By Miranda Murray
BERLIN (Reuters) – The emergency room staff who take care of Berlin’s hard-partying residents are the focus of the latest Apple TV+ German-language series “Berlin ER” that draws on real-life experiences.
The city’s familiar faces – drag queens, ravers, migrants without documents and drug addicts – rotate through the chaotic emergency room led by recent Berlin transplant Zanna Parker, played by the South Africa-born actor Haley Louise Jones.
Staff are initially hostile to Parker as the latest in a series of short-lived head doctors, one of many challenges she faces at the chronically under-funded and ill-equipped hospital.
Slav Popadic also stars as Doctor Ben, a talented and tender-hearted medical practitioner with his own drug problems.
“It’s a show, it’s fiction, but we try to be as real as possible,” said Popadic, adding that some stories are based on real life, such as doctors treating undocumented migrants.
The eight-episode series draws partially on the experience of co-creator Samuel Jefferson, who worked as an emergency medicine doctor before switching gears towards screenwriting.
Jefferson said that he and co-creator Viktor Jakovleski wanted to create an authentic portrayal of emergency rooms.
“They’re not heroic, Teflon-coated people. They’re very brave, in lots of ways. But it is hard,” he told Reuters.
The fatigued doctors in “Berlin ER” help each other through the difficulties of the job by cracking dark jokes.
“Berlin has also got a wicked sense of humour in some way. It’s sort of aware of its own ridiculousness,” said Jefferson, adding that he wanted the show to incorporate that side as well.
Popadic and Jones spent time at a hospital and learned basic medical practices such as stitching to prepare for their roles.
“They didn’t let us touch anything or anyone. It was just great to be a mouse on the wall and just watch them move in their natural habitat,” Jones said.
The first two episodes of the series will premiere on Apple TV+ globally on February 26, with new episodes exclusively released on the streaming service every Wednesday until April 9.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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