It’s been hailed as the greatest TV show of 2025 so far and the best medical drama in a generation. The Pitt has become the US’s most talked-about TV show. It has also become talked-about in the UK, mainly thanks to outrage that it hasn’t crossed the Atlantic yet.
As speculation builds about The Pitt finding a British broadcaster – and ITV medi-thrillerMalpracticereturns – we’ve counted down the top 20 greatest TV medical dramas ever.
From the Sherlock Holmes of hospitals to Dr Doug Ross, these are the finest fictional physicians to consult. Prepare to describe your symptoms. The TV doctors will see you now …
Actor Daniel Dae Kim (AKA Jin from Lost) saw the success of the South Korean original and snapped up the rights for a US remake. It followed Dr Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), a gifted young surgical resident with savant syndrome at San Jose’s St Bonaventure hospital. The West Wing’s Richard Schiff added heft as his mentor. Although its portrayal of autism came in for criticism, it ran for seven hit seasons. Not bad, doctor.
Based on the Wondery podcast of the same name, this true-crime anthology told unsettling tales of medical malpractice. The debut run starred Joshua Jackson as Dallas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, who permanently mutilated 31 patients, killing two. The sequel starred Édgar Ramírez as Swiss surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, whose unethical experimentation resulted in seven fatalities. I think I’ll seek a second opinion, actually.
This 60s phenomenon created a heartthrob inRichard Chamberlain, who made his name as a dashing young intern at Blair general hospital. It spawned novels, comic books, radio plays, board games, candy bars, a prequel spin-off and even pop hits for Chamberlain. The pioneering NBC series ended the TV dominance of westerns, establishing medical drama as a mainstream staple.
This Life did it for lawyers. Teachers did it for, well, teachers. No Angels did it for nursing. With a title nodding to 70s medical soap Angels, theracy Channel 4 dramedyfollowed four healthcare pros at a Leeds hospital – played by Jo Joyner, Sunetra Sarker, Kaye Wragg and Louise Delamere – with messy work and private lives.
Sky’s underrated medical crime drama saw a gifted surgeon (Mark Strong) set up an illegal clinic in the tunnels beneath Temple tube station to secretly research a cure for his terminally ill wife. He funded it with a sideline in treating criminals and other desperate patients. Gory and gripping, with Daniel Mays as a cracking sidekick.
It became infamous for its bonkers “it all happened inside a snowglobe” finale, but this NBC classic – originally pitched as “Hill Street Blues in a hospital” – was a standout drama of the 80s. Set at the rundown St Eligius in Boston, it numbered a young Denzel Washington among its cast. There was even a Cheers crossover episode, which saw three doctors visiting the legendary bar. Sometimes you wanna go …
It’s often written off as a cosy exercise in nostalgia but Heidi Thomas’s reliable ratings-grabber, following nurses and nuns in post-second world war east London, is quietly one of the most radical dramas on air. Where else would you find issues such as abortion, incest, slum landlords, domestic violence, racism and female genital mutilation in Sunday night primetime? Not on Countryfile, that’s for sure.
It was unlucky to be overshadowed by 90s rival ER – which premiered the very next night – but this CBS series was high-class fare. An early hit for super-producer David E Kelley (of Ally McBeal and Big Little Lies), it was set at the titular midwestern hospital, where hotshot surgeons included Mandy Patinkin and Adam Arkin, son of Alan.
“Tell me what you don’t like about yourself.” Before turning his attention to serial killers and horror stories, showrunner Ryan Murphy scored a hit with this blackly comic cosmetic surgery drama. Best friends Dr Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) and Dr Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) set up a cutting-edge Miami clinic together. Cue camply eccentric patients and lurid private lives. Murphy insisted that the medical cases were “100% based on fact”.
Its spin-off Holby City might have gone to the great sickbay in the sky, but the world’s longest-running primetime medical drama remains a fixture of BBC One’s schedules. Conceived in response to the decline of the NHS under the Conservative government, it continues to blend soapy storylines with hard-hitting themes. Stats show that Casualty has launched the careers of more future stars then any other British show, with the likes of Kate Winslet, Jodie Comer and Tom Hiddleston passing through those ward doors.
