The Characters
As a Renal Resident at City West Public, Frankie is whip-smart, determined and fiercely protective of her secret: not only is she a transplant doctor, but a transplant patient too – a fact that, if discovered, she fears could destroy her career.
Claire van der Boom
Claire van der Boom is an award winning Australian actor who graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2005.
Early television roles include the series Love My Way and East West 101; the role of Stella in the Stephen Spielberg/Tom Hanks mini-series The Pacific, The Man Who Got Away for Screentime, and City Homicide for the Seven Network. Other roles include a series regular role in the television drama Rush, for which Claire was nominated in 2009 for a Silver Logie as Most Outstanding Actress; and the leading role of Sister Berenice, in ABC’s telemovie Sisters of War, for which Claire won the Most Outstanding Actress 2010 Silver Logie.
In the US Claire has had numerous television roles, including the recurring role of British character Rachel in the CBS series Hawaii Five-O, opposite Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan; Shirley in Masters of Sex for SHOWTIME; and the guest role of Anne Marie Flynn in Constantine for NBC. Most recently, Claire was seen as Marina, a series regular in NBC’s Game of Silence, created by David Hudgins.
In film, Claire has worked both locally and in the US. In Australia, Claire has played leading roles in Nash Edgerton’s The Square; Red Hill; Love Is Now and Broke. In the US, highlights include Richard Loncraine’s Five Flights Up with Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton; a supporting role in Michel Franco’s Chronic opposite Tim Roth; and the lead role of Alison in the feature film Battlecreek, directed by Alison Eastwood.
In theatre, Claire made her Off-Broadway debut in 2012 as Karen in the new David Rabe play An Early History of Fire for the New Group in New York. Later in 2012 Claire stepped in to take over a lead role in Sam Shepard’s new play Heartless for the Signature Theatre. Claire returned to the stage in 2015 in The Trouble We Come From opposite Scott Caan for Falcon Theatre, CA, and again in 2016 in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Double Indemnity, directed by Sam Strong.
Doctor Frankie Bell
Lou is a talented surgeon, but will her emotional vulnerability allow her to break into the cutthroat boy’s club of surgery? An affair with her boss may put everything she’s struggled for at risk.
Andrea Demetriades
Since graduating from NIDA in 2006, Andrea, originally from Western Australia, has worked consistently in film, television and theatre.
Feature films include the title female role in Alex & Eve (directed by Peter Andrikidis), as well as roles in Around the Block (directed by Sarah Spillane) and Nerve (directed by Sebastien Guy). Television includes a leading role in Seven Types of Ambiguity recently for the ABC, Janet King (Series 1, 2 & 3), and Crownies also for the ABC, The Principal (SBS), and guest roles in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (ABC), Mr & Mrs Murder (Network 10), Think Tank and All Saints (Seven Network). Andrea also had a recurring role in the web series Fragments of Friday and has appeared in the Presto series Talk About. Andrea has worked in theatre across the country including leading roles in Antigone for Sport for Jove; Arcadia, Arms and the Man, Perplex and Pygmalion for Sydney Theatre Co; The Dog/The Cat, The Book of Everything, Oedipus Rex for Belvoir Theatre; A Beautiful Life for Riverside; Intimate Letters, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, Pericles for Bell Shakespeare Co; Helly’s Magic Cup for the State Theatre Company of South Australia and Winter for the Griffin Theatre Company.
Andrea received the Best Female Actor in a Leading Role in an Independent Production at the recent 2016 Sydney Theatre Awards for her role in Antigone; in 2016, and was a recipient for the Equity Ensemble Award for Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in the television series The Principal. She also received a nomination for the Inaugural 2016 Casting Guild of Australia Sirius Best Actress Award: Rising Star, as well as a nomination for the 2016 GLUGS Theatre Awards for Best Actress (Sydney Theatre Company/Arms and the Man); a 2014 Equity Ensemble nomination for Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Television Drama Series (ABC/Janet King), a 2012 Equity Ensemble Nomination for Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a television drama series (ABC/Crownies), a 2010 Green Room Theatre nomination for Best Actress (Bell Shakespeare Company/Twelfth Night); and the 2009 Green Room Theatre nomination for Best Actress (Bell Shakespeare/Pericles).
Doctor Lou Tannis
Head of Renal and Frankie’s mentor, Berger is the keeper of her secret and her rock. From a Welsh steelworker family, he is a larger than life, maverick physician who doesn’t always play by the rules when it comes to looking after his patients.
