A Country Practice Celebrity Secrets You Didn't Know About Your Favourite Show!

It's the show that stopped a nation, and now one of the drama’s biggest stars, Brian Wenzel, reveals what really went down behind the scenes

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It was a different time when gruff old Sergeant Frank Gilroy and his loving wife Shirley held court in a fictitious little town called Wandin Valley, where a heck of a lot happened in a caring and close-knit community.

There were weddings watched by millions, deaths mourned by the whole country and a cast of characters that Australia not only related to, but also instantly fell in love with after A Country Practice first aired on November 18, 1981.

But behind the romances and dramatic storylines that resonated during its extraordinary 13-year run, not all was as it seemed on the small screen. Now Brian Wenzel, who played Sgt Gilroy, lifts the lid on what happened when the cameras stopped rolling.

“A lot of it was fun and a lot of it was downright cruel,” explains Brian, who decided to open up to Woman’s Day about the antics of his castmates in his most revealing interview ever to mark his 90th birthday.

“Joyce Jacobs (who played the town gossip Esme Watson) was a big personality and my all-time favourite, and I miss her terribly,” he says of the popular actress, who also starred in The Young Doctors, but sadly died in 2013.