Written and created by Peter Bowker
Directed by Paul McGuigan and David Moore
Produced by Jennie Scanlon
PRODUCTION NOTES
***The information contained herein is strictly embargoed from
all press use, non-commercial publication, or syndication until
Wednesday 23rd February 2011***
Introduction ........................................................................ Page 3
Foreword by Peter Bowker ................................................. Page 5
The characters ................................................................... Page 7
James Nesbitt is Monroe .................................................... Page 8
Sarah Parish is Jenny Bremner ......................................... Page 12
Tom Riley is Lawrence Shepherd ....................................... Page 15
Episode synopses .............................................................. Page 18
Cast list .............................................................................. Page 24
Production credits............................................................... Page 26
ITV Press Office
Press contact:
Natasha Bayford - 0161 952 6209 / natasha.bayford@itv.com
Picture contact:
Patrick Smith - 0207 157 3044 / patrick.smith@itv.com
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INTRODUCTION
James Nesbitt stars in ITV1's major new six-part medical drama series, Monroe, created
by acclaimed writer Peter Bowker (Eric and Ernie, Occupation, Desperate Romantics,
Wuthering Heights) and produced by Mammoth Screen.
Nesbitt plays neurosurgeon Gabriel Monroe and is joined by a strong ensemble cast
including Sarah Parish (The Pillars of the Earth, Mistresses, Cutting It) as cardiac
surgeon Jenny Bremner with Tom Riley (Bouquet of Barbed Wire, Lost in Austen) as
anaesthetist Dr Lawrence Shepherd. Manjinder Virk (Britz, Bradford Riots) as registrar
Sally Fortune, Thomas Morrison (Brideshead Revisited, Blackpool) as hospital portercum-bookie, Lee Bradley, and Susan Lynch (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Nora) plays
Monroe's wife, Anna. Sarah Smart (Wallander, Funland) and Shaun Evans (Come Rain
Come Shine, The Take, The Virgin Queen) will guest star in episode one.
The 6 x 60 minute series explores Monroe's world both inside and outside the hospital,
as medical emergencies cut across the lives of everyone involved from staff to patients
and relatives.
Whilst Monroe does all he can to encourage his shy and weak-stomached trainee,
Wilson (Michelle Asante) and keep the ambitious Springer (Luke Allen-Gale) in check,
Bremner's trainees, Andrew Mullery (Andrew Gower) and Sarah Witney (Christina
Chong) are left to observe her cardiac operations from the sidelines.
ITV's Director of Drama Commissioning Laura Mackie said: "Monroe will breathe new life
into the medical genre; I hope the combination of Pete's sharp and pacy script and
Jimmy's performance as the charismatic surgeon will make this one of the most
compelling new dramas for 2011."
Peter Bowker said: "I am a huge fan of hospital drama - not least because it provides the
chance to tell big emotional stories based on compelling characters.
"Neurosurgeons are the nearest thing we have to real-life miracle workers, yet they share
the same human failings as the rest of us. We want them to be brave enough to take the
decisions they take, yet they can't always be right. We don't have to like them, but we
have to believe in them. Monroe dramatises what it is like to be at the sharp end of those
expectations."
Mammoth Screen's Damien Timmer said: "To have Peter Bowker, James Nesbitt and
Paul McGuigan working together on a new hospital drama series is a proper coup for us
and we're so delighted with the end results."
Producer Jennie Scanlon said: "With Peter Bowker at the helm, Monroe has developed
through the synergy of a talented pool of creatives. Paul McGuigan's vision has been a
driving force in creating the world of the hospital and James Nesbitt brilliantly inhabits the
role of Monroe with verve and intelligence."
Monroe has been commissioned by Laura Mackie, Director of Drama Commissioning,
and Sally Haynes, Controller of Drama Commissioning, and is executive produced for
ITV by Michele Buck and Damien Timmer from Mammoth Screen (Lost in Austen,
Bouquet of Barbed Wire) and writer Peter Bowker. Howard Ella (Joe Maddison's War,
Five Days) is co-producer.
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The series has been directed by Paul McGuigan (Sherlock, Lucky Number Slevin,
Gangster No. 1) and David Moore (Merlin, Sweeney Todd, The Forsythe Saga) and was
filmed on location in Leeds across twelve weeks.
Monroe has been produced by Mammoth Screen and co-produced by Ingenious
Broadcasting and Capico Productions.
Exclusive content, including behind the scenes footage, interviews with the cast and
writer, Peter Bowker, can be found at www.itv.com/monroe
4
FOREWORD BY PETER BOWKER
MONROE
A new kind of hospital drama.
“The brain is a mysterious, multi-faceted, miraculous, complex organ that contains your
unique humanity. The heart, when it comes down to it, is just a pump.”
There are three good reasons why I thought it would be a good idea to write a hospital
drama.
First, most writers would be hard pressed to find a better place than a hospital to set a
drama. All those life or death moments are a given, the mix of characters, the dramatic
scenarios where classes, sexes, ages and cultures collide. As a setting it doesn’t get any
richer. As a precinct, it doesn’t come any more contained. The rhythm of the days, the
adrenalin of emergencies followed by the tension of the wait. The characters under
duress. A time for the weak to become heroic and the strong to fail.
Secondly, having started my television writing career twenty years ago writing an episode
of Casualty it seemed appropriate that at some stage I might try to cook up a hospital
drama of my own.
Thirdly, when my daughter was four years she had a brain tumour. For five days my
partner and I inhabited the world which I had created in so many medical scenarios. We
were the waiting couple; she was the beautiful child with so many tubes coming off her
she looked like a musical instrument. And we sat there, staring without understanding at
a scan, while a brain surgeon explained what he was going to do . . .
