PBS is allying with Ridley Scott and occasional cohort David W. Zucker (he was an EP on HALO: NIGHTFALL and KLONDIKE) to realize a new Civil War-era drama.
Based on true stories, the new drama follows two volunteer nurses on opposite sides of the Civil War. Mary Phinney, a staunch New England abolitionist, and Emma Green, a willful young Confederate belle, collide at Mansion House, the Green family’s luxury hotel that has been taken over and transformed into a Union Army Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia, the longest-occupied Confederate city of the war. As the boundaries of medicine are being explored and expanded, the role of women is also broadening. Here, in the collision of a wartime medical drama and a family saga of conflicted loyalties and moral dilemmas, the series plays out a story of the highest stakes.
[EDIT]
…the new drama is set against the backdrop of doctors and female nurses valiantly struggling to save lives while facing their own trials and tribulations. The intersection of North and South within the confines of a small occupied city creates a rich world that is chaotic, conflicted, corrupt, dynamic and even hopeful — a cauldron within which these characters strive, fight, love, laugh, betray, sacrifice and, at times, act like scoundrels. In the end, Mary and Emma will learn a vital lesson in a country split in two and ravaged by war: Blood is neither blue nor grey — it is all one color.
[EDIT]
The story is inspired by the memoirs and letters of actual doctors and female nurse volunteers at Mansion House Hospital.
…reveals a press release on the matter.
David Zabel (an Executive Producer, writer, and director on ER - he also write a few episodes of Cameron’s DARK ANGEL series) and Lisa Quijano Wolfinger (whose extensive credits appear to be largely informational/documentary in nature) created the new show - which appears to be in its early stages of production. Thus, no word on transmit date at this point. But stay tuned…
————
Glen Oliver
“Merrick”
