Looks like Ridley Scott‘s latest television effort will be airing with some prestige as his Civil War era medical drama will find a home Sunday nights on PBS. Deadline reports that the untitled series that follows nurses during the tumultuous era in American history will begin airing in 2016. The series joins recent PBS hits DOWNTON ABBEY and SHERLOCK which both originated as BBC series.
The untitled series sounds like it is going to be a mix of DOWNTON ABBEY and the recent Cinemax show THE KNICK, both prestigious and award-winning shows. Here’s the synopsis.
Based on true stories, and set in Alexandria, Virginia, the drama, which has an initial six-episode order, follows two volunteer nurses on opposite sides of the war in the union hospital which is a family owned hotel turned hospital. One nurse is a staunch New England abolitionist; the other a willful young Confederate belle. Alexandria was the longest occupied Confederate city of the war.
There have been no casting announcements yet, not whether Ridley Scott will direct any episodes, but this could be a very well made series. Scott’s other TV efforts include THE GOOD WIFE and mini-series THE PILLARS OF THE EARTHY and GETTYSBURG. While Scott’s attention has been indirect on those shows, PBS does carry a certain level of prestige that could make this one of the break out hits of next year. Maybe they can get Ian McShane to headline.
The untitled series will debut sometime in 2016 on PBS.