Owen Teale
One of Britain’s leading award-winning theatre actors, Owen Teale is best known on screen for his recurring role of Alliser Thorne in HBO’s epic fantasy series Game of Thrones.
With an outstanding career spanning more than 25 years, his more recent screen credits also include Houdini & Doyle, Ripper Street, River, the television movie Under Milk Wood, Stella and Line of Duty, as well as appearances in Silk and Torchwood. His earlier credits include the role of Dr Freisler in the multi-award-winning Conspiracy for HBO, John O’Brien in Catherine Cookson’s The Fifteen Streets, Conor Devlin in Ballykissangel, Fluellen in Henry V – as part of The Hollow Crown, Ham Peggotty in David Copperfield as well as a guest appearance in Doctor Who.
His feature film credits include the character of Lopahkin in The Cherry Orchard, The Last Legion, King Arthur and Marco Polo. Owen portrayed Will Scarlett in Robin Hood (1991) and The Unknown Soldier in Derek Jarman’s War Requiem. He will next be seen in the upcoming Nocturne.
Nominated for a 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for his performance of Torvald in A Doll’s House in London’s West End, Owen received the coveted 1997 Tony Award – Best Featured Actor in a Play for the same role on Broadway.
His other theatre credits include Creditors at the Donmar Warehouse and BAM (directed by the late Alan Rickman), Kurt in The Dance of Death with Sir Ian McKellen which played in the Sydney Festival of 2004, the title role in Macbeth, Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice, Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar, Hotspur in Henry IV, and Edmund in King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company – through to the more recent Under Milk Wood, The Broken Heart, Gaslight and the role of Briggs in the recent production of No Man’s Land with Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart which won Best Revival at this year’s Evening Standard Awards.
Professor Chad Berger
Recently returned from a warzone, Eli is now the cardio registrar at City West, and is plagued by a traumatic loss in his past. Quiet, guarded and prickly-edged, he is an excellent doctor and shares an undeniable chemistry with Frankie.
Liam McIntyre
Liam McIntyre is best known for playing the lead role of Spartacus in the Starz television series Spartacus: Vengeance and Spartacus: War of the Damned.
Liam has recently filmed The Haunted, a supernatural horror for the Syfy Network. Prior to that he appeared in US series The Flash for the CW Network and starred opposite Rebecca Gibney in the Seven Network drama, The Killing Field.
Other television credits also include the award-winning HBO mini-series The Pacific and guest roles in the New Zealand comedy series Auckland Daze, Network Ten’s Rush and the US comedy series Con Man.
In 2014, Liam made his feature film debut in The Legend of Hercules. He has since appeared in a number of features including The Dream Children, Apple of My Eye with Burt Reynolds and Albion: The Enchanted Stallion, with John Cleese and Jennifer Morrison.
Liam played the lead role in Microsoft Studios best-selling video game Gears of War 4 which was released in 2016 to critical acclaim.
Doctor Eli Nader
Tabb is an intern and new to the hospital. Beneath the quick wit and a sense of humour that puts everyone at ease, he doubts his abilities to be a doctor. Why shouldn’t he, when he finds himself at the centre of every disaster?
Arka Das
Arka found his professional way into acting when he entered the regional Youth Shakespeare Festival in high school and in the following year won first place in the duologue category. Throughout university he appeared in various plays, culminating in References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot at The Griffin Theatre directed by Anthony Skuse to much critical acclaim.
He made his debut with the Ensemble Theatre in Animals Out of Paper, for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Sydney Theatre. He returned to the Ensemble for Casanova, then appeared in Beached at the Griffin Theatre alongside a star-studded cast.
Arka then starred as Farid in the AACTA winning ABC series The Code and has since moved into working on feature films. Most notably he starred in the co-lead role of TK in the Australian feature film unINDIAN – a selection at the Montreal World Film Festival and released in cinemas in Australia, India and the Middle East. He recently worked on See-Saw Films and Weinstein Co.’s feature Lion, alongside Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman.
Other credits include roles in Australian feature films, Down Under by Abe Forsythe and a screen adaptation of Helen Garner’s bestseller – Joe Cinque’s Consolation directed by Sotiris Dounoukos. Arka will also appear in season two of award-winning series Top of the Lake directed by Academy Award winner Jane Campion.
Arka has also been writing and directing, with web-series content, documentaries, and short films under his belt and is hoping to continue creating more exciting and diverse content for TV and film in the future.
