One by One

One by One

1984
★★★☆☆ 5.5/10
📺 3 Seasons
🎬 32 Episodes
📅 Ended
🌐 EN
⏱️ 50 min/episode
Drama
One By One is a British television series made by the BBC between 1984 and 1987. The series, created by Anthony Read, followed the career of international veterinarian David Taylor and his work caring for exotic animals at zoos in Britain, from the 1950s to the 1970s. Each series was set during a different decade, with exteriors filmed at Dudley Zoo, Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park. Thirty-two episodes were made in total. Rob Heyland starred as Turner, while other major cast members included James Ellis, Sonia Graham, Peter Gilmore, Heather James, Catherine Schell, Peter Jeffrey, Andrew Robertson and Christina Nagy.

Seasons

Season 1
1984 • 10 Episodes
Donald Turner arrives home in Rochdale fresh from graduating as a fully qualified Veterinary Surgeon, and takes up a position with grumpy older vet Maurice Webb. He is horrified to learn that the Great Northern Zoo is a part of the practice, especially when he is called out on Maurice's day off to treat a chimpanzee who has had a thumb bitten off. The vet is needed so that they can say they 'Called In The Experts'.
Season 2
1985 • 12 Episodes
Donald is now well-known as a zoo vet, and is travelling the country dealing with circus animals, but still finds time to deal with the Great Northern Zoo's animals. The Northern Zoo itself is having a rough patch with Paddy acting as senior keeper and manager, and doesn'thold any illusions as to what is going to happen to the zoo. Maurice is annoyed about the amount of time Donald is away from the practice, and is even more annoyed when Donald informs him of a proposed safari park he will be involved with. Things finally come to a head when an elephant escapes from Ben Bishop's circus and injures a man, and forces Donald to split up the partnership.
Season 3
1987 • 10 Episodes
Donald and Paddy escort an orang-utan to a zoo, which later turns into a raging menace. Meanwhile a young eland with a tooth abscess attacks and kills it's keeper, and Donald comes under pressure from the press to put it down. Elsewhere a blind lady donates a mynah bird to the Bellington Zoo, where it is stolen by an underpriviledged boy from a nearby school.

Network

BBC One

Keywords

zooveterinarianbased on memoir or autobiography1950s