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A US medical drama exec produced by Whoopi Goldberg has been turned into a new constructed reality format, with Dutch broadcaster Net5 first to commission a series.
Strong Medicine, originally produced by Sony Pictures Television (SPT) for cable network Lifetime, followed the lives of staff working in a women’s health clinic based at a fictitious hospital in Philadelphia.
The show has now been adapted as a reality format called Stories from the Hospital, commissioned by SBS-owned female-skewing Net5.
The 30-episode season, which will have the local title Dokters, will be produced by SPT-owned Tuvalu Media. Net 5 will strip the show in a weekday primetime 20.00 slot, with its premiere due in late October.
Vincent ter Voert developed and will produce the Dutch version, while SPT will launch the new format for international buyers at Mipcom.
Stories From the Hospital uses real people to act out the drama from the original US scripts.
Duurt Holman, Tuvalu Media joint-MD, said: “Drama plots can seem far-fetched but Stories from the Hospital proves this wrong as authentic characters and experiences give a second, and very real, life to what was previously only fiction.”
Strong Medicine originally ran for 130 episodes on Lifetime between 2000 and 2006. It was created by Tammy Ader and exec produced by Ader, Goldberg, Diane Messina Stanley, Jim Stanley and John Flynn.
