A Young Doctor's Notebook (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The music was composed by Stephen Warbeck and features violin, clarinet, acoustic guitar, and cello.
• The theme song appeared on Sky Arts' compilation album 'Sky Theme Tunes, Vol. 2'.

Series overview

Dr. Vladimir Bomgard leads a team at the fictional Muryevo Hospital in Russia, consisting of junior midwife Pelageya Ivanovna, feldsher Demyan Lukich, and senior midwife Anna Nikolayevna. Episodes typically follow the team treating patients while Bomgard contends with an uneducated populace that refuses his treatment, though he provides rapid and accurate diagnoses. Bomgard has a physical relationship with Pelageya; they first have sex in the third episode, attempt a relationship in the second series, and separate in the sixth episode when Bomgard tells her he never loved her. The programme is set in the fictional town of Muryevo, Korobovo in Russia. The older Bomgard reads his old diary and recalls his experiences, interjecting himself into the story of his younger self and having conversations that reveal aspects of the story yet to unfold. In the second series, the Russian Civil War brings wounded soldiers from both the Bolsheviks and the White Guard to the hospital. The young doctor battles an all-encompassing morphine addiction while his older self watches over him. A young aristocrat named Natasha arrives, and the young doctor takes an intense, destructive interest in her. The Feldsher takes a romantic interest in a tall, moustached Colonel of the White Guard staying in the hospital; they share a love for pickled sprats, and at one point the Feldsher brings him a bouquet of flowers, which the Colonel reciprocates.

Cast

The cast of A Young Doctor’s Notebook is a tight ensemble: all five main actors appear in every episode, each playing a member of the staff at the fictional Muryevo Hospital in Russia. Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe receive top billing. Hamm plays the older Dr. Vladimir “Nika” Bomgard, a man haunted by his past. He watches his younger self stumble into the same mistakes he now regrets, but can do nothing to stop them. Radcliffe plays the younger Bomgard, a brilliant graduate from Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry who arrives full of ideals but utterly lacking in hands-on experience. He faces ignorant patients, an impossible caseload of hopeless cases, almost no support, a personal illness, and crushing isolation. This quickly grinds his idealism down into apathy and despair. His coping mechanism starts with chain smoking and slides into morphine addiction. Rosie Cavaliero is Pelageya Ivanovna, a junior midwife whose kindness comes wrapped in a brusque manner. Adam Godley plays Demyan Lukich, a feldsher—a field doctor by training—who assists during surgery. He smokes a pipe, loves pickled sprats and atlases, and strikes the young doctor as well-meaning but socially awkward and irritating. Vicki Pepperdine portrays Anna Nikolayevna, a senior midwife who is stern and treats the young doctor like a child due to his age and inexperience. She is deeply devoted to the memory of the previous doctor, Leopold Leopoldovitch, and constantly compares Bomgard unfavorably to him or lists his many achievements. Though the series is short, several recurring characters appear. Christopher Godwin plays Leopold Leopoldovitch, the revered former doctor, who appears only in hallucinations during the last two episodes of the first series. Shaun Pye appears as Yegorych in three episodes of series one. Tim Steed plays NKVD Agent Kirill, who investigates the older doctor, in all four episodes of series one. Margaret Clunie is Natasha, a beautiful young aristocrat who arrives at the clinic during the war, appearing in the final three episodes of series two. Charles Edwards plays the Colonel, also in the final three episodes of series two. Tom Forbes appears as Anatoliy in those same three episodes. Daniel Cerqueira plays Vlas, a vagrant who hates morphine addicts and travels by train with the older doctor, in all four episodes of series two.