EPISODE SUMMARIES
The following are descriptions for the 30 episodes which all star Brett Climo as Dr. David Ratcliffe, these episodes I have on video. They are not in the exact order they were shown in.

THE GIFT

A new doctor arrives in Cooper's Crossing - Dr. David Ratcliffe. On there way back from a picnic Chris, Emma, and Jack witness a car crash, they run to help, in the car is a young couple which they all know, the female is pregnant. The female is alright, but the man has a serious head injury and could be brain dead, the man is put on life support machine. The man has a donor card, David thinks they should take his organs for transplants and wants his parents to agree to this, but they don't. Chris doesn't agree with David and wants to wait for Geoff to come back from clinic run for his opinion. The woman goes into labour and gives birth, David and Chris have to rush to save the baby's life. After Geoff see the man he agrees that he is brain dead, and his family agree to his organs being used for transplants.

SECOND CHANCE

Emma is trying to get a truck out of some water which it has fallen into, Paula is helping her. The truck falls on Emma's arm and she is trapped with her arm under the water. Paula calls the base for help. David and Geoff arrive there, but they are having problems getting her out, at one point David suggests they might have to amputate her arm. The water is rising and unless they act quickly Emma will drown. With the help of Mr Baxter they just get Emma out in time.

NO MAN'S LAND

Chris and David arrive at a place to do a clinic run, a mother lives there with her 2 daughters. They seem like they have something against men and aren't too keen on David, they were expecting Kate instead of David. David has to sleep in the shearer's quarters. When older daughter sees her sister in the barn kissing a bloke she goes after the bloke with a whip. The younger daughter has had enough and wants to go to Sydney to look for her father, her mother is against this. Then it comes out that the father abused the older daughter.

BITTER HARVEST

Chemicals are being dumped illegally. A family returns home after a holiday to find crops are dead and stuff all over the place. The father has a row with the man that should've been looking after the property, it seems like he is drunk, they start fighting and the man gets shot and dies. The father goes off on his own on a horse for 2-3 days. The boy starts feeling sick and having trouble hearing. Chemicals are found to be in the water. The father needs to be found but no one knows where he has gone, he is eventually found.

RISING SUNDOWN

There is an auction for a property owned by an old couple, David does a bid from a plane which is accepted. When they land and the couple see that the men David bidded for are Japanese they are not happy, they don't want Japanese men taking over there property, the man doesn't like the Japanese because of what they done to him during the war. Later on the man puts sugar in the fuel of the plane which he thinks the Japanese men will be on, but David uses the plane to give the man's wife a lift home - they crash, but they both survive.

THE INSTRUMENT

David, Kate and Paula go on a clinic run to where men are working in a mine. A man has cracked ribs, David advises him to stop working but he won't, the man also fights in a boxing match which he held at the bar. David finds out the man is taking drugs. David goes into the mine just as it is about to be blown up to rescue the man, they just get out in time.

MAN AND BOY

A man and his grandson are alone on property, there is a bad storm, the boy goes up the windmill to put breaks on and is struck by lightning and falls to the ground. Sam has difficulty landing the plane. The boy is very serious, unconcious. David, Kate and Sam has to spend the night there as they can't get off the ground in the plane because of the storm. David is trying everything to save the boy even though the others think he won't wake up and if he did he would have brain damage. The grandfather tries to take tubes out while David is asleep, but David wakes up and sees him and puts them straight back. The boy does survive and is perfectly okay.

FLY PAST

David and Chris are called out to tend to a station hand who has injured his leg - the man turns out to be Tom Callaghan. Everyone is puzzled why a good doctor like Tom would be working as a station hand. Later on David is flying Tom back which David opens a vent to let air in and a swarm of wasps come of - David is allergic to wasps and has a bad reaction. Tom acts quickly and helps David, but then he is faced with the problem of landing the plane but he can't fly. Chris goes up in another plane and helps him down by giving him instructions over the radio.

SKY ABOVE EARTH BELOW

A young girl falls down a mine shaft, a big rescue is on to save her. Tom and David are the doctors at the scene with her parents. They pass down a walkie talkie so they can talk to her and also hear her. They are using tanks to give her oxygen, but they have to keep changing them and they only have so many. Eventually they find a way to get her out and David who doesn't like confined spaces has to go down to try and reach her which he does and she is alright.

