RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service (new season) ★★★★

As the second season of the regional medical drama RFDS begins, a capable crew from the south-east base of the Royal Flying Doctor Service is in the air, heading out to the White Cliffs rodeo. “How busy does this rodeo get, anyway?” asks new recruit and mental-health nurse Chaya Batra (Emma Harvie). “Hundreds of drunk cockies riding angry bulls and motor bikes. Fairly busy,” seasoned nurse Pete Emerson (Stephen Peacocke) wryly replies.

Once they’ve arrived at the bustling community event, Pete good-humouredly inquires if Chaya would like to have a go in the ring. “Look, if I wanted to awkwardly ride something for eight seconds, I would’ve stayed with my ex,” she deadpans in response, causing her new colleague to spit out his coffee in surprise.

As with the premiere season, the drama begins with a newcomer being shown the ropes and then rapidly thrown in at the deep end. The original newcomer was English doctor Eliza Harrod (Emma Hamilton). She had ventured to the other side of the world for a fresh start with her teenage son, Henry (Ash Hodgkinson), following her marriage breakup, only to return reluctantly to the UK at the end of the season. This time, Chaya, who’s arrived with her deck of tarot cards and apparently clear views about the nature of the world, is the newbie.

As well as offering colour and spectacle, the rodeo provides an ideal setting for the medical emergency that follows. “Have you done this before?” Chaya asks Pete when he’s required to provide urgent and potentially life-saving treatment mid-flight. “On dummies and dead sheep, yeah,” he replies before moving into critical action.

From the outset, with economy and assurance, RFDS continues to build on the qualities that it exhibited through its impressive premiere season in 2021. There’s an easy and authentic camaraderie between the members of the team and a laconic style of communication that sounds quintessentially Australian.

That team includes newly promoted operations manager Leonie Smith (Justine Clarke), doctor Wayne Yates (Rob Collins), pilot Mira Ortez (Ash Ricardo), nurse Matty Harris (Jack Scott) and pilot Graham Morley (Rodney Afif). Productively opening out the core medical and aviation group, and helping to expand the service’s team into a wider community, is a younger generation of characters, including Pete’s orphaned niece, Taylor (Sofia Nolan), and Wayne’s son, Darren (Thomas Weatherall).

Once again, the series, which is filmed in and around Broken Hill, appreciatively soaks up the landscape, drinking in the vivid blue skies and wide brown expanses of the desert landscape. The first episode of the new eight-part season, fluidly directed by Jeremy Sims and beautifully shot by Bruce Young, attests to the attributes of the RFDS team evident in the debut season: their skill and dedication; their ability to stay calm in a crisis and endeavour to deliver what’s required of them; the fluidity with which they work together; the respect between them; their unassuming professionalism.