A brain surgeon? In my life? How did this feel? I still can’t tell you. Maybe that’s why I’m
writing about it.
And the surgeon. A stranger. Who I trusted. With my daughter’s life. This was his job. To
sound hopeful while not sounding overly optimistic. To sound clear about the operation
without sounding brutal. To sound warnings without sending us into a hopeless spiral of
despair. And having done that bit he just had to go and do the operation itself . . . what
was that like for him?
He operated successfully. My daughter’s tumour was removed. Non-cancerous. A full
recovery. A good news story. We leave the hospital with the cards, presents and
profound relief. To get on with our lives.
And tomorrow the Surgeon has to go and do it all again. And see families to whom he
has often to break bad news not good. He goes to work knowing that today somebody
might die, or be irreparably brain damaged, as a result of his actions in trying to heal
them.
So what was that like? To do a surgeon’s job. To live with that weight of expectation. To
be that brilliant? To be that important? To have each job you do be literally a matter of life
or death?
“You’re taking a knife to somebody’s head. The only difference between you and a
psychopath is good ‘A’ levels’
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What if I created a surgeon who wasn’t cut from the usual cloth? He would have to retain
the God complex. I want a surgeon to have a God complex. You don’t take the top of
somebody’s head off and start fiddling inside their brain without a fairly inflated view of
your own worth. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. But I was interested in somebody
unexpected being a surgeon. Somebody without the accent and manner you might
expect, somebody who might look and sound more like the man who came to repair your
washing machine. A man who was a deity at work and all too mortal at home. That,
surely, would make a good starting point for a drama. A surgeon who was both God and
everyman.
Once I started to write the character, it occurred to me that I should give him a friend who
would always be there to puncture his delusions of grandeur. My research confirmed that
the surgeon is close to many in his Theatre, but the key relationship is often between the
surgeon and their Anesthetists . That seemed a good place to have a friend for this man
who found friendship difficult. A friendship he couldn’t escape. A voice he had to listen to.
Research also had me encountering a number of registrars. Those at the foot of the
career ladder. Good looking, intense, more serious than the senior staff, and all of them
seemingly 13 years old. Suddenly a new and interesting question started to shape the
series. What is it like to be a “trainee brain surgeon”. The very title sounds more like a
punch line than a job. How do you build the expertise required to be trusted? How do you
build the confidence to trust yourself? And how do you do so in a job where your
mistakes will carry such devastating consequences? The surgeons I met and spoke to
were reassuringly human, reassuringly flawed, reassuringly brilliant and, to a man and
woman, always in possession of a sharp and often brutal sense of humour.
As the series started to grow and the hospital itself began to assume a character of its
own I realised that the neurosurgery department alone might not be enough. Having
seen the competitive nature amongst surgeons both within their own disciplines and
between disciplines it made sense to create a character who would be completely
oblivious, suspicious even, of Monroe’s charm and skill. And, dramatically I thought it
would be interesting if this character was a woman. Bremner, a heart surgeon, as
controlled as Monroe is impulsive, as dry as he is knockabout, as inscrutable as he is
indiscreet.
And so, from those building blocks, Monroe the series began to emerge. A year on we
found a group of lead actors who I knew and trusted, a cast of new discoveries who have
proven themselves every bit as talented as we suspected they were, and two supremely
talented Directors in the shape of Paul McGuigan and David Moore, who have given the
show a visually exciting look and a visceral energy that helps to make this a new kind of
hospital show.
Peter Bowker
February 2011
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THE CHARACTERS
MONROE played by James Nesbitt
Monroe is a brilliant and unusual neurosurgeon. He’s funny, charming and chaotic, with
more than a hint of ego - a flawed genius who never lets anyone forget his flaws or his
genius.
JENNY BREMNER played by Sarah Parish
Bremner is a glacial heart surgeon engaged in a bitter and funny personality clash with
Monroe. Direct with her patients and terrifying to her trainees, she is a force to be
reckoned with.
LAWRENCE SHEPHERD played by Tom Riley
Monroe’s anaesthetist Shepherd is also his best friend. His hapless love life provides a
constant source of amusement for Monroe, but Shepherd is determined to keep his new
relationship a secret.
SALLY FORTUNE played by Manjinder Virk
Fortune has made it through her training to become Monroe’s trusted registrar. Coming
from a long line of doctors, she is not afraid to stand up for herself in the male-dominated
world of neurosurgery.
DANIEL SPRINGER played by Luke Allen-Gale
Fresh faced and eager to impress, Springer is the most over-enthusiastic trainee Monroe
has ever had. He is determined to prove that he is cut out for neurosurgery, but Monroe
has other ideas.
KITTY WILSON played by Michelle Asante
Monroe’s trainee Wilson is easily underestimated. Shy and weak stomached, she initially
struggles to make it through the operations, but Monroe sees potential in Wilson and
takes her under his wing.
ANDREW MULLERY played by Andrew Gower
Mullery is an unlikely cardio trainee. Shambling and awkward, he seems slightly lost in
the competitive world of surgery, but his sudden flashes of brilliance suggest that he
might have a few surprises in store.
SARAH WITNEY played by Christina Chong
Witney is a smart and ruthlessly ambitious trainee whose mission in life is to show
Bremner that she is the best. She will do whatever it takes to become a brilliant heart
surgeon.
LEE BRADLEY played by Thomas Morrison
Hospital porter, unofficial bookie, poker enthusiast and lover of greyhounds - Bradley is a
man of many talents, who regularly baffles Monroe and Shepherd with his eccentric
philosophy on life.