A rare foray into TV for director Steven Soderbergh, this handsomely shot period piece was set at New York’s Knickerbocker hospital circa 1900. Clive Owen was charismatically troubled as surgeon Dr John W Thackery, juggling his cocaine and morphine addictions with saving lives and modernising medicine. It was cancelled after two intense seasons but a Harlem-set, Barry Jenkins-run spin-off is in development.
He’s now the go-to writer for bonnets-and-breeches literary romps, but Andrew Davies scored an early hit with this satirical drama, based on his experiences as a lecturer at Warwick University. Viewing Thatcher’s Britain through the prism of a campus health centre, it starred a post-Tardis Peter Davison as an idealistic GP, surrounded by a grotesque gallery of sexed-up, boozy, grasping capitalist colleagues.
Line of Duty creatorJed Mercurio was still working as a physician when he wrote his debut drama. It was so scathingly cynical about the realities of the NHS that he scripted it under a pseudonym. Following junior doctors at a Glasgow hospital, it was unflinchingly gritty and darkly comic, making a star of Helen Baxendale as a battle-scarred house officer. Politicians hated it. Real-life medics loved it.
Pill-popping nurse Jackie Peyton made for a compellingly flawed protagonist in this provocative Showtime drama. Across seven seasons, she battled her demons in a chaotic New York emergency department. The Sopranos’ Edie Falco won an Emmy for her tour de force performance as the self-destructive antiheroine.
Doctor turned comic Adam Kay adapted his searingmedical memoirinto an equally searing BBC drama. Grimly hilarious and righteously angry, it pulled no punches in its portrayal of life on an NHS obstetrics and gynaecology ward. Ben Whishaw was electrifying as the frazzled protagonist, while Ambika Mod delivered a heart-rending breakthrough turn as trainee doctor Shruti. Jarvis Cocker’s soundtrack was just a bonus.
Shonda Rhimes’ medical melodrama has aired an astonishing 446 episodes and counting, making it ABC’s longest-running scripted show. The Seattle hospital saga is routinely underestimated but remains a ratings juggernaut. Its heyday was the early years when intern Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) got her stethoscope in a tangle over neurosurgeon “Dr McDreamy” (Patrick Dempsey), but it has survived wholesale cast changes across 21 seasons. Soapy, addictive and shamelessly romantic.
Jed Mercurio outdid his earlier creation Cardiac Arrest with this pulverising drama, again based on his experiences as a hospital doctor. Max Beesley delivered a career-peak performance as a beleaguered registrar in an “obs and gynae” ward, horrified that his bungling boss (Patrick Baladi) was killing patients, but protected by the principle of “Doctors look after doctors”. With the pair’s feud punctuated by gruesome surgical scenes, it built into a terrifying picture of incompetence, arrogance and underfunding.
Connected by the reassuring presence of actor Noah Wyle, The Pitt is the spiritual successor to ER. High-pressure action in a chaotic Pittsburgh emergency ward unfolds in real time over 15 hours, with each propulsive episode playing out across a single hospital shift. As overworked staff run on adrenaline, it’s a blistering portrayal of a post-pandemic healthcare system under attack from its own government. The acclaimed debut run saw mass shootings, stolen ambulances, nursing shortages and rats in the corridors. A second season is due next year, all unfolding over a Fourth of July weekend. Hurry up, UK broadcasters.
“Everybody lies”. Not just the title of the pilot episode but the entire ethos of Fox’s New Jersey hospital whodunnit. A Vicodin-addicted misanthrope who happened to be a diagnostic genius, Dr Gregory House uncovered patients’ secrets and deduced what was ailing them. Clue: it was never lupus. Except when it was. Hugh Laurie dazzled as the Sherlock Holmes of medicine, forever clashing with colleagues over his wild theories and habitual rule-breaking.
What else could it be? Michael Crichton’s medical masterpiece took the ensemble formula of forerunner St Elsewhere and cranked it up several levels. Set in a Chicago emergency room, it skilfully mixed multiple patients, life-or-death stakes and ethical debates into a breathlessly thrilling package. Cinematically shot, jargon-packed and kinetically paced, ER became the US’s top-rated show with 35 million viewers and an all-round pop cultural blockbuster. The Pitt’s Noah Wyle made his name as a baby-faced student doctor, Julianna Margulies made for a magnificent nurse manager and it turned jobbing actor George Clooney into a megastar. Clear!
Which medical dramas have we missed? What have we ranked too high or too low? Check the clipboard at the bottom of our bed and let us know the results in the comments section below.