Want to know the reality of life on a hospital ward? Turn to TV. Specifically, you need to watch French drama Interns, the medical series now in its third season. Very rarely does television capture the chaos and energy of modern hospitals, while too often medical dramas end up streamlining events for the sake of storytelling. Interns is the best of both worlds – not that it feels that way for the interns thrown in at the deep end.
Based on creator Thomas Lilti’s own experiences as a doctor (during France’s COVID lockdowns, he briefly resumed his medical duties), Interns focuses on three, well, interns: Chloé (Louise Bourgoin), Alyson (Alice Belaïdi) and Hugo (Zacharie Chasseriaud). Along with forensic pathologist Arben (Karim Leklou), the trio are forced to take charge of the Internal Medicine ward at a teaching hospital when the rest of the medical staff is forced into quarantine.
The interns have varying levels of experience (and Arben hasn’t worked on a live body in years), so even when a situation seems under control, it’s easy for things to go wrong in nail-biting fashion. It’s not over-the-top gory, but it’s not for the squeamish either; it really does feel like you’re watching actual medical procedures, swinging between matter-of-fact and life-or-death in a way that makes it hard to relax.
It’s on the ward that Interns’ debt to reality television is most obvious. The medical situations are both highly detailed and extremely realistic, while the camerawork keeps the energy up while never feeling overdone (as well as being the creator and one of the writers, Lilti is also the series’ director). Even for a genre where audiences expect realism, Interns sets a new standard; the only way you’ll see more convincing medical scenes is to visit your local hospital.
It might make for gripping scenes, but medical realism on its own isn’t enough to create compelling viewing. Over the three seasons (now available at SBS On Demand), Interns constantly finds new ways to keep things from settling down. In the first season, the quarantine drama rapidly spins out of control as the ICU chief starts shifting patients into Internal Medicine. That pushes up the intern’s workload and adds to the pressure on the inexperienced trio, while one intern’s mistake with a patient turns into a much wider threat.
Season two sees the Internal Medicine department under pressure again when a burst water pipe floods the ER, and critical patients are relocated to IM. It is not a smooth transfer, and even when the old team is reunited – Arben is now a paramedic – wounds from the previous season linger. Overworked and stressed doctors struggling with a lack of resources is a constant issue; it’s almost as if the medical system has underlying problems that individuals can’t solve.
The third season (set in 2022) sees the hospital struggling in the wake of COVID, with service cuts leading to long wait times for ambulances and an emergency room that no longer operates 24 hours a day. To maintain care for patients they can’t kick out at night, the team on duty (as in previous seasons, the core group has shuffled around while remaining committed to medicine) has them quietly moved to a disused corridor. As you can imagine, this is not an ideal solution for either the medical staff or the patients.
The characters grow and develop across the seasons; Chloé has health issues of her own, Arben’s qualifications are put under the microscope, and the relationship between Hugo and Alyson undergoes its own changes as they come to terms with their individual abilities and limitations. They’re flawed individuals, in ways that sometimes impact their ability to take care of their patients; there are times where you might cheer them on as people while hoping you don’t get someone like them looking after you.
Some themes remain constant. Doctors are pushed to their limits, their burnout puts patients at risk, and the system all but demands they break the rules if they want to provide proper care. These are consistent, long-term issues with the health system; ironically, despite the reality of the situation, they’re the kind of problems that medical reality shows (that have to work with hospital management) smooth over.
As a character-based drama firmly grounded in the facts of modern medical care – both on the ward and within the system – Interns shines a light on the problems the system faces from top to bottom. Medicine is bloody and messy, but the pressure it puts on the medical staff can be a real killer: that’s the kind of realism that other dramas just won’t touch.
Interns season 3 premieres Sunday 5 April at SBS On Demand.
Interns seasons 1-2 are now streaming at SBS On Demand.