ANNA MONROE played by Susan Lynch
Monroe’s wife Anna shares his dry sense of humour and respects his dedication to his
work. However, after twenty-two years of marriage, the cracks in their relationship are
starting to show.
7
CAST INTERVIEWS
James Nesbitt is Monroe
James Nesbitt made his name in the popular ITV1 comedy drama Cold Feet which won
him an award for Most Popular Comedy Actor. Since then he has gone on to win awards
for his role in the powerful ITV1 drama Bloody Sunday. His performance in Jekyll for BBC
ONE gained him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a MiniSeries or Motion Picture made for Television and a Rose D’Or nomination for Best Actor.
Now at the heart of ITV1’s major new medical drama, Monroe, James talks fondly about
his relationship with writer and series creator Peter Bowker.
“Peter is one of my favourite writers”, said James. “We’ve worked together on a couple of
projects; The Miller’s Tale in 2003 and Occupation in 2009. What defines and separates
Peter is his incredible ability to take serious matters and make intelligent writing
accessible to an audience. He has a great sense of humanity and understands the
important things in life.
“When we worked and travelled together to promote Occupation in the US, we discussed
a lot of ideas about how we could work together again. One idea that Peter had was a
medical drama with a neurosurgeon at the heart of it.
“Peter’s inspiration was drawn from his own personal experiences. His daughter, who is
healthy and very well now, was diagnosed with a brain tumour when she was quite
young. At the time Peter became fascinated by the idea of someone so little, so fragile,
who is your flesh and blood, being handed over to someone who is responsible for
opening up their head and removing the badness hidden inside.”
James continues: “Peter was captivated by the surgeons and the impact their jobs have
on their lives.
“During his research Peter worked very closely with neurosurgeons, Henry Marsh, who is
now coming to the end of his career, and Philip Van Hille, who works at Leeds General
Infirmary. Having built relationships with both, Peter worked closely with them. Everyone
involved in this production wanted to make sure we had authenticity from day one and
that everything we were portraying on screen was accurate.”
Explaining his character, Monroe, James adds: “Peter has created a character that I
believe is slightly dysfunctional, clearly flawed and someone who we wouldn’t necessarily
expect to be a neurosurgeon. Monroe has a remarkably arrogant attitude and can often
compare himself to God. He’s someone that’s very good at opening up other people’s
heads and looking at their brains but he’s not very good at looking at his own.
8
“His domain and home is the hospital, which is clearly at the detriment to his relationship
with his wife Anna and son Nick. He believes he’s the best of a very defined and rather
brilliant profession, and understands that there are four key things to being a
neurosurgeon; manual dexterity, memory, good people skills and the courage to come in
to work after perhaps things have gone wrong.
“Monroe is great with people and it’s very important for him to be like that. All surgeons
are different. What unites them is their incredible ability to connect with their patients.”
New to the medical genre, James spent many hours in theatre observing neurosurgeons
and their supporting medical teams.
“As part of my research I witnessed four brain operations. It was incredibly generous of
the patients and the medical teams to allow me this access. From my time spent on
hospital wards and in surgery I was able to understand and appreciate the day-to-day life
of a neurosurgeon.
“The patients are desperate to be seen because they know there is something inside of
them which is killing them. It’s much more difficult for family members who are there
waiting for news on their loved ones.
“I’ve seen how neurosurgeons drill through the skull, pull back the skin on the head and
make an incision into the brain. I’ve seen the brain, which is an amazing organ, pulsing
away. I’ve seen the revelation of an angry, horrible, grey-black tumour, which has then
been removed. I’ve seen how difficult this job is and the decisions that have to be made
very quickly when faced with an emergency. It’s incredible to know that the brain can
survive some of the procedures that surgeons perform.
“During an operation conducted by Henry Marsh, I remember him pointing out specific
areas of the brain saying, ‘that area there, that’s thought’, and that’s astonishing to see.
“At times there’s banter in theatre during surgery, but you always know when the team
are dealing with something serious, or when they are just about to get to the heart of the
tumour, as the atmosphere changes very quickly.
“Thankfully I’m not squeamish, but I was incredibly nervous and very fascinated. What
you come away thinking is just how fragile everything is and how fleeting life can be. It’s
magnificent that neurosurgeons can extend peoples lives by years.
“Neurosurgeons love their job because no brain is the same. The downside to what they
do is that they can sometimes wreck a patient unintentionally. If that happens they have
to have an enormous amount of courage to come back into work the next day. What they
do is so specific and so demanding that it has a huge impact on their family life because
it’s hard to take that home and share.
“I also spent a lot of time with Philip Van Hille and a young registrar at LGI called Roddy
O'Kane, now going for consultant surgeon. Both were on set a lot and were involved with
the team when it came to the operating scenes.
“Philip is attached to a charity called Second Chance Headway and I felt very privileged
to open their new clinic in Wakefield last November. Their aim is to support those who
have sustained severe brain damage through road traffic accidents, falls at home or
work, sporting injuries and assaults. The aftercare service they provide, which is so
important, enables those affected to obtain the skills, knowledge and understanding
required to achieve a better quality of life.
9
“The individuals that have suffered brain injuries are still the same on the inside, but can
often be very different on the outside. Following surgery no one knows if the surviving
patient will regain skills possibly lost through the trauma or illness. Some lose their ability
to speak. The aftermath of those problems is not something people talk about or know
how to deal with, which is why Philip’s work is so important and valuable.”
James explains that despite the series portraying cardiac and neurosurgery, only
prosthetics were used during the filming of the more graphic scenes.
