Maximum PRESSURE

As HBO Max launches, meet the stressed doctors of Noah Wyle's award-winning medical drama The Pitt

- ELAINE PENN

NEW DRAMA The Pitt From Thursday 26 March, HBO Max (Season 1, all episodes; Season 2, released weekly)

New streaming platform HBO Max arrives in the UK on Thursday 26 March with a star-studded slate of exciting new shows – and none of them is more eagerly awaited than award-winning medical drama The Pitt.

The US series stars Noah Wyle as Dr Michael 'Robby' Robinavitch, who runs the underfunded emergency department of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center – coined 'The Pitt' by its stressed staff. The medics must make life-or-death decisions while navigating crowded waiting rooms and rundown working conditions.

The series has already been a huge hit in the US, receiving a host of awards, including an Emmy for former ER actor Wyle for his portrayal of the calm-under-pressure Robby.

Each episode takes place close to real time, across an eventful hospital shift, beginning with an opening instalment that introduces us to the surgeons, nurses and student doctors as they treat a triathlete who goes into cardiac arrest and an injured woman who was pushed on to subway tracks.