Welcome to The Pitt, the nickname for the Emergency Department at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Centre.  If, like me, you’re immersed in a world of TV, you’ll already know a lot about it and be frustrated that we’ve had to wait nearly eighteen months for it to arrive in the UK. The series became an instant hit when it debuted on HBO Max in January of 2025 and has been winning awards in the US left, right and centre. Best drama at a recent Critics’ Choice Awards, they also named star Noah Wyle Best Actor in a Drama Series at the same ceremony. It has won awards for casting, sound and co-stars Patrick Ball and Katherine LaNasa have also been awarded for their performances, whilst the whole cast was recognised when the series won Best Drama series at the Emmy Awards

It’s no wonder. Watching the 15 episodes that make up the first season is just as thrilling as it is heartbreaking. Medical dramas of the past, even my beloved ER, have been prone to sensationalism. There would be a pounding soundtrack each time the ER doors burst open to deliver the next gravely ill patient on ER and Grey’s Anatomy, which leaned more into soapy tropes, often used pop music of the time to accentuate emotional scenes. The Pitt is instantly a different beast. Showrunner
R. Scott Gemmill, a veteran of the later seasons of ER and Executive Producer/Director John Wells (Wells was also a writer and director on ER) and star and Executive Producer Noah Wyle have crafted a show that feels like a love-letter to the men and women who work in the department across the world. Often, the show feels more akin to a medical documentary than a drama. There’s not much of a soundtrack, which makes everything feel more genuine and means it avoids falling into the more melodramatic tendencies that other shows would do. The structure of the series means we don’t leave the hospital until the end of the shift, making it feel more oppressive.

Each time a new emergency comes through their doors, the medics quickly assess their needs, taking no time to explain the medical jargon that flows in quick succession. Wyle plays Chief Attending Physician Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch. Robby has a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. The hospital is a teaching hospital, and so he is continuously bombarded with questions from his interns and first-year doctors, all keen for his approval before going ahead with any procedure.  Wyle is fantastic as Robby. He is. world-weary, stressed, but also deeply committed to his role to provide the best care for his patients, whilst making sure those below him get their chance to learn from him and become the next generation of productive and proactive medics. Wyle, who rose to fame as the young intern Doctor John Carter on ER, manages to play the perfect balance between authoritative and firm, but also calm, encouraging and understanding. Like every medic here, Robby carries each lost patient, each mistake and lost opportunity with him, whilst never losing focus on the new patient in need of his care. With Wyle at the centre and R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells behind the scenes, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was an ER reboot in all but name. The trio were initally approached to do this, but couldn’t reach an agreement with the estate of Michael Crichton, whose novel formed the basis of the start of ER. When that fell apart, Gemmill, who had initially been against returning to the difficulties of running and writing a show set in the medical world, kept thinking about writing a show like this in a post-COVID world and how to innovate the genre. The idea that was reached to have each episode represent an hour of a hectic shift in The Pitt, is what sets it above the shows that have come before it, and also allows for greater depth with each of the core cast and often longer time with each patient. Instead of resetting at the end of each episode, the show rolls onto the next hour, and you can feel the strain on the medics who get no respite from the onslaught of traumas coming through the door, whilst also dealing with the never-ending patients who sit ‘in chairs’ waiting for their names to be called through to be seen. The tension here feels more palpable than it did even at the heights of ER, and that’s thanks to the structure.

Unsurprisingly, for veterans of the genre, the show is packed with characters you instantly feel for. Charge Nurse Dana (the instantly brilliant Katherine LaNasa) has worked in the hospital for 32 years. She knows it inside and out and knows Robby better than anyone. When he’s addressing his new interns and newly qualified medics, he tells them that Dana is the one they really need to listen to. When a fight breaks out between two women in the increasingly hostile waiting room, Dana is the first to wade in, breaking things up, raising her voice and making sure the women know how ridiculous their behaviour is. Lanessa is fantastic, striking the pitch-perfect balance between firm and fair. Someone everyone in the hospital can approach, but also someone whom they know they can’t disappoint.

