Lose one vet, win another
WITH Dr Chris Brown retiring from his TV vet duties, another Aussie is here to fill that Bondi Vet-shaped hole in your viewing schedule.
Brisbane native Dr Scott Miller is an equally dedicated animal lover, who stars in the British series Vet on the Hill. “It’s just so surreal to be honest,” Scott tells Weekend. “I’ve been in the UK for quite a while now, and my mum is constantly asking when I’m coming home. At least now she can watch what I’m getting up to on her own couch in Brisbane.”
The son of “10-pound Poms’’, Scott grew up in Brisbane and began his vet career at the RSPCA in Sydney.
But he soon set his sights abroad and moved to the UK more than a decade ago.
“My brother and I always had UK passports,” he says. “Once I finished uni I had the bug to travel. I went to Sydney for a year when I was 24 but I really wanted to travel and see the world.”
Scott eventually settled with his wife in the quiet village of Richmond upon Thames, where he runs his own practice.
In Vet on the Hill, cameras follow the highs and lows of Scott’s busy practice.
“It’s a very honest portrayal of the team I’ve assembled in London,” he says. “We like to have a laugh but at the same time we take our jobs very seriously.
“Chris Brown has been a trailblazer in regards to vet shows, but this is a very different show (to Bondi Vet). Being based in London I think you’ll find it has a very different feel and a bit of British innuendo. It also involves my family and kids as well.
“We’ve got guinea pigs, two dogs, a cat and three kids, who’ve all picked up dad’s love of animals. It’s a busy, lively, colourful household.”
Scott is no stranger to television. As well as producing his own documentaries he has appeared as an expert vet on BBC’s Crufts, was the regular vet on This Morning for six years and co-hosted the children’s series Who Let the Dogs Out and About.
But it’s Vet on the Hill which made him a household name. “It’s been doing so well in the UK and now it’s been sold in loads of countries around the world,” he says. “It’s mind-blowing really, considering it’s my little practice in south-west London.”
Vet on the Hill airs Fridays at 7.30pm on Channel 9.