“The prosthetics we used are brilliant and very realistic. There’s no goriness in the
surgery we show. There is, however, a fair amount of blood but it’s dependent on the
type of operation being performed. An acute haematoma will see bleeding as it’s a
traumatic brain injury in which blood gathers within the outermost meningeal layer
between the duran matter and arachnoid matter.
“In the opening episode Alison Bannister, played by the brilliant Sarah Smart, is
diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumour having suffered from a bout of fits. Left
without surgery the tumour would eventually kill her. However, there’s a risk that by
agreeing to an operation Alison’s life will be altered forever, possibly leaving her without
speech or memory. Rather than have our cameras constantly focused on the brain
during surgery, they move across Monroe whilst he is operating. By shooting it this way,
the viewers are able to see the procedure via a monitor that’s connected to the
microscope.
“Director Paul McGuigan has brought his own vision to the drama. He’s a great
photographer, who has a huge amount of talent, so the look of the series is very different
to anything else.”
As Monroe faces the pressures of performing life changing surgery, it’s vital that he has a
supportive team who appreciate his dark humour.
James explains: “Monroe’s relationship with anaesthetist Shepherd, played by Tom
Riley, is based on humour. They work together, gamble together and play together.
Spending their every working hour together results in them having a very strong trust and
bond which is crucial to the job they do.
“Although they can be the best of friends, Monroe can push Shepherd which results in
them falling out. That worked out very well with Tom as we got on brilliantly and had a
great time during filming.
“As well as the day to day pressures of surgery Monroe is also tasked to oversee two
medical trainees, Daniel Springer and Kitty Wilson. Springer (Luke Allen-Gale) is a
young, ambitious, middle class doctor and someone who Monroe can’t abide at first.
Being highly ambitious it’s clear from the outset that Springer wants to go to the top. His
biggest flaw is his people skills but on a plus side he’s very determined and perseveres.
“The second trainee, Kitty Wilson, (Michelle Asante), has a lot of potential. Although she
shows a weakness by passing out during surgery, Monroe gives her the guidance and
advice she needs. He almost takes her under his wing which creates tension between
the two trainees.
“Monroe also has a good relationship with registrar Sally Fortune, Nurse Wickens and
hospital porter Lee Bradley, a man of many talents and vices!
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“There’s only one person in the hospital that Monroe doesn’t see eye to eye with and
that’s Cardiac Surgeon, Jenny Bremner. They are total opposites. There’s a great deal of
rivalry between cardiac and neurosurgery. Monroe believes that the brain is a multifaceted mysterious organ that contains our unique humanity, and that the heart is just a
pump.
“Although Bremner works by the book and keeps her patients at arms length she is a
brilliant surgeon. There’s a lot of sarcasm between the two and you can tell he gets a
kick out of winding her up. More often than not Shepherd finds himself in the middle of
their feuding relationship and although he doesn’t always agree with Monroe he could
never be seen to show this.”
So what has James’s experience taught him?
“It was the hardest but the best twelve weeks I’ve ever had. It’s taught me that you can
be the most technical, brilliantly gifted academic person in the world, which is really
important, but courage and knowing how far to go with a patient is equally as important.
It’s about understanding that what you are holding in your hands, literally at times, is the
part of the body that contains our unique humanity. It’s about sensitivity and having a
relationship with the patient. As well as having a connection with the patient and
delivering a duty of care, you have to be able to operate, close them up and move on to
the next patient.
“Neurosurgery is a world we’ve seen very little of. I hope Monroe shows the audience
that we can be less afraid of sufferers with brain injuries.”
James’s other television credits include five series of Murphy’s Law, Wall of Silence,
Quite Ugly One Morning, The Passion, Midnight Man, and Five Minutes of Heaven. In
2009 James made three feature films, Matching Jack and Outcast, both released in
2010, and The Way, set for release this year.
James has recently filmed Coriolanus and is currently working on Peter Jackson's
adaptation of The Hobbit in New Zealand.
11
Sarah Parish is Jenny Bremner
With previous credits such as Mistresses to her name, Sarah Parish is no stranger to
playing strong and sassy female characters. Now, in her newest role as Jenny Bremner,
Sarah reveals the feisty Cardiac Surgeon is perhaps the strongest female she’s taken on
so far in her career.
“I tend to get cast a lot as strong women,” admits Sarah, “And Bremner is very much the
strongest of them all, there’s no doubt about that!”
Sarah continues: “Bremner has been described as the heart surgeon without a heart.
She does have one but she just chooses not to show it much of the time.
“Bremner’s über confident, incredibly controlled and very focused on what she does for a
living. Being a heart surgeon is probably the best possible job for her as it’s very
mathematical.
“It’s fascinating to watch her in a situation with Monroe because they are the polar
opposite.
“Bremner has no fat in her chat, no pre-amble, no small talk. If she were at a party she
wouldn’t give two hoots if no one spoke to her all night, she would happily just stand
there alone. In comparison, Monroe needs to be liked and loved by everyone; he has a
great at dealing with his patients but, at the same time, he has a big ego that needs
massaging and is very flawed.”
Speaking further on her role, Sarah says: “Bremner doesn’t want to get emotionally
involved or attached to her patients. I think she’s probably made that mistake in the past
and realises it can manipulate her decision-making. Bremner doesn’t have good people
skills. She’s made a very conscious decision to just do her job brilliantly and not get too
close to her patients.
“In one of the later episodes we see Bremner get into a situation where she begins lets
her guard down. She becomes somewhat emotionally attached to one of her patients
and as a consequence, her professional decisions are manipulated by her personal
emotions. She’s very hard on herself for making this mistake. To play someone that is so
supremely confident is quite refreshing.”
