Andrew quickly becomes disillusioned with a chaotic medical system that lacks any national structure and is driven by the financial motives of senior doctors.

His first encounters with Christine Barlow, a schoolmistress, and with Dr. Philip Denny, a semi-alcoholic medical assistant at a neighbouring practice, are both unfavourable.

The conclusion of the episode sees Andrew and Philip forced to take matters into their own hands by blowing up a contaminated water source responsible for a local typhoid outbreak.

Episode 2: The Morgans, married almost twenty years, are expecting their first child and they ask Andrew to oversee the latter stages of the pregnancy.

Episode 3: The Morgans give Andrew a personal gift of five guineas following his resuscitation of their newborn son, before they promptly emigrate to South Africa.

He issues some, but refuses Ben Chenkin who has been receiving such certificates for years for nystagmus which he claims to have acquired whilst working in the mines.

Andrew resents the fact that Dr. Llewellyn will not permit any medical assistants to see patients in the hospital, reserving that privilege for himself.

Andrew observes a link between anthracite mining and lung disease and suspects that silica is to blame, but there is no medical literature on the subject.

Episode 5: Andrew informs Dr Llewellyn that he intends to meet with the other medical assistants that evening and that he expects them to join forces in refusing to pay 20% of their income to him.

Immediately on his return from London he is called to an accident in the mine, where, under dangerous and challenging circumstances, he amputates the trapped leg of a miner.

Whilst Christine does not appear to suffer significant injuries to herself, she miscarries the baby and Dr. Llewellyn informs Andrew that she is unlikely to ever bear another child.

An official from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals comes and seizes the guinea pigs, and Andrew is brought before the local Committee under threat of dismissal.

He compares the continued use of white mice and canaries down the mine to his use of guinea pigs – both examples of sacrificing the lives of animals to save those of humans.

Episode 7: Miss Martha Cramb, who is not a regular patient of Andrew's, attends his practice one day in desperation, seeking treatment for a rash on her hands.

This advice is successful and Miss Cramb promises to recommend him to the other girls who work with her at a very fashionable upper class London dress shop.

Accompanying her and her friend Frances Lawrence home, Andrew learns that the seizure was faked because Toppy was not satisfied with the service she received that day in the dress shop.

Meanwhile, David Hope informs Andrew that Sir Robbert Abbey is seeking to appoint someone to see patients at the Victoria Chest Hospital.

By now Andrew's idealism has been replaced by financial motivation, much to Christine's distress, and he now offers treatments to patients that he would have dismissed as useless a year earlier simply to be able to extract more money from them.

Frances Lawrence phones to invite Andrew to a lunch on Wednesday where he will have the opportunity to meet Joe Le Roy.

This lie is revealed when, a few days later, Frances phones and asks Christine to inform Andrew that she has finally tracked down Joe Le Roy in Scotland and he is interested in hiring Andrew as a company doctor to promote his product Cremogen about which he wishes to make unfounded claims of its health benefits.

Freddie and his elitist medical associates convince Andrew to open a clinic in Welbeck Street/Harley Street to cater for a more prosperous class of patients.

Andrew overhears Ivory untruthfully informing Mrs. Vidler, the widow, that it was a kindness that he had died as he did, for death was inevitable even had he survived the operation such was the severity of his underlying morbidity.

In his Welbeck Street clinic, Andrew confesses to his wealthy patients that he has been providing them with unnecessary treatments because it is all too easy "to take money from rich hypochondriacs".

He pays Nurse Sharp a month's salary in lieu of notice, as he cancels his patients and closes his clinic immediately.

He asks Nurse Sharp, however, to accompany him on Thursday when moving Mary Boland from the Victoria Chest Hospital to the Bellevue sanitarium.

Nurse Sharp, called as a witness, testifies against Andrew, stating that she was deeply disturbed by the knowledge that Stillman was unqualified.

Mary Boland, whose arrival is delayed due to mechanical problems with her father's car, finally takes the witness stand and appeals on Andrew's behalf, but Mr.

He adds that there needs to be post graduate courses for doctors, and that if Mary Boland had remained at the Victoria Chest Hospital then it is his opinion that she would still be suffering from active T.B.

The episode/series concludes with Andrew visiting Christine's grave prior to travelling with Philip and David to their new joint venture in a country town.

[2] Writing for The New York Times, John J. O'Connor noted "Manson is played to grim but winning perfection by Ben Cross", and wrote the series "holds up remarkably well as a story and drama.