Surgical Spirit (TV series)

Surgical Spirit is a British television sitcom starring Nichola McAuliffe and Duncan Preston that aired from 14 April 1989 to 7 July 1995. It was written by Annie Bruce, Raymond Dixon, Graeme Garden, Peter Learmouth, Paul McKenzie and Annie Wood. It was made for the ITV network by Humphrey Barclay Productions for Granada Television. In January 2022, Forces TV started showing all 50 episodes of Surgical Spirit, while the first two series were made available on BritBox in April 2022.

Plot
The series was based around Sheila Sabatini, a senior surgeon at the Gillies Hospital, whose verbal skills have most people running for cover as her tongue is as sharp as her scalpel. She dominated the operating theatre, while at home she was divorcing her Italian husband, Remo, with whom she had a son, Daniel. Sheila was also a gossip, often gossiping with her best friend, theatre administrator Joyce Watson.

One of the major themes in the programme was her developing relationship with Jonathan Haslam, the anaesthetist. At the end of the sixth series, they married and she had become director of surgery, while her son had become a medical student at the hospital, much to her annoyance.

Cast

 * Nichola McAuliffe as Mrs. Sheila Sabatini
 * Duncan Preston as Dr. Jonathan Haslam
 * Marji Campi as Joyce Watson
 * David Conville as Mr. George Hope-Wynne
 * Emlyn Price as Mr. Neil Copeland
 * Suzette Llewellyn as Sister Cheryl Patching
 * Beresford le Roy as Michael Sampson
 * Lyndam Gregory as Dr. Simon Field (series 1–4)
 * Simon Harrison as Mr. Giles Peake
 * Andrew Groves as Daniel Sabatini

Production
The outside shots were of Lister Hospital in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

Cancellation
Granada Television decided to decommission the programme after the conclusion of the seventh series.

Home releases
All seven series of Surgical Spirit have now been released on DVD. An 8-disc set of the complete series has also been released.