12
Having previously worked with Peter Bowker on Blackpool, Sarah was delighted when
she discovered he was writing another project.
“When I heard that Peter Bowker had written a new drama I asked my agent, Sue, to find
out more. At that time I knew that Jimmy was attached to the project and he’d been
someone I wanted to work with for years. Then I heard about this wonderful strong
female character, Bremner, and I was keen to find out more. Sure enough the scripts
were fantastic so I came on board."
As soon as Sarah was signed to star in Monroe she contacted her friend, a real-life
cardiac surgeon, in Southampton. Following his invitation she soon found herself
standing inches away from a patient undergoing life-changing surgery.
“I know a heart surgeon in Southampton, so I called him as soon as I got the job and he
invited me to come and watch a couple of operations. I figured I would be at the back of
the room but I was right at the head of the patient where the anaesthetist stands, getting
up close and personal! There is a cover over the patient so you can’t see their face and
there’s a good reason for that - you don’t want to see their face when you are operating
on their heart. It was the most awe-inspiring experience. I felt very privileged to be there
watching the medical team perform an incredible job. They were so calm, I’d imagined it
to be a very tense atmosphere but it’s not at all. It’s like a beautifully choreographed
ballet and before you know it four hours have passed and you’ve been standing in the
same spot the whole time.
“The NHS do a remarkable job. When you are unfortunate enough to have spent time in
hospital because someone you know or love has been ill, you only have to be there and
cope with the situation one time, but the NHS staff deal with it day in day out. All the
surgeons and medical teams make life and death decisions everyday, the responsibility
of taking that on board is remarkable.”
With two trainees at her side, Bremner is aware that only the competent and dedicated
will make it as a surgeon.
“Bremner's trainees are Sarah Witney and Andrew Mullery. The lovely Christina Chong
plays Witney. She’s a know it all. Very clever, very well read and knows exactly what
she’s doing. Bremner sees a little bit of herself in Witney and so favours her a lot. Then
there’s Mullery, played by the wonderful Andrew Gower, who is like the class clown;
bumbling, lanky, awkward, under confident and probably isn’t going to make it as a
surgeon.
“Although Bremner has a fondness for Mullery, she has to be very honest and blunt
because there’s no point in him carrying on if he’s not going to make it. Maybe he will pull
it out of the bag and surprise us all, we’ll just have to see!
“Witney and Mullery are polar opposites but they have a wonderful love hate relationship
with each other.”
Sarah admits that the pressure of performing the surgical procedures made her, at times,
feel a little on edge. “We had one prosthetic and I had to be sure that when I made an
incision it was perfect. The pressure was enormous. When you’re filming there’s a million
different things going on at the same time, so you don’t want to mess up, especially in
front of the medical consultants who were on set watching.”
13
When the pressure of filming was off, Sarah and her co-stars were able to enjoy their
time in Leeds. “I’d never worked in Leeds before but I absolutely loved it! We didn’t get a
huge amount of downtime but we managed to have a few nights out, celebrating
birthdays, and we had a brilliant karaoke night which was a lot of fun!”
Sarah’s other television credits include: The Pillars of the Earth; Merlin; Doctor Who;
Blackpool; Cutting It; Hearts and Bones.
14
Tom Riley is Lawrence Shepherd
Tom Riley plays Lawrence Shepherd, an anaesthetist who has worked alongside
Neurosurgeon, Monroe, for a number of years. Although Shepherd can often be the
subject of Monroe’s jokes, their relationship is as solid as a rock.
“Their relationship is born out of their profession. They’re very lucky to have such a
strong partnership. Part of the reason their relationship works so well is although they are
very different individuals they have a very similar sense of humour. They spend each day
of their working lives together, caring and treating patients, and they completely trust
each other.
“Shepherd accepts that he’s going to be knocked down by Monroe from time to time and
be the butt of his jokes, but it’s not the end of the world for him and he’s strong enough to
take it. Whether they’d be best friends outside of their profession I don’t know, but the job
has made their relationship necessary and fulfilling as a result.
“During the research Jimmy and I did together, everyone we met told us that the surgeon
and the anaesthetist’s relationship are crucial. It’s actually the most interesting dynamic
in a medical team and was the first thing we worked on.”
As Monroe’s anaesthetist, Shepherd often finds himself caught in the middle of his ongoing war with Cardiac Surgeon, Jenny Bremner, played by Sarah Parish.
“Bremner is seen as the annoying girl at school who gets in the way and spoils their fun.
It’s clear from the outset that there’s a strong personality clash between Monroe and
Bremner. As surgeons at the same hospital, they’re in direct competition. Both have very
different approaches with their patients. Monroe is very personable, while Bremner
believes it’s better to keep patients and their emotions at arm’s length. Regardless of
what the other has going on in their work and private lives, neither cuts the other any
slack.
“Shepherd doesn’t feel as reticent towards Bremner, but can’t show this, as it would only
upset the balance of his relationship with Monroe.”
Shepherd is a far cry from Tom’s previous on-screen character, Gavin Sorenson, in the
critically acclaimed drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire screened on ITV1 last year.
“Gavin had a huge back-story in Bouquet of Barbed Wire. I faced a lot of challenges in
getting Gavin right. The two characters are very different, which is one of the reasons I
was drawn to play Shepherd in Monroe. It gave me the chance to play someone who is
likeable, a nice guy who smiles rather than grimaces.
15
“The challenges I faced with Shepherd were with his job as an anaesthetist. Before
filming, I wanted to understand what being an anaesthetist would involve and the type of
person who chooses this profession. To help establish this I met Dr Audrey Quinn, an
anaesthetist at Leeds General Infirmary.
