Cast signed for Mercurio’s Bodies

Hat Trick Productions’ medical series Bodies, set to debut on digital channel BBC3 this year, followed by terrestrial platform BBC2 later in the autumn, will star Max Beesley (Fields of Gold) and Patrick Baladi of The Office fame.

The six-hour medical drama, created by doctor-turned-writer Jed Mercurio (Cardiac Arrest), is being dubbed by the BBC as “the ultimate antidote to mainstream medical drama”.

“Bodies isn’t a hospital drama in the usual sense,” said BBC controller of drama commissioning, Gareth Neame. “It’s a dark, adult, complex and at times extremely funny. It also dares to go where other medical dramas haven’t gone, into the culture of malpractice, whistle-blowing, cover-ups, star-ratings and government targets.”

The story follows the disturbing experiences of a young registrar in an obstetrics & gynaecology unit, and is being filmed on location in Leeds. Currently in production, the series will also star Tamzin Malleson (Teachers), Preeya Kalidas (Bend It Like Beckham), Susan Lynch, Neve McIntosh, Keith Allen and Karen Bryson.

It is being exec produced by Neame and Hat Trick’s Mark Redhead, as a joint commission from BBC2 and BBC3. Mercurio is producing the show, an adaptation of his own novel.