Doctor Tabb Patel
Pressured by her family, Tanya is an ambitious Renal registrar who sees Frankie as her main competitor and will do anything to get ahead.
Pallavi Sharda
Pallavi Sharda is an Australian Indian film and theatre actress and one of Bollywood’s leading ladies. She most recently appeared in the 2016 Oscar nominated film Lion opposite Dev Patel and Rooney Mara and stars in acclaimed Indian director Srijit Mukherji’s feature Begum Jaan.
Pallavi graduated with honours in Law, Media and Communications and French at the University of Melbourne before moving to Mumbai in 2010 to pursue a Bollywood career. Her breakthrough role came in the 2013 Bollywood film Besharam, in which she starred opposite Ranbir Kapoor. She followed this with a critically acclaimed performance in Vibhu Puri’s feature Hawaizaada. Her other Bollywood credits include Dus Tola, Love Breakups Zindagi and My Name Is Khan.
Pallavi made her Australian film debut playing the female lead in Australian cricketing comedy Save Your Legs alongside Stephen Curry, Brendan Cowell and David Lyons. She also appeared in Anupam Sharma’s Australian feature unINDIAN, with cricketer Brett Lee.
Pallavi has appeared as a panelist on the popular ABC series Q&A and joined SONY ESPN’s team as their new face for the Indian Premier League in 2016. An advocate for the promotion of India-Australia relations and strengthening intercultural links between the two countries, Pallavi works extensively with NGOs in India to promote the empowerment of women. Recently the keynote speaker at the Asia Education Foundation’s National Conference in Sydney, Pallavi is also on the board of advisors for E-Kutir, a socially focused enterprise based out of Odissa. Pallavi was an ambassador for ‘OZ FEST’ in 2012-2013, Australia’s largest cultural festival in India, and in 2015 she was named Queen of ‘Moomba’, Melbourne’s iconic cultural festival, alongside cricket’s ‘Spin King’ Shane Warne.
Doctor Tanya Kalchuri
Charming and charismatic, Mitri is a surgical god who takes what he wants, enjoys the benefits of his status, and can do no wrong. But his hubris may land him in hot water when a careless mistake causes a patient’s death.
Blessing Mokgohloa
Blessing Mokgohloa is fast establishing himself as one of Australia’s most exciting actors, garnering critical acclaim on both screen and stage.
In 2012 Blessing received a Best Male Performer in Theatre nomination at the Green Room Awards for his work in Paul Sirett’s Bad Blood Blues. The production also picked up nominations for Best Female Performer, Best Direction and Best Production.
On screen, Blessing’s international breakthrough role came in 2013 on the US hit series Spartacus: War of the Damned. His magnetic portrayal of Castus the Cilician gained him legions of fans worldwide. Most recently Blessing was part of the first season of Syfy Channel’s Hunters series.
In Australia Blessing played the ever-wise and lovable Jojo in Moonman, one of the six programs commissioned as part of ABC’s Comedy Showroom in 2016. His other local credits include Newton’s Law, Time of Our Lives, Neighbours and the recently released feature film Ali’s Wedding.
Doctor Rowan Mitri
Hard-arsed and sharp shooting, Cutter has sacrificed everything in her life to carve a path through the surgical world. Now an excellent – and infamous – surgeon, she suffers no fools and respects only those with guts.
Susie Porter
Susie Porter has built a reputation as one of Australia’s most outstanding actors.
Her remarkable list of credits includes feature films Summer Coda, Bootmen, Better Than Sex, Mullet, Paradise Road, Idiot Box, Two Hands, Feeling Sexy, The Monkey’s Mask, Teesh and Trude, the award-winning Little Fish and The Caterpillar Wish.
She was recently seen in The Turning: On Her Knees, one of a collection of short stories by Tim Winton and coming-of-age drama Is This the Real World. On the small screen, Susie recently starred in ABC’s Seven Types of Ambiguity; played the lead role in East West 101 (Series 1, 2 & 3), East of Everything, RAN, My Place, Love My Way, The Secret Life of Us, The Jesters (Series 1 & 2), Sisters of War and Underbelly: Squizzy.
Other recent television appearances include Network Ten’s bikie drama Brothers in Arms, the family series Puberty Blues (Series 1 & 2), the comedy Problems and It’s a Date (Series 2) and the telemovie Dangerous Remedy.
Her most recent theatre credits include the critically acclaimed Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and That Face. Susie’s upcoming work includes the just released Hounds of Love, Don’t Tell and Cargo.
