Contemporary and original medical drama, Harley Street, starring Suranne Jones, Paul Nicholls and Shaun Parkes, is currently in production for ITV1.
Produced by Carnival Film and Television, Harley Street is a glossy, post-watershed 6-part drama series set in London’s famous medical district, in a new ultra modern, ultra chic Harley Street practice.
With an ethos of providing first rate, ‘wraparound’ health care, the private practice is run by three partners, general medical practitioners Martha (Suranne Jones) and Robert (Paul Nicholls) and Lifestyle Surgeon Ekkow (Shaun Parkes). Each is equally dynamic, proactive and passionate about delivering the best standards of care, round the clock, 24/7.
Created by Marston Bloom, who also writes the first two episodes, Harley Street features a world in which doctors are with their patients every step of the medical journey - from lifestyle surgery to unusual and often life threatening medical cases. It focuses on the complex personal relationships of the doctors who are continually forced to make life and death decisions while trying to find balance between their work and home life.
Martha has grown up the daughter of a Harley Street practitioner, and although a top flight doctor in her own right, her background brings “a touch of class” to the practice.
Robert is a working class lad, who has spent seven years devoted to his NHS training, and despite ‘the flash car and sexy suits’ he repays the system that trained him by working night shifts in a busy hospital A&E.
Ekkow also has the looks and the sharp suits. With a background in reconstructive plastic surgery, Ekkow is highly trained and a skilled cosmetic surgeon who knows how to make his patients feel good. Ekkow is a constant support for Martha which contrasts with Robert’s often unpredictable approach to their practice.
“The characters are well defined and multi-layered from the outset. In that sense, you feel you know who they are from the moment you meet them. Everyone can relate to the medical genre, but Harley Street is different, and our approach ensures the series doesn’t occupy television territory that’s gone before,” said Executive Producer Christopher Aird.
The series also features Kim Medcalf as Practice Manager and Nurse, Annie, Cush Jumbo as Receptionist Hannah and Oliver Dimsdale as Felix Quinn. A range of special guest actors will also feature throughout the series including James Fox (Dr. Harvey Cost), Isabella Calthorpe (Miranda Cost), Will Mellor (Joe Lacey) and Leslie Phillips (Dudley Grainger).
Written by Marston Bloom, Howard Overman, Nicole Taylor and Jack Williams, the series has been developed by Carnival’s Christopher Aird who is Co-Executive Producer with Carnival’s Creative Director Sally Woodward Gentle. The Producer is Joy Spink (Waking the Dead, Auf Wiedersehen Pet). Paul Whittington (Totally Frank, Hotel Babylon) is directing.
Director of Drama Commissioning for ITV, Laura Mackie, comments: “Harley Street is both aspirational and thought-provoking. It will offer viewers, who traditionally enjoy this genre, a different approach to health care storytelling, whilst retaining the life and death situations which make medical drama so popular.”
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