'Dr Healey's Casebook'

This production was commissioned by the West Midlands Divisional Committee of the National Union of Public Employees [NUPE] as part of its 'Fight the Cuts' campaign. It considered public spending cuts and their effects on the services provided by NUPE members, especially in the National Health Service and welfare services. It was a protest against the policies of the [then] Chancellor of the Exchequer, Dennis Healey as he strove to reduce public sector spending under pressure from the International Monetary Fund [IMF]. The production should be regarded as part of the campaign to highlight concerns of public service unions, most notably marked by the 'winter of discontent' of industrial action and political protest in 1978 - 1979. From a creative perspective, the show was devised as a parody of 'Dr Finlay's Casebook', a BBC television series which ran from 1962 to 1971.