Just finished up the latest series of The Pitt? Once you’ve managed to calm your fraying nerves, we have five TV shows like The Pitt that we can recommend you watch next!
Whether you’re looking for a new TV recommendation, what to read next, or what to line-up next in your podcast queue, we’ve got you covered, with our new entertainment series, ‘So You’re a Fan Of’. We’ll be working our way through new or popular TV shows, movies, books/authors and podcasts and will then match-make you with other suggestions for you to try!
If you’ve just finished season two of The Pitt, you’ve come to the right place (and if not, don’t worry, we won’t give away any spoilers here!). Go ahead and get yourself an RSA pour of wine and imagine we’re wrapping you up in a great big hug. Because, if you’re anything like us, your nerves are now very frayed. After every episode, as the credits roll, I become aware of the fact that every one of my muscles appears to be clenched – particularly the ones in my jaw and neck? This show is fantastic, but also, bloody stressful.
But we’ve done it, we’ve survived another shift of The Pitt (yes, I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that EVERYTHING we’ve been through in the last 15 episodes was just one day on the job for the team at the Pittsburg Trauma Medical Centre).
But now, if you’re wondering just what the heck to do with yourself and what to watch now that this season has finished, don’t worry, we’ve got all the new TV recs you need.
And, some further good news – the show is most definitely coming back to our screens. If you don’t want the spoilers, skip ahead now. Otherwise, here’s what we know about season 3:
- Timing: The show is heading back to our screens again with the same timing – it should be with us in early January next year. And this time, we’re only jumping a short gap into the future. Last time there was 10 months between season one and two, but this time the next series will be set in winter, which means the jump will only be about four months. Did Robbie do his trip?!
- The cast: One thing we do know is that Robbie appears to survive the trip because he is returning for the new season. Sadly, Dr Mohan won’t be (the show creator says she hasn’t left the hospital, “she’s just not working that day”), but the rest of the core cast is returning. Season 3 will also see senior night shift resident Dr Parker Ellis being promoted to series regular, having switched the night shift for the day shift.
Okay, spoilers over! If you’re keen to watch another show that’s like The Pitt, here are your five best bets:
ER
Well, d’uh, this has to be your starting point if you haven’t already seen it (or are maybe even up for a rewatch!). This is where it all began. Although yes, no doubt legally the company line is that this show is nothing like ER, it apparently unofficially did start off as a spinoff (Michael Crichton’s estate – the brains behind ER filed a lawsuit in 2024 arguing that it most definitely is a spinoff, considering they used the same creative team, including R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells, from ER).
Whatever the case may be, this is where we met and fell in love with Noah Wyle and came to know him – and believe in him – as a TV doctor. The show was very different to The Pitt – it didn’t just the same real-time narrative or realism, and focused more on the lives of the staff of the County General Hospital in Chicago, both on and outside of the job.
The cast was phenomenal – as I’m writing this I’ve already convinced myself to start back from the beginning. We’re talking GEORGE CLOONEY, Anthony Edwards, Juliana Marguiles, Laura Innes, Eriq La Salle, Maura Tierney, Paul McCrane, Linda Cardellini, Alex Kingtson, Goran Visnjic, Shane West, Mariska Hargitay and SO many more.
This was 90s TV at its absolute best. And, while there isn’t mention of ER for obvious reasons, there are plenty of actors who were in both shows – mostly fab actors who were guest stars on ER and now have major roles on The Pitt, like Katherine LaNasa (who plays Dana on The Pitt) and Shawn Hatosy (Dr Jack Abbot). There’s also a doctor link, with Mary McCormack playing a neurosurgeon in a couple of episodes in season 2, who appeared in two seasons of ER as a clinic physician. Besides those links, if you’ve watched ER you’ll likely find yourself on edge whenever the doctors are called to the helicopter pad on the roof…
Where to watch it: Okay, this bit is a little confusing because it was announced in February that Netflix would be screening all seasons of ER (all FIFTEEN of them), but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case just yet! We’ll keep you posted, but in the meantime, someone must have the DVD box set!?!?
Lenox Hill
If it was the realistic (sometimes, too realistic?!) element of The Pitt that had you hooked, this show should be your next watch. It’s a nine-episode documentary following four doctors at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital.
Lenox Hill primarily follows the lives of four medical professionals at the hospital who work in the areas of neurosurgery, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology. It’s fast-paced, eyeopening and so very moving. You’ll likely be clenching every muscle, or holding your breath during this one too – particularly knowing that real lives are hanging in the balance.
Where to watch it: Netflix
Diary of a Junior Doctor
If you like that idea of a documentary series set in a hospital, there’s also a brilliant version of it, set here at home.
Diary of a Junior Doctor is a five-part series, based at Auckland’s busiest hospital, Middlemore.
It follows five junior doctors inside and outside of the hospital – giving us a real insight into what it really takes to be a doctor, the massive hours they pull, the decisions they’re faced with and the sacrifices they make. It’s fascinating, stressful, heartbreaking and heartwarming – often, all within the same scene.
I had a chat with one of the junior doctors, Keriana Kingi-Nepe (Te Aitanga-a-HauitiNgati Porou, Hauraki Waikato,Ngāti Kahungunu) who was 31 years old when the show was filmed and was in her 6th year as junior doctor. At home, she had two young boys, whom she and her husband had moved up to Auckland, from their little East Coast hometown, sunny Tolaga Bay. If you want to read that chat, head here!
Where to watch it: TVNZ+
24
If one of the things you loved about the show most was its format – the way all the action happened in real-time, with each episode covering one hour of the high-stress 15-hour shift, then 24 may be the show for you.
It’s a completely different show, far removed from the medical world, but it follows that same real-time format. It’s an older show, having debuted in 2001, but it is riveting.
24 stars Kiefer Sutherland who plays Jack Bauer, an agent initially with the Counter Terrorist Unit LA, whose mandate is to protect the United States from terrorist plots. That real-time format really adds to the anxiety in this show, when the clock is counting down to an imminent attack – one that Jack is tasked with stopping.
Each series has, yes, 24 episodes, with each series named Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 etc (in the end it went for 8 days, then came back in 2014 for a bonus series, 24: Live Another Day. Each episode is named after the hour it covers, each starting 12:00am – 1:00am.
Watch it on: Prime Video and Disney+
House
If what you loved about The Pitt was working out what was wrong with each patient who came into the ER, then House may be the show for you. I’m embarrassed to say that by the end of The Pitt I began shouting out diagnoses as patients were announced or wheeled in “it’s preeclampsia! Maybe even HELLP” then leaning over for a high-five from my husband if I got it right. I had to keep reminding myself that I’m not at all a doctor, and that yes, while maybe a diagnosis can be randomly guessed I have no clue how to actually help anyone – although, on The Pitt fentanyl seemed to be the answer to everything?
If, like me, you quite enjoy the medical mystery side of the show, House is right up your alley. It follows Dr Gregory House, who is played by the incredible Hugh Laurie who leads a team of diagnosticians at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. He holds this role, despite the fact his approach is highly unconventional, misanthropic, cynical – and he has a dependence on pain medication.
Each episode he clashes with his fellow physicians – mostly over his hypotheses about patients’ illnesses (often ones he forms on subtle or controversial insights).
Watch it on: Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+