“Not only was I able to observe her in theatre but I was also given the opportunity to
discuss why she was drawn to anaesthesiology, and how her personal life reflected this.”
“Anaesthetists have a very interesting relationship with patients. They are the last person
a patient sees before they are anaesthetised and they need to have good people skills
and be able to give reassurance to their patients.”
During further research with medical teams across the country, Tom and fellow cast
member James Nesbitt visited St George’s Hospital in London where they observed
brain surgery. Tom recalls the experience as ‘one of the most amazing mornings of my
life’.
“On the morning of our read-through in London, Jimmy and I met a male patient at St
George’s Hospital. The patient was being treated to by an incredible neurosurgeon called
Henry Marsh because he’d been experiencing a reoccurring tumour. Alongside our
producer, Jennie Scanlon, we were given the opportunity to observe surgery. From
inches away we were able to see the registrar operating on this mans brain whilst Henry
talked us through the procedure.
“There’s an incredible sensation that overcomes you just as you’re about to look at a
human brain. Because Jimmy and I were stood next to each other there was a shared
moment of camaraderie. The brain is unlike anything else you’ve ever seen. I knew
Jimmy couldn’t faint in front of me, nor could I faint in front of him, and actually once we’d
inside the skull for the very first time, everything else was quite clinical.
“After surgery, we were able to go in to the ward and speak to the man who had just
undergone treatment. Whilst we were there an emergency case came through. A man
they knew very little about had been assaulted outside a pub. They couldn’t find a record
of who he was or the extent to which the damage had affected him, but they knew he
was in a serious condition and that they had to operate immediately. We were offered the
opportunity to witness surgery, a completely different approach to the one previously
seen. We got to observe the same medical team working so much faster and quicker.
The man suffering with the head injury was very confused and aggressive, so
anaesthetising him was a lot harder, especially as he was waving his arms around. It was
fascinating to see the different approach the medical team had to adopt in an emergency.
Theatre was very intense and silent, different to that of a non-emergency, where at times
there is a lot of banter.”
Aside from watching operations, meeting patients and medical teams, Tom tried, as hard
he could, to have as much knowledge of the medical language as possible.
“It’s quite difficult when there’s so much medical jargon to learn and understand, but it’s
also very important to get it right. To aid us during scenes the production team ensured
that every procedure and operation was labelled out with specific details as to what
would be required from the medical team and why. Nothing was ever done just for the
sake of having it in the script.
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“For the majority of filming we would have a medical advisor on set. If there wasn’t
someone present, Helen, our script editor, had someone on hand to give advice.”
Tom admits he felt the pressure heat up on set when he and his fellow cast members
had to film big medical procedures.
“The days when we would film in theatre were in fact the most stressful. Everyone was
so determined to get it right. As the neurosurgeon at the centre of this drama, Jimmy had
to be in control.
“It was the same with Sarah Parish who plays Cardiac surgeon Jenny Bremner. Although
they were both performing surgery on prosthetics, everything had to be accurate and as
a consequence everything felt very tense.
“When we got it right, the real life surgeons that were consulting and overseeing scenes,
would get so excited and leap out from behind the monitors and yell ‘that’s amazing,
that’s it! Well done!’”
Tom reveals that working with writer, Peter Bowker, was too good an opportunity to miss,
and hopes the viewing audience will have a bigger appreciation for the NHS.
“I’m a big fan of Peter’s work. He is never anything other than fantastic in everything he
writes and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to work with him. Likewise with Paul
McGuigan. I loved Sherlock and I’m a big fan of his film work too. It seemed like such a
fantastic chance to work with both men and with Mammoth Screen, a production
company who I respect. It would have been very difficult to say no.
“The team behind Monroe care so passionately about this project and were determined,
every step of the way, to represent medical teams accurately. They wanted to make
something that’s real and what reflects medical care in the UK today. The audience will
hopefully go away with an appreciation of the medical difficulties they are faced with. You
don’t see much of the behind the scenes in Monroe, it’s very much about the cases that
come in, the patients and how lives are affected. I think it’ll open people’s eyes to the
difficulties of surgery and the weight that surgery can put on those that do it.”
Since completing Monroe in December 2010, Tom has secured the lead role in the
critically-acclaimed production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia directed by five-time Tony
Award nominee David Leveaux. Tom can be seen at the Barrymore Theatre, New York,
between February and June 2011.
Tom Riley’s previous credits include: St Trinian’s 2; Happy Ever Afters; I Want Candy; A
Few Days In September; Bouquet of Barbed Wire; Lost in Austen; Lewis; Agatha
Christie’s Poirot.
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EPISODE SYNOPSES
The following synopses are published in the production notes for forward
planning purposes only. Please do not reproduce entirely and do not
publish the end of the story. Many thanks.
Episode One
Monroe (James Nesbitt) is a brilliant neurosurgeon, a husband and a father. At work, he
has the courage to perform cutting edge brain surgery – operating on the very thing that
makes us who we are. At home, he’s afraid to admit that his life is falling apart. To his
patients, he is the most powerful person in the world: the man with the power to change
their lives forever. Yet he is also human, and every bit as flawed as he is brilliant.
Nobody is more aware of Monroe’s flaws than Jenny Bremner (Sarah Parish), a glacial
cardiac surgeon with little time for Monroe and his emotional approach to his patients.
Bremner is a closed book, but with the help of his best friend and anaesthetist Lawrence
Shepherd (Tom Riley), Monroe is determined to unearth her sense of humour.
