''Mercy Street'' was an American period medical drama television series created by Lisa Wolfinger and

David Zabel David Breitel Zabel is an American television producer and writer. He has worked extensively on '' ER'', becoming an executive producer and the series' showrunner. He has won a Humanitas Prize for his writing for ''ER''. He was also the showrunn ...

. The series is based on the memoir, ''Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars'', by Mary Phinney von Olnhausen. It is set during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and follows two volunteer nurses from opposing sides who work at the Mansion House Hospital in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

. The first season of six episodes premiered on-demand on January 14, 2016 and made its broadcast debut on January 17, 2016 on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

with 3.3 million viewers. PBS announced in early March 2016 that ''Mercy Street'' had been renewed for a second season which premiered on January 22, 2017. On March 9, 2017, PBS cancelled the series after two seasons.

Cast and characters

McKinley Belcher III McKinley Belcher III (born March 23, 1984) is an American actor, known for his starring role as Samuel Diggs in the PBS television series ''Mercy Street'', Anthony Carter in the Fox genre drama ''The Passage'', and as Agent Trevor Evans in Ne ...

as Samuel Diggs *

Suzanne Bertish Suzanne Bertish (born 7 August 1951, Hammersmith, London) is an English actress. Educated at Woldingham School, Bertish joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in many of its productions, including its marathon eight-and-a-half-ho ...

as Matron Brannan * Norbert Leo Butz as Dr. Byron Hale * L. Scott Caldwell as Belinda Gibson *

Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the ...

as James Green, Sr. *

Jack Falahee John Ryan Falahee (born February 20, 1989) is an American actor and singer. On television, he portrayed Connor Walsh on the ABC legal thriller ''How to Get Away with Murder'' (2014–2020) and Frank Stringfellow on the PBS historical drama ''M ...

as Frank Stringfellow *

Peter Gerety Peter Gerety (born May 17, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known as Judge Daniel Phelan in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008). Career Gerety is a veteran of stage, screen and television. In early 1992, he performed to critical acclaim on Broadway ...

as Dr. Alfred Summers * Shalita Grant as Aurelia Johnson (season 1) * Hannah James as Emma Green * Brad Koed as James Green, Jr. * Luke Macfarlane as Chaplain Henry Hopkins *

Cameron Monaghan Cameron Riley Monaghan (born ) is an American actor and model. He is known for his role as Ian Gallagher on the Showtime comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elem ...

as Tom Fairfax (season 1) *

Donna Murphy Donna Murphy (born March 7, 1959) is an American actress, best known for her work in musical theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical: for her role as Fosca in '' Passion'' (1994–1995 ...

as Jane Green *

Josh Radnor Joshua Thomas Radnor (born July 29, 1974) is an American actor, filmmaker, author, and musician. He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the popular and Emmy Award–winning CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother''. He made his writing and dire ...

as Dr. Jed Foster *

AnnaSophia Robb AnnaSophia Robb (born December 8, 1993) is an American actress, model, and singer. She began as a child actress on television, making her leading debut as the titular role in '' Samantha: An American Girl Holiday'' (2004). She made her feature ...

as Alice Green *

Tara Summers Tara Summers (born 19 December 1979) is an English actress. Summers was educated at Heathfield St Mary's School, in Berkshire. She later attended Brown University, where she graduated with a B.A. in history in 2001. Her grandmother was Fritzi ...

as Anne Hastings *

Wade Williams Wade Andrew Williams (born December 24, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his various character roles, and for a major supporting role as correctional officer Brad Bellick on the Fox television series ''Prison Break'' and Father Cronin ...

as Silas Bullen *

Mary Elizabeth Winstead Mary Elizabeth Winstead (born November 28, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Her first significant role was that of Jessica Bennett on the NBC soap opera ''Passions'' (1999–2000). She went on to appear in series such as ''Tru Calling' ...

as Mary Phinney *

Owen Teague Owen William Teague (born December 8, 1998) is an American actor. He was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, and is known for his roles in ''The Stand'', '' Mrs. Fletcher'', '' Inherit the Viper'', '' To Leslie'', '' Montana Story'', '' Gone in t ...

as Otis * Bryce Pinkham as Major Clayton McBurney *

Patina Miller Patina Renea Miller is an American actress and singer. Miller's breakout role was as originating the role of disco diva wannabe Deloris Van Cartier in the 2009 West End and 2011 Broadway productions of '' Sister Act'' for which she earned a Laur ...

as Charlotte Jenkins (season 2) * Brían F. O'Byrne as

Allan Pinkerton Allan J. Pinkerton (August 25, 1819 – July 1, 1884) was a Scottish cooper, abolitionist, detective, and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the United States and his claim to have foiled a plot in 1861 to a ...

(season 2) * William Mark McCullough as Larkin (season 2) * Brannon Cross as Detective #2 (season 2)

Production

The series was created by Lisa Wolfinger and David Zabel and inspired by memoirs and letters of actual doctors and female nurse volunteers at Mansion House Hospital. The production consulted a number of experts, including

James M. McPherson James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for '' Battle Cry of ...

and Dr. Stanley Burns, for historical and medical accuracy. Dr. Burns' The Burns Archive has a collection of photographs of wounded soldiers and operations, which helped inspire the show. The show was filmed in Richmond and

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

, largely in the

Petersburg Old Town Historic District Petersburg Old Town Historic District is a national historic district located at Petersburg, Virginia. The district includes 174 contributing buildings located in the oldest section of Petersburg. It includes a varied collection of late 18th- th ...

. Between 250–300 extras were employed for each episode, pulled in equal parts from local theater around the Richmond region, and first timers alike.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2017)

Critical reception

The series has received generally positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a score of 61/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 19 critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, it has an approval rating of 75% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10, stating "''Mercy Street's'' intriguing setting and talented cast can't compensate for the overall lack of excitement in a period drama that's traditional to a fault". Mekeisha Madden Toby of ''

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...

'' wrote, "Riveting drama...masterfully made."

References

External links

* * * {{TV Guide, 803470 2010s American drama television series 2016 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings English-language television shows 2010s American medical television series PBS original programming Television series about the American Civil War Television series by Scott Free Productions Television shows set in Virginia Cultural depictions of Allan Pinkerton