North East Regional Extra, Wednesday, September 24, 2025 - Page 1
nemedia.com.au
P
ICKING up one year after the events of season two, Logie Award-winning high-octane outback medical drama RFDS has plenty of ground to cover. Following both the professional endeavours and also personal developments for a Royal Flying Doctor Service team operating out of Broken Hill, the third season premiere gets off to a flying start when a bus carrying Pete Emerson (Stephen Peacocke) crashes and tips over on a remote highway, leaving several passengers in critical conditions and reuniting the nurse with the team he left behind. Actor Emma Harvie joined the cast in 2023 as charismatic mental health nurse Chaya Batra, who attends the intense scene as a spare pair of hands. “This crash is the epicentre of the drama, which so many storylines stem from,” she explains. “When Chaya attends the bus crash, she is really affected by what happens. She assists Eliza (Emma Hamilton) with an operation on site, which has long-term implications for the patient.” Triaging critical patients due to a lack of available resources, Dr Eliza Harrod is forced to make harrowing decisions in Wednesday’s premiere, the consequences of which reverberate throughout the season. “Chaya becomes a support for [the patient’s] family and struggles as she deals with her own emotions and PTSD at the same time… ironically, the mental health nurse’s mental health starts to deteriorate,” Harvie says of Chaya’s response to the traumatic scenario.
“We know Chaya has a history of addiction and struggles with sobriety, so the aftermath of this crash, combined with an injury sustained at the Christmas fundraiser, could lead to everything blowing up in her face.” RFDS retrieval scenes are almost as extreme for the actors – Harvie and her colleagues have a lot of medical lingo to land in emotionally charged moments. “We get to do medical rehearsals with doctors and nurses on set where they walk us through what you do first, who would sit where, and who would hold what equipment,” Harvie explains. “Chaya is the mental health nurse, so she doesn’t have as much of the jargon that Rob Collins, Stephen Peacocke or Emma Hamilton have to say, and for that I am so grateful. I will say some blood pressure stats, and then I’m good to go! “I do take my hat off to those who have to say a giant monologue of medical terms, and numbers, on top of knowing their blocking for the cameras, and also needing to remember the medical instrument they need next and what drawer or bag to retrieve it from.”
RFDS
Returns Wednesday, October 1, Seven, 7.30pm
TAKING FLIGHT
Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday - Monday Lunch & Dinner
C
E BE
WANGARATTA 14KM
RD
A
-W
TH OR HW
TA AT R A NG
REGULARLIVEMUSIC
GREAT ALPINE RD MYRTLEFORD 34KM
THE PLOUGH INN
PETFRIENDLYBEERGARDEN MONDAYPARMANIGHT
2322 BEECHWORTH-WANGARATTA ROAD
TARRAWINGEE 5719 2450