The opening episode takes place between 7 and 8 am. It’s a difficult day for Robby as today marks the fifth anniversary of the death of his mentor, Doctor Adamson, who died of Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic when the hospital was overwhelmed with sick patients. Robby still blames himself for Adamson’s death, believing he could have saved him and hasn’t worked on the date since. *If the show puts a foot wrong, and it really doesn’t, it might be in the brief flashbacks to Robby’s time on the COVID wards, dressed in PPE and masked up using every available inch of space to treat patients who are dying or struggling to breathe. The flashbacks serve two functions: they highlight the work of healthcare workers during one of the most difficult times in recent history, and they explain Robby’s fragile state working today, but they feel a little out of place in the show that feels more about today than it does any other time in the past. Luckily, they are used sparingly and don’t distract from the main story. *

The residents beneath Robbie include Dr Heather Collins (Tracy Ifeachor), who seems on edge around Robby, and the uber-confident Dr Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball), who enjoys trading insults with surgeon Yolanda Garcia (Alexandra Metz) as the pair works on a patient. The new intake is: second-year Mel King (Taylor Dearden), who arrives beaming, really excited to be in the emergency department. Intern Trinity Santos (Isa Briones), who is full of confidence in her abilities as her medic and keen to impress everyone around her. She is quick to size up her new colleagues and gives them nicknames. When third-year medical Student Victoria Javadi (Shabana Azeez) faints during a particularly gruesome procedure, Santos is quick to name her ‘Crash,’ whilst fourth-year student Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell) gets nicknamed ‘Huckelberry’, and that’s before she learns he grew up on his family farm in Nebeskra. Also working this shift is third-year resident Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh), someone Robby always watches over, as she is well known for spending too much time with each patient, even though her job is to take the important patient history and move on to the next. Dr Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif) is a second-year resident with a real rapport with patients. She’s a hardworking doctor who does the best to provide for her 11-year-old son Harrison, who she co-parents with an ex she dispises. Nurses Perlah (Amielynn Abellera) and Princess (Kristin Villanueva), who will often converse with each other in their native Filipino when they want to say something they don’t want the doctors to hear. Alongside fellow ER nurses Donny (Brandon Mendez Homer) and nurse Mateo (Jalen Thomas Brooks). Another tip from Robbie is that nurses know what they’re talking about, so if they suggest something, the interns and med students should listen. Something that works out well for Whitaker when Perlah suggests he run further tests on a gaulstone patient, as his symptoms could also be masking a heart attack. It is clear with every interaction that these people feel like real healthcare workers and that those behind the scenes want to portray the industry and the hospital in the truest light possible.

Robby is often pursued by Gloria (Michael Hyatt), the Chief Medical Officer, who manages hospital operations, finances, and staff, prioritising bureaucratic metrics and patient satisfaction scores over the immediate, chaotic needs of the emergency department. She detests Robby referring to his Emergency Department as ‘The Pitt’, which she thinks is derogatory. He tells her that if she wants to improve satisfaction scores, would be to have the patients seen more quickly by the surgeons upstairs. It’s a conversation they’ve probably had once a week for years. The series looks at the holes in the ‘broken’ American healthcare system in a few different ways. Early in the second season (also available on HBO Max), a man comes in with a suspected heart attack and is worried when the staff tell him he has to stay in for observation. An overnight stay costs thousands of dollars, and he has no health insurance. Even with the few programs in place, the hospital has to help patients in this situation, end up costing thousands on payment plans. When an elderly patient comes in from a nursing home after being found unresponsive, the team use a robotic CPR machine to perform chest compressions only to learn that the patient had a DNR order in place – meaning, as callous as this sounds, they wasted time and money on a patient who didn’t want or need their help. Numerous teens arrive unresponsive and need to be brought back with the use of Narcan.

