"Surgical Spirit" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Nichola McAuliffe

Nichola McAuliffe is a fine actress both on the screen and on the stage. She has been nominated twice in the theatre for her roles in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Kiss me Kate". Her last role of note was as the voice of the car driven by James Bond in "Tomorrow never Dies".

Answer: Anaesthetist

Jonathan Haslam is ably played by Duncan Preston, a fine all-round actor. Jonathan is one of the few people who stands up to the explosions of abuse from the volcanic Sheila. The only let down of this series was the usual "will they, won't they" romance ploy thrown in to keep the plot going.
Duncan has a regular role on the British soap Emmerdale. He is better known for being one of Victoria Wood's stable of actors in the hit series "Dinnerladies" and "Acorn Antiques".

Answer: Joyce Watson

Marji is deliciously neurotic as the Surgical Administrator Joyce Watson. Her continuous gossiping and sneering at her female staff, namely Sheila and fellow gossip Surgical Nurse Sister Cheryl Patching (marvelously played by Suzette Llewellyn), is biting and funny. Marji is another actor who spent time in a British soap, "Brookside", as the character "Jessie Hilton".

Answer: Male Stripper

Beresford Le Roy plays Michael Sampson in the series. Michael is a Surgical Nurse in Sheila's theatre. Also he provides a love interest for Sister Cheryl Patching although she is not too happy about his extra-curricular activities as a stripper. There is also a medical credit for Beresford at the end of the programme. If anyone knows why he has this please contact me.

Answer: cream pastries

Though constantly on a diet Joyce falls victim to the call of the "cream bun" in times of stress. It is not until a visiting dentist, who practices hypnosis, that Joyce eventually breaks her addiction to pastries.

Answer: 50 episodes

There was a central cast of eight actors in the series with the character of Daniel, Sheila's son, appearing regularly. Sheila's opposition, or should I say, punching bags were Neil Copeland (Emlyn Price) and George Hope-Wynn (David Conville), both of whom were out-gunned and out-matched by the ferocious Sheila Sabatini.
The series ran from 1989 until 1995. One piece of trivia about this show is that Simon Harrison, who plays Giles Peake (Sheila's assistant), is the grandson of the great actor Rex Harrison.

Answer: Gillies Hospital

Gillies is a fictional hospital which deals mainly with patients on the British National Health Service.
The outside shots of the hospital, that were used in credits and certain episodes, are of the Lister Hospital in Stevanage in Hertfordshire. Both the Mater Hospital and the Royal Victoria can be found in the city of Belfast.

Answer: Paco

The first series starts with Sheila separated from her Italian husband Remo Sabatini. When the relationship with Jonathan develops to an engagement Sheila falls for the Spaniard Paco resulting in an acrimonious split with her prospective spouse. However everything comes right in the end.

Answer: medicine

Daniel, played by Andrew Groves, becomes a medical student so that he can follow in the footsteps of his mother. Outwardly Sheila is not too pleased at this development but is secretly proud of her wayward son. Andrew appeared in 15 episodes of this funny show.

Answer: Graham Garden

Graham, a founder member of "The "Goodies" since 1973, with Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, left behind a career in medicine for the life of a comedian and script-writer. He had had a previous term as a script-writer on a medical based comedy before with "Doctor in the House". He only co-wrote in the last years of the series.