Peak Practice

Finishing a three-year job at an African clinic, Dr Jack Kerruish seeks a new position as an English country doctor.

Dr Beth Glover's relief that the Beeches Surgery is finally solvent is short-lived when she learns the rival health centre has been given fund-holding status and is wooing many of her patients away. She is also torn by conflicting feelings for Jack Kerruish. While they clash over professional differences, she recognises a growing attraction between them.

The Beeches surgery comes under increasing pressure from its fund-holding rival health centre. For Dr Will Preston, the rivalry gets personal when his ruthlessly ambitious wife Sarah begins an affair with turncoat doctor Daniel Acres, whose transfer to the new practice has greatly enhanced his social and financial status.

Tempers flare as the workload at The Beeches surgery increases, and Dr Beth Glover tries to keep the peace in a bitter argument between newcomer Dr Jack Kerruish and traditionalist Dr Will Preston about the fair division of labour. And the tables are turned in Beth's relationship with Isable de Gines when the younger woman finds herself giving advice about romance to her older friend.

A new doctor eyes Jack; a priest faces mental illness.

A life and death decision faces Dr Jack Kerruish when he receives an emergency call to a 28-year-old former miner with a serious heart condition. Only Jack's prompt action saves Francis Barrat this time, but what chance of survival does he have in the long term? Jack believes that a pioneering operation could prolong the young man's life expectancy, but the obstacles surrounding it seem insurmountable.