Everyone here is fascinating and good at their jobs. I fell for Dr Mel King immediately. Mel is excited about her new position, having worked at the VA ( a federal Cabinet-level agency providing lifelong healthcare, disability compensation, pensions, and education benefits to military veterans and their families). She has moved to Pittsburgh to be closer to her sister (her best friend), who is on the autistic spectrum and is living in a care facility. Though it’s never stated, Mel herself may be on the spectrum. Although she’s more than competent in her field, she’s well aware of her faults. She struggles when patients die, and doesn’t pick up on sarcasm or jokes. When she presents a case of suspected scurvy to Langdon, he jokes that he might be a pirate, something that is completely lost on her. When things get too much, she takes a minute outside and repeats lines from the chorus of Megan Thee Stallion’s Savage to remind herself of her purpose there. When Langdon struggles to deal with a man with a badly sprained ankle, it is Dr. King who realises he’s on the spectrum. She closes the blinds in his room, turns off the noisy machines, and is able to get a proper exam by talking to him on his level. Taylor Dearden delivers a sensitive and sweet performance that has you rooting for her from her first moment on screen.

Whitaker (Gerran Howell) has a rough first shift, and there’s a great running gag in which he is forced to keep changing his scrubs. All the interns here are completely competent, though they all admit to being out of their depth when something new comes through the doors. It is interesting to see them grow in confidence under Robby’s leadership. Javadi (Shabana Azeez) is the youngest, having gone to college at 13, but she feels she has to justify her position. Santos (Isa Briones) feels the most equipped to deal with whatever is put in front of her, but her eagerness to do too much backfires more than a few times. She also has a big arch this season, which pits her against one of the attendings, and it’s fascinating to see that play out.

There are lots of reasons medical dramas have been a mainstay on television. They offer an insight into a truly noble profession, and they often play into our curiosities. There are plenty of interesting cases that the doctors are dealing with. Often, they are playing detective as much as they are doctors. When a young woman comes in with an overprotective boss, McKay gets a bad feeling. Could this be slavery? Coersive control? She and Dana separate the two women under the guise of needing an MRI for her abdominal pain. The young woman is nervous but tells them her boss is a friend. She works as her accountant, though she’s never learned how to do a spreadsheet. There’s definitely something going on, and it frustrates McKay that she can’t get to the truth. When a man with a DIY related injury takes a turn for the worse, his wife and young teen daughter come in. His daughter is tearful and desperate to see her father, but his wife is almost standoffish and nervous. It’s a case that sees Santos drop her bravado and get more personal. The timeline aspect of the show means that you spend a lot of time with key cases and the people in chairs, particularly an angry man who berates the staff for making him wait such a long time.

Having 15 episodes feels like a real luxury and means you get real depth. It’s a show that never stops moving. Meaning that Robby spends a lot of the first season unable to use the bathroom. It’s a slight bugbear of mine that when it launches on HBO Max, the entire first season and the majority of the second will be available, because the show was specifically designed to be viewed once a week, not as a binge, but at this point, I’m just grateful the show is available here. The fact that the show is made for a streaming service means the language feels more realistic. The medics swear when things go wrong, and the medical procedures feel more gory and true to life.

The Pitt is a deeply special show. One that feels like a throwback to a different time in television, but also one that feels the most relevant of the big shows of this time. It’s a love letter to the medical profession that doesn’t shy away from the difficulties medics and nurses face every shift. Robby, Dana, McKay, Whitacker, Santos, Javadi, Langdon, Collins, King and Garcia aren’t presented as heroes or lifesavers, but as professionals doing the very best in their line of work. Apart from the incredible performances and the empathy in the writing, I think part of the reason the show has been so well received by viewers and by those giving out awards is because the show champions ordinary people doing good. For a long time, prestige TV put the spotlight on the anti-hero; Tony Soprano, Dexter Morgan, Walter White and Vic Mackey were all fascinating, deeply flawed, often despicable characters whose shows made them the hero. There are no bad guys in The Pitt. The patients are treated with respect and dignity, and Robby and his team exemplify the best of humanity. People who do a difficult, never-ending job, who are often forgotten once they’ve treated us. Watching The Pitt can be utterly nerve-wracking and very upsetting, but it’s also refreshing to see good people do good work without the need of a perky pop song to assure we’re over the worst. As I said, this often feels closer to documentary than it does the medical dramas TV has been churning out since before ER, and it’s a remarkable achievement on every level.

Both seasons of The Pitt will be available on Thursday, 26th March, when HBO Max launches in the UK.