Documentary series spotlights Austin-Travis County medics
Austin-Travis County EMS medics are in the limelight in a new television series featuring overnight first responder shifts.
The new A&E docuseries “Nightwatch Nation” takes viewers into the lives of medics in four cities — Austin, Tucson, Yonkers and New Orleans — as they respond to emergencies.
The show is an iteration of the original “Nightwatch” series, which featured one city at a time.
Executive producer Rasha Drachkovitch said he and his partner, Dick Wolf, who is best known for creating and producing “Law & Order,” expanded the show to “get a blanket coverage of what happens in America.”
Drachkovitch said when searching for filming locations, they looked for cities with high call volume. In 2017, Austin first-responders reported about 146,000 emergency calls, he said.
“Austin ranks up there in terms of activity and memorable calls,” he said, adding that the characters here also were larger than life.
Captain Holly Craghead and paramedic Bob Luddy are two local medics who were cast on the show. Both said they were shocked when they heard they were chosen. Because of their different shifts, Craghead and Luddy have worked together only a handful of times throughout their careers.
When Craghead first met the production crew, she said she pounded them with questions to lay out her expectations.
“One of my biggest fears of them coming in the ambulance was, ‘Is this going to take away from my patient care?’” she said. “If this