CHIPS ARE DOWN

Nick and father who is a truck driver are in a truck, his father is driving and Nick is alseep. His father blacks out and causes on accident with an oncoming coach, the coach turns over. Tom and David are called to the scene. It turns out Nick's father has something wrong with him which caused him to black out, he has to go and see a specialist.
(Stars Terence Donovan as Nick's father)

POINT OF NO RETURN

There is a clinic run a place where a mother, father, their daughter and her husband live. The young man goes to pick up David, Kate and Debbie (the pilot) - on the way back he is driving too fast and goes off the side of the road, everyone is alright except Debbie who banged her head but it doesn't seem serious. Later on the young married couple have a row and the her walks on out on her, she is upset and end up drinking alcohol and taking pills, she then has to be rushed to the hospital. On the way there Debbie is having problems and passes out. David has to the land the plane in a bad storm. The young couple make up. Debbie has concussion and can't fly again.

END OF THE RAINBOW

David is called out to see a man who is having trouble breathing, he works down a mine. The man has a bad asthma attack, and is taken to hospital, Nick is looking after the mine. David has dinner at the pub with the man's daughter. Someone knocks Nick over the head and steals the mans opals. The man discharges himself from hospital and goes back down the mine again and suffers another asthma attack. David takes samples from the mine. The man goes to see man at the next mine as he thinks he stole the opals, they end up having a big row down the mine. David goes down there, but then the mine caves in. Tom is called out and him and others manage to get them all out of the mine. From the samples David finds out the man is allergic to the dust in the mines.
(Stars Annie Jones as the man's daughter)

DANGEROUS GAMES

A man has a heart attack, David tells him not to eat fatty foods or drink alcohol, but the man doesn't take any notice. The man is old friend of Nancy's. Vic and Nancy have a row about him, Vic finds some holiday brochures and thinks she is planning to go away with the man, Nancy falls down the stairs. Nancy has to go to the city for an operation. The man has another heart attack, David can't get him to take any notice, but Geoff has a talk with him and gets him to change his mind.

DADDY'S GIRL

Mr Price and his grown up daughter Megan own place where men are drilling. Tom is an old friend of Megan's. While Mr Price and Megan are there, there is a big explosion. Tom and David go there, Mr Price and Megan aren't injured so they decide to fly out the men who are seriously injured first. Megan isn't happy about this - she wants her father on the plane first, but she and Mr Price end up staying back with Tom while David goes in the plane with the other men. Mr Price has a heart attack and dies, but it turns out he was taking tablets for angina and didn't tell Tom before.

WINDOWS OF THE SOUL

David tends to an old man who is injured, the man has a dog which goes everywhere with him. David looks after the dog while the man is in hospital, although the dog tries to get into the hospital to where the man his. The man leaves the hospital without David's permission, he needs to have an operation as he could have a heart attack anytime. The dog gets shot by accident, and although David isn't a vet he manages the save the dogs life. Daughter of the man turns up that he never knew he had. Man agress to have operation, and David is looking after his dog while he goes to the city.

A DOCTOR'S DREAMING

On the way to a clinic run some medical things fall off the truck and gets left behind. David returns to the hospital with some patients, only Geoff, Kate and Emma left at place. Geoff becomes ill, it's his appendix and it needs to be operated on, he is in an aborginal cave, Kate has to do the operation in the cave with instructions from Tom at the base. David is in a helicopter on the way back there. Kate manages to do it and Geoff is alright.

BATTLERS

Nick is injured while working and has broken ribs, the man he works for won't let him take anytime off work, so Nick carries on working. Later on Nick collapses, the man starts to drive Nick and and his workmate to the hospital and on the way there they end up in a row and the man leaves Nick and his mate at the side of the road and drives off back home. But, luckerly some blokes come along and give them a lift.

A SPORTING LIFE

A football star and his father are in a car accident, the father has a head injury but is alright, but his son's legs are trapped under the car. Tom and David are called to the scene. When at the hospital the doctors find one of the son's leg is really badly injured and can't be saved and will have to be amputated from the knee down. He doesn't want the doctors to amputate, but they have to go ahead otherwise he would die. When he wakes up and finds out what they done he wants to sue them for doing it without his permission. In the end he changes his mind about suing the doctors, and starts playing wheelchair basketball.

BLUES FOR JUDY

A girl who is a friend of Emma's give birth in her car, then leaves the baby outside Emma's front door wanting Emma to look after it - what she doesn't know is that Emma is staying overnight in town. The girl collapses and ends up in hospital, David is her doctor, he knows she has just given birth and is trying to get her to tell him where the baby is but she won't. The baby ends up being left out in the cold all night. The girl's boyfriend turns up aswell. Eventually the girl says where she left the baby and Emma and the boyfriend find it.

