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Pharmacists on TV

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By Emily Hardaker

11 Dec 2011

Being a student I am obliged to conform to the stereotype and watch daytime television whenever I get the chance, Bargain Hunt is a personal favourite. Recently I have discovered Doctors and in the total amount of episodes I have seen (four), not once has there been a Pharmacist or Pharmacy mentioned. No 'oh the Pharmacist was on the phone, I messed up a prescription again', there was nothing not even a slight nod of the head to acknowledge our existence. This led me to do further research into the subject area, but with more shows like Casualty, House, Holby City, ER which wasn't a waste of my time at all.

My findings were that according to television we don't exist, the only reference I saw was when House himself went to pick up a prescription from the Pharmacy. And even then the guy behind the counter didn't speak, his purpose was akin to that of a pez dispenser. House then had another reference when the man himself stole some drugs from a surprisingly empty Pharmacy. The conclusion I am drawing from this is that if it wasn't for Victorian Pharmacy that aired last year we would probably have never made it onto the box. This could be a blessing in disguise and could give a budding writer some prime sitcom material for the future. If anyone does, at the minimum I'd quite like a dedication.

Sun, 11/12/2011 - 14:09 – Chloe Waterson

Doctors

Actually, I had doctors on the TV once while waiting for it to finish and got very excited when I witnessed a phone call between a pharmacist and one of the doctors (who I think was having an off day), the pharmacist was telling the doctor they'd prescribed the wrong dose or something. I got the feeling they only included it to reinforce the fact that the doctor was having a bad day, but at least we have been on doctors at some point! haha

Sun, 11/12/2011 - 14:18 – Richard Laybourn

Curb Your Enthusiasm

I would like to highlight the presence of pharmacists on Larry David's show "Curb your enthusiasm", pharmacists have cropped up a handful of times - often relied upon for minor elements of the plot.

Such as reading a Doctor's handwriting on a love letter as we seem to have an uncanny knack for deciphering unintelligible scribbles.

Sun, 11/12/2011 - 16:01 – Brendan Fraser

TV

Nurse Jackie is only show I know with a pharmacist actually having a major acting part. His representation as a pharmacist is undermined though and in some episodes he gets replaced by a robot - can you imagine?!

Mon, 12/12/2011 - 11:09 – Benedict Lam

Eddie the pharmacist

Hi Brendan,

In addition to your comment about Nurse Jackie, the pharmacist (Eddie) was, unknown to him in the first season, having an affair with the married Nurse Jackie while she scores strong opioid-based painkillers from him for a "bad back".

I wonder how he would hold up at a fitness-to-practise hearing?

Benedict Lam

Editor, Tomorrow's Pharmacist

Mon, 12/12/2011 - 11:17 – Emily Hardaker

I can't believe this, we

I can't believe this, we exist! And sounds like I need to do more research, thanks for the pointers.

Emily

Tue, 13/12/2011 - 14:53 – Leila Taheri

Desperate Housewives

Anyone remember pharmacist George Williams in Desperate Housewives?

From the very reliable Wikipedia:

"However, the Van de Kamp's pharmacist, George Williams, falls obsessively in love with Bree. This obsession and jealousy is strengthened by Rex's rudeness toward George. George begins tampering with Rex's prescriptions, which leads to Rex have another heart attack and die. Rex dies thinking Bree has been poisoning him, and in his final moments, he writes Bree a note saying that he understands why she has poisoned him and that he forgives her."

Leila Taheri

News and feature writer, PJ Online

Tue, 13/12/2011 - 15:46 – Seema Davda

Two and a Half Men

Another regularly apperaing TV pharmacist was Russell (actor Martin Mull) on Two and a Half Men. He was Charlie Sheen's drug-addicted unethical pharmacist.... Great representation!

Fri, 16/12/2011 - 13:19 – Niamh O'Hanlon

The Simpsons

And don't forget Ned Flanders is a pharmacist

Fri, 16/12/2011 - 13:20 – Jane Bines

Doc Martin

How about the Pharmacist in Doc Martin? Was she a true represantation?

Fri, 16/12/2011 - 13:37 – Jen Smith

In Drop Dead Gorgeous

In Drop Dead Gorgeous (film), there's a pharmacist who is quite obviously only judging the beauty contest so he can look at scantily clad schoolgirls.

In Rachel Caine's Last Breath (YA fiction), the town pharmacist is known for finding unpleasant ways to humiliate or steal from girls who go to him for dispensing of prescriptions for contraceptives.

On the other hand, Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan character (adult Sci Fi) was partly based on a hospital pharmacist she knew. He isn't a pharmacist in the books, though - he's a soldier and secret agent.

John Rawlings (adult murder mystery, Deryn Lake) is an 18th century apothecary who solves crimes. When he gets time to run his shop, I don't know.

Owen Archer (adult murder mystery, Candace Robb) is a 14th century archer who apprentices to an apothecary; during the first book, the apothecary dies and his lovely wife (also an apprentice apothecary) is suspected of his murder. Owen ends up marrying the widow (who is made master apothecary) and acting as confidential agent to John Thoresby (Archbishop of York etc) during subsequent books.

When Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) is ill, her aunt summons the apothecary, not the physician. (Family gets the physician, servants - and Jane - get the apothecary.)

We do tend to get a bad press in film and literature, though - particularly film. Hospital pharmacists are practically invisible (although this is not confined to film - some patients don't realise that the hospital has a pharmacy) but community pharmacists possibly have it even worse since they seem to get portrayed as incompetent, criminal, or sexually deviant.

Not that I'm obssessed or anything...