but also frequently sees Simon hanging out, and occasionally people like Shirley. Is it Terence’s home, or is it a staff lounge for the surgery? I’m still unclear. My partner pointed out that the layout resembles that of the Robinsons’ home in Neighbours (except the kitchen area is where the Robinsons’ bedrooms were). To me it always feels like stepping into Donald Fisher’s living room, right down to the masculine palette and furniture. A couple of familiar Aussie soap guest faces, who have most of their scenes together. First up is Sean Scully, best known to me as S&D’s hugely underratedJim O’Brien, here involved in a very soapy storyline where his character discovers his wife has a secret daughter when she shows up on the doorstep.Said daughter is played by Anna Hruby, here coming off  lengthy stint in The Restless Years (having formerly appeared in The Young Doctors) and about to go into Prisoner. But to me she’ll always be sly Tracy Kingsford from S&D’s Leanne Watson era. I’m sure there was a Hruby whose name appeared on the S&D credits on the production side, so I always got the impression Anna was someone’s daughter or niece or something. If she was, it seemed to do her well as she’s appeared in small roles in practically every Aussie soap. From the little I’ve seen, she seems to specialise in playing messed-up hard cases. Here she brings some nice city cynicism to Wandin Valley, and it’s jointly horrifying and amusing to see her smoking at almost 9 months pregnant without comment from anyone else. Then comes the twist that she isn’t actually the daughter, but was an associate of the real daughter before she OD’d, then decided to use her knowledge to get a cushy home in the country, only to quickly realise it’s not as opulent or as interesting as she’d envisioned. It’s Sean’s character who calls her on it, having done some investigating, and she decides to cut and run, handing over the newly born baby to the couple who have longed for their own child. Everyone gets a happy ending in Wandin Valley. Except for sly, messed-up hard cases. The new doctor in town who sets up his own competing surgery looked familiar. I was convinced he was the same actor who played the pharmaceutical rep who had the thing going with the woman at the hotel/motel. IMDb suggests otherwise, but he is one of those familiar character actors. Looking at his filmography, I probably know him best from his very brief appearance as Martin Dibble’s father in early H&A. Not only does he undercut costs, he starts dispensing bad medical advice - advising patients to resume smoking or telling them they’re allergic to medication prescribed by Terence. The twist is a fairly tragic one when it turns out he’s suffering from schizophrenia. It is a wildly OTT performance though. Queenie Ashton - whose career goes back to the Forties - makes her debut here as Mrs Coote, and it looks like she’ll be seen a bit more as the series goes on. She’s another who is just coming off The Restless Years, which was axed shortly before these episodes (which explains why a number of S&D’s early cast would have an association with that series). Here, Mrs Coote believes her garden is being attacked by gnomes and Molly persuades Simon to buy into the fantasy and pretend he’s dealt with them, rather than dealing in the reality of the age-related illness which is causing the delusions (something to do with weak or thinning vessels in the brain). It even becomes a punchline for the episode when Mrs Coote returns to ask Simon to help her deal with the pollution from the spaceships which keep flying over her garden. The tone is a little tasteless, considering they’re dealing with a nasty and frightening condition, but I suppose it adds a kind of balance.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?