Hippocrate

Hippocrate ("Interns" as I saw it here on PBS in the States) was one of the best medical dramas I have ever seen. (And I go all the way back to "Dr. Kildare" and "Ben Casey"!) I couldn't imagine being in the position that these poor greenhorns (Alyson and Hugo) found themselves in- having to manage patients with virtually no back-up or supervision, in a gritty St. Elsewhere-type hospital. Of course as a doc myself, I was especially fascinated by the differences between the French training experience and that of the U. S. I would love to hear from my French counterparts how much of the milieu was fiction and how much reality, especially the raunchy cafeteria murals, and so many of the doctors smoking! The medical dramatizations were more detailed and realistic than any I have seen on our medical shows- I still can't figure out how they could simulate an ascitic (grossly-distended-due-to-fluid-in-the-abdomen) belly, unless they asked a real patient who actually had this to be in the show! The acting in general was excellent, and the story lines believable. I was hooked by the first episode, and would love to see more; PBS only offered Season 1.

Unlike the reviewer who found it "mindless forced melodrama," I thoroughly enjoyed Hippocrate, which focused on a trio of interns thrust into a crazy circumstances. It was well acted and engaging in its presentation of often chaotic scenes of overwhelmed hospital staff attempting to save patients. It has a lot of heart and is often quite moving.

Couldn't disagree more with the previous reviewer. Unlike ma femme francophone, I can't really follow the rapid, slangy dialogue, replete with medical terms and acronyms, and I know I miss a lot by having to read the captions. Nevertheless, we gobbled up four eps at a sitting and are eager to watch the rest. The attractive cast gives uniformly strong performances, and though the show's premise may seem contrived--interns up against it after the doctors in their wing, who've been exposed to an unknown "tropical infection," have been quarantined--it all plays out very well. This first season is built around a series of newbie screwups and deliberate deceptions (the latter by a veteran fourth-year played by gorgeous Louise Bourgoin ("The Romanoffs")) that results in a patient's death; intriguing and suspenseful medical, ethical and political complications ensue.

Some aspects of French hospital culture, notably the risqué murals and dude-bro antics in the staff cafeteria, may seem bizarre, others (assuming they're accurately portrayed) quite refreshing--the nurses and interns are patient and attentive, the patients surprisingly cheerful and compliant, e.g., not chippy and obstreperous like their real-world US counterparts have been known to be on occasion.... (OTOH, I didn't see a complimentary TV in anyone's room. C'est-ce que c'est que cette connerie putain?!)

I see S2's been out for a couple of years and has yet to be picked up by Masterpiece, btw. If you see Alan Cumming or Laura Linney, you might mention it to them...

As if we haven't seen every trope in hospital drama, this endlessly repeats them. It is mindless forced melodrama.