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The generous actor
who pretended to
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Barbara Millar’s Person of the Week
By 1966 the series was a cult, a national institution. A Bill Simpson fan club was set up, Andy Stewart’s ‘Dr Finlay’ spent five weeks in the hit parade, and Andrew Cruickshank was invited to the British Medical Association’s annual dinner to speak on medical matters – as if he were a real GP.
‘Dr Finlay’s Casebook’, the medical series set in 1929 and broadcast on the BBC between 1962-1971, based on A J Cronin’s novella ‘Country Doctor and other short stories’, attracted a weekly viewing audience of around 12 million, and created stars of its triumvirate of actors: the young, forward-looking junior partner in the practice, Dr Alan Finlay, played by Bill Simpson; the senior medical partner, the slightly staid but highly pragmatic Dr Angus Cameron, played by Andrew Cruickshank; and Janet, their unflappable housekeeper and receptionist, played by Barbara Mullen.
William Nicholson Simpson, known as Bill, was born in Dunure, Ayrshire in September 1931, 80 years ago. After spells of employment in a shoe shop, as an insurance clerk and in the RAF, he won a place at drama college in Glasgow and then spent two years as a television announcer, before securing his first role as a thief in the long-running TV police series ‘Z Cars’.
Although his name does not appear in the credits, Simpson played the role of a groom in the 1959 re-make of John Buchan’s ‘The 39 Steps’, starring Kenneth More as Richard Hannay. This was his only foray into the movies – the rest of his career was devoted to television, radio and stage performances. In 1962 the BBC filmed an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel ‘The Master of Ballantrae’ and Simpson played the part of Hastie in the six 30-minute adaptations.
In the same year the first episode of ‘Dr Finlay’s Casebook’ was aired with Bill Simpson in the title role. The initial six episodes were filmed in Tannoch Drive, Milngavie, before the location was moved to the Perthshire town of Callander, which became the fictional village of Tannochbrae, where the action centred around the medical practice at Arden House. Originally the interior studio scenes were recorded in London until the advent of colour – and in 1968 all production was moved to Glasgow.
TV producer and director Haldane Duncan – assistant floor manager on Dr Finlay – recalls that not only was the series was enjoyable to work on, the actors ‘were an easy bunch to work with’. The series ran for many years mainly due to the chemistry generated by the three leading actors, he adds.
Simpson was particularly genial. ‘He was one of the most generous men I have ever met – with his acting, his time and his money,’ says Duncan. ‘Although with the latter he went a bit over the top. It was near impossible to pay for anything if you were in Bill’ s company. When I say anything, I’m not talking about the odd drink or meal. I mean no matter how large the company, when it came time to settle up, you’d find that Bill had paid the bill, so to speak.’
He recounts an evening when eight people had decided to go to Ronnie Scott’s club in London. ‘When we arrived it became apparent that you had to be a member to get in, so we began to dig into our pockets to find the extra cash. On arrival at the cash desk we were waved through – Bill had not only paid all of our admissions, he’d made us all members.’
One newspaper even accused Cronin of ‘maliciously doing millions out of legitimate employment’, he was inundated with hate mail and ultimately forced to issue a statement to refute the charges made against him.
When the series was made in London, the English production team did not seem to notice or care about the English actors’ attempts at Scottish accents, Duncan remembers. ‘It bothered Bill though, and he always took time to coach any struggling actor who wanted it.’ He also once helped a fellow actor in an extremely unselfish way. ‘The poor man had only one scene to do, and that was with Bill. As can often happen, the smaller the part, the more anxious an actor gets, particularly if he hasn’t done much TV. The poor thesp had dried at least half a dozen times and he was getting more nervous with each take but at the beginning of the seventh, it was Bill’s turn to dry. "I’m terribly sorry," he apologised. "You’re right, these bloody lines are hard to get your tongue round." In the club afterwards I commiserated with Bill about how the old bugger had managed to make him dry but all he said was: "Well, it must be hellish if everyone is staring at you and you are the only one cocking it up. I thought I would give him some company". Bill had never had a problem with the lines, but he had dried on purpose to help the old soul out.’
The original concept of the newly-qualified doctor joining the practice of an older and wiser man faded as the years wore on. ‘After a few seasons Dr Finlay wasn’t so naïve and the original conflict began to abate as Bill Simpson got greyer and greyer. Actually Bill went grey very quickly after he suffered his first heart attack and, by the end of the nine-year run, he looked nearly as old as Andrew Cruickshank,’ Duncan concludes.
A J Cronin, who was the primary writer for the show between 1962-64, wrote to the BBC to express his dissatisfaction with the progression of the series. Word leaked to the press and stories appeared suggesting the author wanted the series to end. One newspaper even accused Cronin of ‘maliciously doing millions out of legitimate employment’, he was inundated with hate mail and ultimately forced to issue a statement to refute the charges made against him. ‘I don’t like to disappoint anybody, but just lately the series has got out of line. The scripts have been getting ragged and introduced extraneous characters,’ wrote Cronin. ‘If you overrun a programme, you end up with a soap opera. I have written to the BBC telling them it is a matter of improving scripts. I have no intention of stopping the series.’
This was written in 1964 – the series carried on for a further seven years – 191 50-minute episodes in total. The last episode ‘The Burgess Ticket’ was shown on 3 January 1971 although Simpson also starred in 104 audio episodes of the A J Cronin story, made by BBC Radio 4, from 1970-1975.
In 1965 Simpson married actress Mary Miller in Callander – they even bought a house there called Tamavoid. But the couple divorced four years later, without having children. Simpson’s second wife – they married in 1974 – was another actress Tracy Reed (born Clare Pelissier, later taking the surname of her stepfather, the film director Sir Carol Reed) and they had two daughters.
After Dr Finlay finished its TV run, Simpson continued to work for the BBC and in 1973 took on the role of MacNair in the drama series ‘Scotch on the Rocks’, which was broadcast over five 40-minute programmes. He also appeared in ‘Quiller’, ‘When the Boat Comes In’ and ‘The Return of the Saint’, as well as in one-off plays, pantomimes, variety shows and musical comedies. He made a complete series of ‘The Mackinnons’, in the lead role of Donald, head of a family who lived in the Western Isles and felt threatened by the influx of new people with new lifestyles into their community.
But, by the early 1980s, with a history of heart problems and rumoured alcohol-related health difficulties, his career slowed down considerably. He contributed less to TV drama and more to factual subjects, covering the Open Golf Championship with Peter Alliss at Royal Troon in 1982 and presenting a middle management corporate video on behalf of the Industrial Society in 1984. His last television productions included playing John Knox in a docu-drama about Mary, Queen of Scots and a role as a drivers’ boss in ‘Shoot for the Sun’, which he did not live to see aired.
Simpson died in Mauchline, Ayrshire in December 1986 at the age of 55. The cause of death was bronchopneumonia. In 1966 he had been invited by Roy Plomley to choose his Desert Island Discs – an accolade indeed. Among them he had selected Jimmy Shand’s ‘De’il Amang the Tailors’, Woody Herman’s ‘Woodchoppers’ Ball’, Johann Strauss junior’s waltz ‘Roses from the South’ and – his favourite – Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 in C Minor. Andy Stewart’s rendition ‘Dr Finlay’ was firmly not on the list.
Barbara Millar is a tour guide and freelance journalist
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