For a while, he is able to keep the true reasons for his return secret, instead letting the locals and his family believe that he is "giving back" on his sabbatical. Only his boss, Penny (Hayley McElhinney), knows the truth, but as Hugh soon finds out, there are no secrets in a tiny town like Whyhope.
His mother, Meryl (Tina Bursill), is thrilled that her golden child has returned, while his father, Jim (Steve Bisley) remains ever grumpy. His younger brother Matt (Ryan Johnson) is none too happy about Hugh's return, even though he's made a great success out of the local brewery he started when their family farm was flailing. Matt also landed his dream girl, Charlie (Nicole Da Silva, Wentworth), as his wife and that's quite a coup since Charlie used to be Hugh's girl. Last, but not least, is Ajax (Matt Castley), their younger adopted brother who Hugh insists on calling "the foster kid," even though he was adopted by Meryl and Jim over a decade ago.
Meryl, a city councilwoman, is busy bolstering her political career through the tireless efforts of her biggest fan, Ajax's girlfriend Hayley (Chloe Bayliss), a devout and pious young girl who is always ready to pray, no matter the situation. I'm not sure God or Hayley would approve of many of Meryl's tactics though, as they include accepting large bribes from Big Nathan (John Batchelor), the man who runs the local mines and keeps the political wheels greased so pro mining votes go his way.
At the Whyhope Hospital, the crew is fairly small and tight-knit. Ken (Charles Wu) is the Hospital Administrator and is a bit obsessed with social media (although he rather fails at it) and the lovely Irish nurse Aoife (Shalom Brune-Franklin), but Aoife sets her sites on the much older but dashing Dr. Hugh. Betty (Belinda Bromilow) is the receptionist who relies on her wit and her herbal remedies to keep things running smoothly at Whyhope Hospital and she's a welcome bit of comic relief. Penny, the lead GP at Whyhope, is a bit of a stick in the mud, at least where Hugh is concerned, but she's got an underfunded hospital to look after, and a young son named Floyd, since she is a single mom. Naturally, she and Hugh hate each other, at first, but you know what they say about opposites...
The inevitable conflicts arise between the sort-of love triangle of Charlie, Matt and Hugh, and Hugh just loves to stir up trouble for his brother, meanwhile he's also wooing Aoife at work. To complicate matters further, Joey, (Dave Eastgate), his oldest and best friend from Whyhope, has been diagnosed with cancer and Hugh is doing everything in his power and pulling every string to get him the medical help he needs. He's even fixed Joey up with the gorgeous local cop Chantelle AKA "Tugger" (Lucy Durack), and the pair accidentally fall in love. All the more reason for Joey to keep on fighting. Then throw into the mix an artificial heart experiment Hugh and odd colleague Trevor decide to perform on a local stolen pig to get the jump on clinical trials, and you have a pretty good idea of the goings on in Whyhope, especially since Hugh's return.
While I enjoyed The Heart Guy: Series 1 overall, it was a little more drama and less comedy than I would have preferred. There is a good helping of ridiculous comic relief, but some of the episodes were real downers, to be honest, especially towards the end. Since it has been renewed, I'll continue with the show when the next series comes out, just because I did enjoy the characters and want to see them develop, but I just didn't fall in love with the overall show as much as I expected to. Here's to hoping things pick up more with the next series.