While Bremner’s trainees Andrew Mullery (Andrew Gower) and Sarah Witney (Christina
Chong) are left to observe her operations from the sidelines, Monroe does all he can to
encourage his weak-stomached trainee Wilson and keep the ambitious Springer in
check. Monroe’s registrar Sally Fortune (Manjinder Virk) has made it through her training
to become his trusted right hand woman, but he isn’t convinced that his new recruits
have what it takes. Along with Shepherd, the formidable theatre nurse Wickens (Liz
Hume-Dawson) and porter-cum-bookie Bradley (Thomas Morrison), they constitute
Monroe’s dysfunctional hospital family. If he cannot repair his life at home, they might
turn out to be his only family.
When a young woman, Alison Bannister (Sarah Smart) is admitted with a brain tumour,
Monroe has to help her to face a frightening decision: an operation could leave her
paralysed or unable to speak, yet without surgery, she is likely to die within a few years.
Does she want to survive if surgery might change who she is? And can Monroe get her
through this crisis as his own life starts to spiral out of control?
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Episode Two
As Monroe (James Nesbitt) struggles to accept the fact that his wife, Anna (Susan
Lynch), has left him, he throws himself into work and tries to pretend that his life is not in
free fall. His best friend and anaesthetist Shepherd (Tom Riley) can see straight through
him, and his teenage son is demanding answers - but can Monroe find the courage to
admit the truth about why his marriage has ended?
At the hospital, Monroe and Bremner have to deal with a double shooting after a fourteen
year old boy accidentally shoots his twelve year old brother, before attempting to kill
himself. Springer (Luke Allen-Gale) literally manages to add insult to injury by offending
the boys’ father as his son lies on the operating table, and so Monroe resorts to unusual
measures to prove that the boys are in good hands. With his own home life
disintegrating, Monroe is determined to engage with the boys’ family and understand why
the parents are estranged, but his attempts to help are less than welcome.
The bitter and funny personality clash between Monroe and Bremner (Sarah Parish)
continues, and Bremner is incensed by Monroe’s attempts to play ‘family therapist’ with
the mother of her patient. Shepherd is buoyed up by a mystery date, but refuses to
share any details with Monroe and Bradley. Meanwhile, Bremner discovers that even the
trainees are gossiping about her impersonal attitude to her patients, and Witney
(Christina Chong) has some explaining to do. Springer finally meets his match in the
form of a fearsome theatre nurse.
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Episode Three
With his family home up for sale and his teenage son, Nick (Perry Millward) refusing to
take his calls, Monroe (James Nesbitt) throws himself into his job, tackling life at the
hospital with his usual energy and humour. When Anna (Susan Lynch) makes it clear
that she has moved on, he tries to embrace his new single status, but is he ready to
leave the past behind?
When an ex-soldier is admitted with a blood clot in his brain, Monroe takes the
controversial decision to avoid surgery. As he comes under increasing pressure to
operate, will his “wait and see” approach be the right one? Bremner (Sarah Parish) is
torn when she is asked to operate on an elderly lady for the second time. Will she break
her own rule and let emotion get in the way of her clinical instincts?
Bremner is annoyed by Monroe’s attempts to find her human side, and Shepherd (Tom
Riley) remains tight lipped about the details of his mystery date. Monroe finds Shepherd’s
love life a welcome distraction from his own, but he is shocked when the identity of his
friend’s new woman is finally revealed. Meanwhile, Springer (Luke Allen-Gale) tries to
cover up the fact that he has ‘mislaid’ a patient, while Witney (Christina Chong) faces the
wrath of Bremner and there’s a surprise addition to Monroe’s poker circle.
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Episode Four
Monroe’s (James Nesbitt) life plunges further into chaos as he discovers that ‘civilized
divorce’ is harder than he had ever imagined. As Anna (Susan Lynch) starts a new life,
Monroe is determined to show that he can move on too, but his attempts to enter the
world of dating seem doomed to failure.
At the hospital, Monroe is sure that surgery can help Brendan (Tony Mooney), a family
man whose epileptic seizures have been getting worse. However, Brendan has other
ideas: he firmly believes that God is talking to him during his seizures, and is reluctant to
give up these powerful religious experiences, even if it means that his condition will
deteriorate. Monroe tries to persuade him to go ahead with the operation, but Brendan’s
teenage daughter, Phoebe (Phoebe Dynevor), accuses Monroe of being too arrogant to
understand her father’s special closeness to God. Is Monroe right to try to persuade him,
and what will Brendan decide to put his faith in?
Witney (Christina Chong) and Mullery (Andrew Gower) are unnerved by Bremner’s
(Sarah Parish) suspiciously good mood, but Monroe is sure that he knows her secret.
Unable to resist having some fun, he reveals that he knows about her relationship with
Shepherd (Tom Riley), but Bremner is furious to find that she is the subject of gossip and
takes decisive action. Meanwhile, Witney struggles to prove that she isn’t judgemental,
Bremner has to treat a young patient with a crush on her and Springer (Luke Allen-Gale)
continues to infuriate Monroe.
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Episode Five
When registrar Sally Fortune (Manjinder Virk) collapses, Monroe (James Nesbitt) is faced
with the terrifying prospect of operating on a colleague. Fortune’s condition is serious –
she has an aneurysm in her brain which could burst at any moment, and one wrong
move during surgery risks leaving her permanently damaged. Fortune places her trust in
her mentor, but when the procedure begins to go badly, Monroe has to hold his nerve in
a race against time to save his registrar.
Monroe’s thorny relationship with Bremner (Sarah Parish) reaches a crisis point when
Bremner becomes involved in Fortune’s treatment, and Shepherd (Tom Riley) finds
himself torn between his best friend and his new girlfriend. Shepherd is convinced that
he can make Bremner happy, but can their fledging relationship survive the pressures of
the hospital?
