4 September 2023

Maternal S1

Maternal follows three female doctors returning to post-pandemic frontline medicine after maternity leave and trying to balance the intense demands of life on the ward and motherhood.

Paediatric registrar Dr Maryam Afridi (Teen Choice nominee Parminder Nagra from Bend It Like Beckham and ER) is full of doubt that she can cope with the emotional demands of treating children now that she has her own. Catherine MacDiarmid (Critics Choice nominee Lara Pulver from Sherlock) is a single mother and successful surgeon determined to be one of the boys in the macho world of surgery. And Dr Helen Cavendish (Lisa McGrillis from Mum) is a registrar in Acute Medicine, who is wrestling with a self-prescribed role that sees her mothering everyone in her life.

The British medical drama has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Guardian saying, “This wonderful drama about doctors going back to work after having children is a spot-on exploration of female friendship – and how to survive in a system stacked against you.”

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