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Program Title
Intro DOCTOR FINLAY/Episode 6/Intro by Russell Baker After I put youth behind me, I discovered the pleasures of weddings, and never pass up an invitation to attend one if it's within two days march. I live close to three churches where gloriously gowned brides and their comically self-conscious grooms are constantly getting married, and -- though they are total strangers to me -- I stand on the sidewalk in delight and stare shamelessly at the spectacle. There's no persuasive explanation why weddings make you feel good … so good in fact that sometimes you can't help crying. And of course, maybe I shouldn't be speaking for you on this subject. You may hate weddings. I suspect most people, however, find them as hard to resist as I do. They infect the spirit with the urge to look on the bright side. This urge fills the air around Arden House tonight, for Janet is about to become beautiful and a bride. And Doctor Cameron has been putting together a feast. Bagpipes are in order. And good scotch whisky. Doctor Finlay -- In Arcadia. Extro DOCTOR FINLAY/Episode 6/Extro by Russell Baker One of the special charms of the Doctor Finlay series, I think, is its refusal to wrap up stories with neat happy endings. Robbie Hamilton's life is not miraculously saved at the last minute by streptomycin. Poor Rachel Gant does not amazingly recover her power to function in society. John Moore, who hoped to poison his already dying father, still faces a possible death sentence and what will become of him we don't know. In real life, of course, we don't know either how most stories come out. And the few real-life endings we do know are rarely neat and satisfying, and very often unhappy. Real life is a tangle of unfinished stories. The writers who created this Doctor Finlay series, I think, wanted to bring to life a whole community -- as it existed fifty years ago. Maybe the most representative character was the outspoken workman on doctor Finlay's decorating job -- the one who has had it with the old class system and tells Finlay he will see him on the barricades. This was the in-your-face, fed-up spirit of British socialism in those early years, and it was most fed-up in Scotland and the north of England. Well we are also left with a lot of unanswered questions about our main characters. Will Janet's marriage succeed? Will Doctor Finlay ever get the redecorating done? And will he still be enthusiastic about socialized medicine after it's been in place a few years? I can't say tune in next week, but perhaps -- in another year or two. For Masterpiece Theatre, I'm Russell Baker. Goodnight.  Episode number: 1 2 3 4 5 6
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