RFDS Royal Flying Doctor Service (ATOM Study Guide)

RFDS Royal Flying Doctor Service series opens with the arrival of the new Senior Medical Officer Dr Eliza Harrod (Emma Hamilton). After a successful career as an Emergency Physician at a London Hospital, Eliza arrives with her teenage son Henry (Ash Hodgkinson), determined to escape her husband's past and start a new life. Only days into the job, Eliza finds herself at the forefront of a catastrophic emergency retrieval that will change everything.

As she navigates the fallout, while continuing her highly skilled work, Eliza finds herself questioning the very core of who she is and who she wants to be. Meanwhile, Flight Nurse Pete Emerson (Stephen Peacocke) finds himself in tumultuous new territory when his family is involved in an unthinkable tragedy. Thrust into new responsibility as the guardian to his orphaned niece Taylor (Sofia Nolan), Pete finds himself questioning his ability as he comes to terms with unthinkable grief and loss.

Ambitious and driven, Dr Wayne Yates (Rob Collins) is a gifted doctor who has always strived for excellence. Determined to repair his relationship with his teenage son, Darren (Thomas Weatherall), Wayne will struggle to overcome the devastating loss of a patient who is a friend, while navigating his relationship with Pilot Mira Ortez (Ash Ricardo). Bright, vivacious and compassionate, Base Manager Leonie Smith (Justine Clarke) is the master conductor of the team, keeping the planes flying and her doctors in the sky.

Filmed on location in and around Broken Hill, this series captures the beauty and brutality of Australia's vast red centre where the doctors, nurses, pilots and support staff of the RFDS negotiate the unique challenges of emergency retrievals across some of the most inhospitable places in the country. It's a series about community and people coming together to laugh, to cry and to triumph, in spite of the huge obstacles they face. They are the ones you meet in your worst possible moment. And that moment is one they face every single day.

Curriculum Links:

RFDS Royal Flying Doctor Service contains occasional coarse language, mature concepts and some graphic medical  scenes. As such, it is recommended for students aged 15+ and teacher discretion is advised.

RFDS Royal Flying Doctor Service can be linked to the following subject areas within the Australian Curriculum:

• English (Year 9–10)
• Geography (Year 9–10)
• Health and Physical Education (Year 9–10)
• Media Arts (Year 9–10)