What’s your emergency?
The men and women of 9-1-1 face tough, deadly and often bizarre emergency situations.
9-1-1 Season 1 Mondays (from 23 July) M-Net (*101) 20:00
“There is a whole process involved to save someone’s life – you don’t just call the number and everything works,” explains Ryan Murphy of his action series 9-1-1 (2018- current). The executive producer, who’s best known for co- creating horror anthology series American Horror Story, 2011- current), adds that “we’re exploring what goes on behind the scenes of a 9-1-1 call and the people involved and their personal lives. That is the story of 9-1-1”.
The series revolves around often-disconnected first responders, from LA firefighters to paramedics and uniform police, who meet up and have a mini get-together every time someone calls 9-1-1. “They are the core and viewers will see heartache and pain through their eyes,” says Ryan. “We wanted to dig deeper into the characters by show- ing them when they are not working and what emergency situations they deal with in their private lives.”
TEAM S.O.S
Abby Clark (Connie Britton) is the first port of call and the actress explains that “she is the 9-1-1 operator who deals with emergency calls and she orchestrates everything. Her work is her escape from reality – she cares for her mom
Patricia (Mariette Hartley) who has Alzheimer’s and sometimes it’s tough for her.” The first team sent to most calls is the LA Fire Department, led by Captain Bobby Nash (Peter Krause), with Henrietta Wilson (Aisha Hinds),
Howie Han (Kenneth Choi) and rookie Evan Buckley (Oliver Stark) making up his crew. As for the LAPD, no-nonsense Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) is usually the beat cop on duty in the show.
FAMILY MATTERS
While they’re busy saving lives, some of the characters need a helping hand themselves. Former alcoholic Bobby blames himself for losing his family – and not just through divorce or a custody fight: they’re dead. Athena’s husband of 20 years and the father of her teen kids
Michael (Rockmond Dunbar) tells her that he’s gay, and Henrietta’s wife Karen (Tracie Thoms) thinks that Henrietta is cheating with her prisoner ex. Plus, Evan can’t keep it in his pants despite wanting to date Abby, who is wary of being a booty call at best.
THE REAL DEAL
9-1-1 co- creator Brad Falchuk says that the secret to the show’s success is the realness. “Telling stories is so easy, but finding really cool, weird stuff is trickier. We tapped into social media for those. Some of the stories are not just a rescue. They’re not your ‘regular’ emergency calls. It is the kind of thing that you go to YouTube for and can’t get enough of – the really crazy things!”
It’s full- on action from episode 1, which lead actor Peter admits almost had him worried when he read the script. “I am not a fan of snakes and here I’ve got to pull a giant constrictor from a woman’s neck!” While it’s based on a real 9-1-1 call, the snake in the scenes was a fake. “We also had a real one on set and I was told that if she starts squeezing, I should let go immediately, but we used the fake for the fight scene,” says Peter. Episode 2 (30 July) has a rollecoaster stuck upside down, while a bouncing castle is blown away with a man in it in episode 3 (6 August). “We’re desensitised to these things but it’s all real – it happens,” adds Ryan.