THE CLIMBER

A bloke and his girlfriend turn up in town to see David - they are old friends. David and the bloke go climbing, his girlfriend isn't feeling well and stays at the hotel. The girlfriend seems to be getting worse and when Nancy sees her she calls Tom. It turns out to be a very bad case of food poisoning. During the climb the bloke starts feeling ill and can't carry on, he waits on ledge half way up and David goes for help. The food poisoning was from some caviar and champagne they had both had.

A PAINFUL EXTRACTION

DJ's father turns up and wants DJ to return to Greece with him. DJ and his father go to see an old man out in the bush to see if he is OK, his radio isn't working. The doctors take it in turns on the radio at the base. Turns out the old man is very ill and has tetnus. DJ decides to go back to Greece with his father and leaves.

DAVID AND GOLIATH

David is called out to a patient who has his leg trapped. Back at the hospital David also notices a lump on the man's chest which he says should be tested and removed. But, the man goes to see another older doctor and he says that the lump is alright as it is. David goes to see the other doctor and ends up in a big disagreement with him. David goes to see the man again to get him to reconsider but he won't. A Flying Doctors offical turns up and tells David not to pursue it any further and that if he doesn't stop his job is on the line, but David won't leave it alone. But, eventually the man lets David do the test and it turns out to be cancer.

VALENTINE'S DAY

David falls in love with a British woman, she is flying around the world on her own, she is only in town for a few days while her plane is being fixed. But, then David finds out she is very ill and has hodgekins disease. She wants to travel and sees as much of the world as she can before she dies. David asks her to marry him, but she turns him down because of the travelling.

A DAY TO REMEMBER

There is a big bush fire. Geoff is rescuing a fireman from a on overturned car - he touches the car burns his hands. Another man is hosing down his home and is up on the roof and falls. David is called to see him, the fire is heading there way. While David is there the man's wife collapses - she needs an operation. There are some problems getting the plane to land. Geoff can't do the operation because of his hands so David has to even though he isn't a surgeon. The operation goes well.

A RURAL EDUCATION

David and Annie go to a remote part of town to do check ups on pupils at the school. One of the boys keeps acting strangly and has bad headaches and his hands keep shaking, his sister is having headaches aswell. The other kids tease him and think he is mad. David tries talking to his father but gets no joy from him, so he goes to see the boy's grandfather. He has got the shakes aswell and says it's miners shake, David finds out from him that stuff from the mines has been leaking into a stream, but then they find out it is getting into water where the boy's father is getting water from to water the vegetables with, so it turns out the boy is being poisoned.

INNOCENCE LOST

Kate and Geoff are called to a home - a girl has been raped. The girl isn't talking much and won't say who done it. Annie goes on a date with Ted Patterson in the bush. There is a detective in town asking questions about the rape. The rapist turns out to be Ted Patterson, he gets into the girl's bedroom through the window, her father shoots him.

BAD MOON RISING

Man collapses at oil drilling rig, Johnno (the pilot) and David arrive there, the boss running the rig knows Johnno and doesn't like him, something which happened in the past. The boss wants the man back at work, so he discharges himself from hospital, but he collapses again and David is called out again. This time the ground is very wet and muddy and Johnno has difficulties getting the plane off the ground, his past comes back to haunt him. But, after removing the chairs and stuff from inside the plane to make it lighter it manages to do it.

A NEW LIFE

A pregnant woman is being flown to the hospital, apart from pilot there is only Kate on the plane, there is a bad storm, the woman gives birth on the plane and Kate has to deliver it. The woman rejects her baby and won't hold it or see it. There is a fire at Clare's house - it burns down and she loses everything, the people in the town are giving her furniture and that. The doctor get another woman who has just had a baby to sit in the bed holding her baby so when the woman sees them she will want to see her baby, but this doesn't work at first. Eventually the woman does hold her baby.

DECEPTION

David has decided to leave Cooper's Crossing and do something else with his life. A man sacks a jackeroo, the jackeroo has been seeing his daughter - the man tells him to keep away from her. The jackeroo and daughter are having a row - she falls and bangs her head. David is on the way there but sees the jackeroo setting fire to a cabin and tries to stop him, but jackeroo hits him. An older man is coming along in a car and sees David, the older man is a doctor aswell, David tells him about the daughter being injured and the older man sees to her. David has to spend a night in hospital and misses his leaving party at the pub. The next day after David leaves hospital, he hears some shouting and finds the jackeroo stuck half way down a cliff on a ledge he has injured his leg. David goes down to him, then goes back up to call base. Johnno, Geoff and Kate turn up, they throw a stretcher down to David but it gets caught on something, David tries to free it and slips and falls upside down, he can't get himself back up and falls down to the bottom of the cliff, Geoff rushes down to see him, but David is dead.