Susie has been widely acknowledged by her peers and the public with multiple AFI’s, IF Awards, Logie Awards and AACTA and FCCA nominations for her work.
Doctor Maggie Cutter
A bastion of tradition, Steele is Head of Medicine at City West – the big boss! Once passionate about patients, he now finds himself bound by the endless administrative red tape.
Dalip Sondhi
Dalip is of Indian origin, and grew up in London. He began his working life as a UK Metropolitan Police Officer spending time with the Crime Squad during the turbulent 1980s. He left the police to train as an actor and director. He has a Masters in Performance Studies from London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, a Post Grad in Theatre Education from the University of London, and a BA (Hons) Acting from Middlesex University and Montclair State College (New York).
During the early 90s Dalip toured extensively with Caught in the Act and Soapbox theatre companies in the UK as well as performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. In 1994 he began directing and training actors, theatre makers and educators. Over the past 20 years Dalip has held senior positions and led staff teams at the UK’s Hertfordshire University, Rose Bruford College and Australia’s Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts – WAAPA. He completed his career as an Associate Professor in 2013 to entirely focus and return to his work as an actor.
Dalip recently worked alongside Timothy Spall in the Australian feature Sucker, played the lead in Absolution (Official selection Vancouver, Pasadena, Kansas) and in India, worked with Shraddha Kapoor in the upcoming Half Girlfriend and Vipin Sharma in the soon to be released Goan film Baarish.
Dalip is also co-producing a feature film with one of Australia’s leading producers, Robyn Kershaw in collaboration with India’s acclaimed Nandita Das and Australia’s Dot West.
Doctor Rupert Steele
As Head Nurse of the hospital, Carol is like a drill sergeant, bellowing orders to her nurses, but always there to help when the going gets tough. She’s hard to impress, but loyal to those she respects.
Penny Cook
Penny Cook is a graduate of NIDA. She is perhaps best known for her television work, particularly as Vicky the vet in A Country Practice and Elly Fielding in E Street.
Other television acting credits include The Restless Years, The Flying Doctors, GP, Young Lions, All Saints, Dance Academy, Neighbours and Rake.
Penny has been involved in nearly 40 stage productions including Hating Alison Ashley, The Heidi Chronicles, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Macbeth, Away, An Ideal Husband, Ladies in Lavender, Footloose, and Oklahoma.
She was a presenter on the travel show The Great Outdoors, guest host on Tonight Live with Steve Vizard in the 90s, and is now often found MC-ing conferences and charity events.
Penny is an originating and life member of Griffin Theatre Company, and has been an Australia Day Ambassador for over 20 years.
Penny is extremely proud to be Chair of Monkey Baa Theatre Company www.monkeybaa.com.au.
NUM Carol Little
A burnt out surgical trainee turned Anaesthetist.
Renee Lim
Originally from Perth, Renee Lim now balances two careers: medicine, and in particular, health and emergency services, where she continues to work regularly, and performance, which has seen Renee develop a fine career in film, theatre and television, both as an actor and a presenter.
Renee’s numerous presenting roles include being the lead presenter on the television series Food Investigators and a co-presenter on Destination Flavour, both for SBS. Renee can currently be seen co-presenting on ABC’s Ask the Doctor.
Renee had a regular role on gritty crime drama East West 101 and a recurring role on ABC’s courtroom drama Crownies. Other past television credits include roles on Channel Seven’s Packed to the Rafters and All Saints. More recently, Renee has appeared in all four seasons of Please Like Me, as well as the SBS mini-series Deep Water, Seven’s The Secret Daughter, and Wonderland for Ten. She also voiced a prominent character in the NITV animated series Little J and Big Cuz and appeared in the webseries The Weekend Shift for SBS, and The Newtown Girls and Atomic Kingdom.
Renee’s film credits include The Salt Maiden, Dead Moon Circus, The Last One, Ad Nauseum, The Tunnel, First Date, The Suitor, Triple Happiness and Fallen.
Onstage, Renee played the lead in the Bakehouse Theatre/Stage Directions production of His Mother’s Voice at ATYP, and also starred in their production of Coup D’Etat. Other theatre credits include the one-woman show It’s Ok to Ask, We’ll Always Have Wagga, Lovepuke, The Bridesmaid Must Die, Back to the 80s, Someday Suddenly, 4 Faces of Love and Bare Boards Brave Hearts.