TV family affair for Red Dog vet
He’s best known as Red Dog’s vet and now he’s returning to TV, this time with his family in tow and a whole heap of different animals to treat.
Well-known Pilbara vet Rick Fenny will hit the small screen tonight for the four-episode TV series Desert Vet, which will see him dealing with everything from loveable pets to endangered whale sharks alongside his marine biologist son Ed Fenny and his veterinarian daughter Louisa Fenny.
The pilot of Desert Vet originally aired on Channel 7 last year, before it was picked up to be made into a series by Channel 9 earlier this year.
The show was filmed in various locations across the Pilbara, including Karratha, Port Hedland and Marble Bar, as well as in Shark Bay.
Mr Fenny said he believed the show would really resonate with audiences across Australia.
“People love animals stories, they love vet stories and they love family originated stories and this is all three rolled in to one,” he said.
“It was amazing to work alongside my kids. I got to go out on the boat with Ed in Shark Bay and we did some really cool stuff like catching tiger sharks, tagging whale sharks and picking up stone fish.”
Series co-creator Matty Roberts, of Projucer, said Desert Vet promised a cinematic journey across the magnificent North West region of WA like no other.
“It’s like Dr Pol meets Mad Max, Bondi Vet meets Outback Wrangler, with an incredibly diverse vision of Western Australia’s land and sea as its backdrop,” he said.
The show is also screening in the UK for the first time, with the first episode going to air under the title Outback Vet on Eden Channel on Monday, while audiences in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe have already been able to watch it.
In the premiere episode, Rick and Ed wrangle with sharks in the aptly named and magnificent Shark Bay. While at the Karratha veterinary hospital, a critically injured bulldog requires decisive action, a gecko gets a cage makeover to combat depression and a rescued thorny devil is re-released safely into the wild.
Desert Vet airs tonight on Nine at 8.40pm and will run every Wednesday for four weeks.
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