JAMES NESBITT HEADS UP CAST IN MONROE – ITV THURS, 9PM (07/03/2011)
James Nesbitt stars as a neurosurgeon in a compelling new medical drama series, Monroe, which screens weekly at 9pm on ITV from Thursday 10th March . The 6 x 60 minute series, filmed entirely in Leeds, explores Monroe's world both inside and outside the hospital, as medical emergencies cut across the lives of everyone involved from staff to patients and relatives.
Monroe is created by acclaimed writer Peter Bowker (Eric and Ernie, Occupation, Desperate Romantics, Wuthering Heights) and produced by Mammoth Screen. Screen Yorkshire, who supported Mammoth Screen’s previous hit ITV dramas Lost in Austen and Wuthering Heights, provided locations and crewing support.
Nesbitt plays neurosurgeon Gabriel Monroe and is joined by a strong ensemble cast including Sarah Parish (The Pillars of the Earth, Mistresses, Cutting It) as cardiac surgeon Jenny Bremner with Tom Riley (Bouquet of Barbed Wire, Lost in Austen) as anaesthetist Dr Lawrence Shepherd. Manjinder Virk (Britz, Bradford Riots) as registrar Sally Fortune, Thomas Morrison (Brideshead Revisited, Blackpool) as hospital porter-cum-bookie, Lee Bradley, and Susan Lynch (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Nora) plays Monroe's wife, Anna. Sarah Smart (Wallander, Funland) and Shaun Evans (Come Rain Come Shine, The Take, The Virgin Queen) will guest star in episode one.
Whilst Monroe does all he can to encourage his shy and weak-stomached trainee, Wilson (Michelle Asante) and keep the ambitious Springer (Luke Allen-Gale) in check, Bremner's trainees, Andrew Mullery (Andrew Gower) and Sarah Witney (Christina Chong) are left to observe her cardiac operations from the sidelines.
Monroe was filmed on location in Leeds across twelve weeks in Autumn 2010, locations include:
Headingley
Leeds General Infirmary
University Of Leeds
Leeds City Centre
Exclusive content, including behind the scenes footage, interviews with the cast and writer, Peter Bowker, can be found at www.itv.com/monroe
New to the medical genre, James spent many hours in theatre observing neurosurgeons at Leeds General Infirmary and their supporting medical teams.
“As part of my research I witnessed four brain operations. It was incredibly generous of the patients and the medical teams to allow me this access. From my time spent on hospital wards and in surgery I was able to understand and appreciate the day-to-day life of a neurosurgeon. During an operation conducted by Henry Marsh, I remember him pointing out specific areas of the brain saying, ‘that area there, that’s thought’, and that’s astonishing to see.
I also spent a lot of time with Philip Van Hille and a young registrar at LGI called Roddy O'Kane. Both were on set a lot and were involved with the team when it came to the operating scenes. Philip is attached to a charity called Second Chance Headway and I felt very privileged to open their new clinic in Wakefield last November.’’
Peter Bowker said: "I am a huge fan of hospital drama - not least because it provides the chance to tell big emotional stories based on compelling characters. Neurosurgeons are the nearest thing we have to real-life miracle workers, yet they share the same human failings as the rest of us. We want them to be brave enough to take the decisions they take, yet they can't always be right. We don't have to like them, but we have to believe in them. Monroe dramatises what it is like to be at the sharp end of those expectations."
Mammoth Screen's Damien Timmer said: "To have Peter Bowker, James Nesbitt and Paul McGuigan working together on a new hospital drama series is a proper coup for us and we're so delighted with the end results."
Monroe has been commissioned by Laura Mackie, Director of Drama Commissioning, and Sally Haynes, Controller of Drama Commissioning, and is executive produced for ITV by Michele Buck and Damien Timmer from Mammoth Screen (Lost in Austen, Bouquet of Barbed Wire) and writer Peter Bowker. Monroe is produced by Jennie Scanlon and Howard Ella (Joe Maddison's War, Five Days) is co-producer.
The series is directed by Paul McGuigan (Sherlock, Lucky Number Slevin, Gangster No. 1) and David Moore (Merlin, Sweeney Todd, The Forsythe Saga).
Monroe has been produced by Mammoth Screen and co-produced by Ingenious Broadcasting and Capico Productions.