The trainees are all anxious about Fortune, but Mullery (Andrew Gower) seems more
worried than anyone. Is there more to his concern than meets the eye? Meanwhile,
Witney (Christina Chong) has to contend with a patient who refuses to have her surgery
cancelled, and Springer (Luke Allen-Gale) learns that no patient is disposable.
At home, Monroe claims that he is being ‘mature’ by helping his wife to start a new life
without him, but their son Nick (Perry Millward) is not convinced. Is Monroe finally ready
to let go of the past, or is he giving up on his marriage too easily?
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Episode Six
Monroe (James Nesbitt) is finally forced to confront the painful truth about his past when
a lively night shift at the hospital suddenly takes a darker turn. When a thirteen year old
girl is admitted following a road accident, Monroe knows that there is little chance of
saving her and an operation could leave her severely damaged. However, her father
begs him to operate and give her a chance to live - whatever the consequences.
Shepherd (Tom Riley) sees that Monroe is wavering and accuses him of allowing his
emotions to cloud his judgement. But Monroe is a father as well as a surgeon, and
seeing this young girl makes his own pain come flooding back. Can Monroe save her,
and will he ever be able to let go of his own grief and make peace with his family?
Shepherd is still smarting from his break up with Bremner (Sarah Parish), but finds it
impossible to avoid her at the hospital. When Monroe discovers that he is thinking about
leaving, he begs Bremner to give his best friend a second chance, but Shepherd is not
prepared for what Bremner has to tell him. Meanwhile, the competition between the
trainees intensifies as the day of their assessments arrives. Springer (Luke Allen-Gale)
is sure that Monroe wants to get rid of him, but Wilson (Michelle Asante) has a surprise in
store. Witney (Christina Chong) is frustrated when she loses out on a training
opportunity to Mullery (Andrew Gower), but Mullery has bigger concerns as Fortune
(Manjinder Virk) continues to feel the impact of her surgery.
The above synopses are published in the production notes for forward
planning purposes only. Please do not reproduce entirely and do not
publish the end of the story. Many thanks.
23
PRINCIPAL CAST
Monroe ........................................................................................ James Nesbitt
Jenny Bremner.............................................................................. Sarah Parish
Lawrence Shepherd ...........................................................................Tom Riley
Sally Fortune ............................................................................... Manjinder Virk
Daniel Springer ........................................................................ Luke Allen-Gale
Kitty Wilson .............................................................................. Michelle Asante
Andrew Mullery .......................................................................... Andrew Gower
Sarah Witney ........................................................................... Christina Chong
Nurse Wickens ..................................................................... Liz Hume-Dawson
Lee Bradley ............................................................................ Thomas Morrison
Anna Monroe ................................................................................ Susan Lynch
Nick Monroe ................................................................................ Perry Millward
Tatiana ....................................................................................... Caroline Stoltz
EPISODES ONE – THREE
Alison Bannister .............................................................................Sarah Smart
Lee ............................................................................................... Shaun Evans
Mr Khan .................................................................................. Madhav Sharma
Mr Chadwick ................................................................................ Adrian Bower
Mrs Chadwick ...............................................................................Andrea Lowe
Judith .......................................................................................... Bridget Turner
Sharon ............................................................................................ Olwen May
David Foster......................................................................... Matthew Needham
Mr Ashton ..................................................................................... Andy Devine
Mr Foster ........................................................................................ Archie Kelly
Mrs Foster ................................................................................. Gillian Jephcott
Jane .................................................................................................... Jill Cardo
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EPISODES FOUR – SIX
Brendan ....................................................................................... Tony Mooney
Phoebe ................................................................................... Phoebe Dynevor
Alex ............................................................................................... Harry Ferrier
Sarah ............................................................................. Katherine Dow Blyton
Jack .............................................................................................Robbie Leach
Ali ................................................................................................. Moey Hassan
James ....................................................................................... Tommy Jessop
Jenifer ..................................................................................... Kathryn Prescott
Natasha .................................................................................. Shannon Tarbet
Mrs Graves ............................................................................. Mona Hammond
Andrew Burgess.................................................................... Andrew Readman
Mr Fraser .................................................................................. Tony Maudsley
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PRODUCTION CREDITS
Executive Producers .................................................................... Michele Buck
................................................................................................. Damien Timmer
Writer, Creator & Executive Producer ......................................... Peter Bowker
Producer .................................................................................. Jennie Scanlon
Co-Producer................................................................................... Howard Ella
Director (episodes 1 - 3) ........................................................... Paul McGuigan
Director (episodes 4 - 6) ............................................................... David Moore
DOP (episodes 1 - 2) ............................................................ Kieran McGuigan
DOP (episodes 3 -6) ......................................................................Mike Spragg
Casting Director ...........................................................................Susie Parriss
Composer .............................................................................. Dominik Scherrer
Editor (episodes 1 - 3)................................................................ Charlie Phillips
Editor (episodes 4 - 6).................................................................. Lois Bygrave
First AD (episodes 1-3) ................................................................ Simon Noone
First AD (episodes 4-6) ........................................................................... Jo Lea
Second AD .................................................................................. Jude Harrison
Third AD ......................................................................................... Heidi Gower
Location Manager ....................................................................... Ben Hepworth
Script Editor ................................................................................ Helen Jenkins
Production Designer ............................................................... Anna Higginson
Art Director ............................................................................. Richard Downes
Costume Designer ....................................................................Philip O’Connor
Hair & Make up Designer ............................................................. Sam Marshall
Prosthetics ...................................................................................... Davy Jones
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