Four years after wrapping up the intense hospital drama Under Pressure, Andrucha Waddington and Cl\u00e1udio Torres are back in the medical trenches, but this time they\u2019re trading operating rooms for sirens, street chaos, and a team of anti-heroes in ambulances. <\/p>\n
Their new Globoplay series Emergency 53 just debuted at the Berlinale Series Market, and it sounds like it\u2019s aiming to mash up the adrenaline of Suicide Squad with the grounded urgency of E.R., all set against the combustible backdrop of Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n
Produced under their Conspira\u00e7\u00e3o banner, the show follows doctors, nurses, and drivers working in a special mobile emergency unit. They aren\u2019t confined to hospital walls. They\u2019re out in the city, responding to trauma in real time while juggling their own messy personal lives. <\/p>\n
Every call is a race against death, and every episode digs into the pressure cooker that comes with saving lives in a place that feels like it\u2019s constantly on edge.<\/p>\n
According to Torres, the idea came straight from Conspira\u00e7\u00e3o CEO Renata Brand\u00e3o. \u201cRenata wanted another medical procedural series, but this time with multiple protagonists,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
He also points out something kind of wild. \u201cRenata made a great observation: every single country has a medical procedural and yet, there wasn\u2019t one made within the context of Rio de Janeiro. <\/p>\n
\u201cRio is crazy because it mixes war and a very well-organized society. It\u2019s a city in a state of war. Doctors come to do their internship in the public hospital, and they see war-like wounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
That tension between order and chaos fuels Emergency 53. But if you\u2019re expecting a direct extension of Under Pressure, think again.<\/p>\n
Waddington makes it clear they didn\u2019t want to rinse and repeat. \u201cIn \u2018Under Pressure,\u2019 we dealt with a couple who were doctors dealing with long arcs as well as episodic arcs dictated by the patients they were seeing. With \u2018Emergency 53,\u2019 we have a much more pop-leaning tone, with a mostly young cast that is not contained in a location.\u201d<\/p>\n
They really mean it when they say this isn\u2019t just a remix. \u201cWe actively subverted everything about \u2018Under Pressure,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cWe have multiple protagonists, we are not inside a hospital, and we\u2019re seeing professionals working in a sector of Brazilian public health that actually works.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of focusing on a single central duo, Emergency 53 plays like an ensemble piece, driven by a younger cast and a punchier rhythm. The storytelling leans into speed, energy, and spectacle while still tackling heavy themes like class inequality and systemic pressure inside Brazil\u2019s healthcare system.<\/p>\n
Torres even compares the setup to a comic book team-up. \u201cWe kept thinking of this veteran who, after years of dealing with bureaucrats from behind a desk, wants to get back on the streets and enlists a group of renegades for her special unit,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little like \u2018Seven Samurai\u2019 or \u2018Suicide Squad.\u2019 Our first episode is very much like \u2018Suicide Squad.\u2019 Our visual language is also inspired by Marvel and DC Comics. We have a garage that looks straight out of \u2018Batman.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Torres adds that they leaned hard into flawed heroes. \u201cYou know a Marvel story is good when they have a good anti-hero. And we realized we could do that from the moment we saw our characters wearing uniforms. It felt like a comic book in a way, and then the ambulances became out batmobiles.\u201d<\/p>\n
That comic book influence extends beyond costumes and vehicles. The team wanted a distinctive visual identity, especially with multiple directors handling episodes. Consistency was crucial, and that started with Waddington and Torres co-directing the premiere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a large team between creators, directors, producers and cinematographers, so it was very tricky to find a visual standard,\u201d says Waddington. \u201cWe decided that Claudio and me would co-direct the first episode, but truly co-direct it. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had the other directors and creatives on set, and we felt as if we were inventing a language. It helped that we had a very daring, dynamic script for the first episode, which allowed us to try many different things.\u201d<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t want the show boxed into the usual procedural format either. \u201cThe series is very diverse and dynamic. We have an episode with flashbacks, another one entirely at the garage, another one at a lavish party\u2026 We wanted to avoid a formula.\u201d<\/p>\n
That flexibility seems to have been encouraged by Globoplay itself. \u201cGloboplay really trusted us when we pitched the project,\u201d adds Andrucha. \u201cWe were a bit unsure at first but, today, watching all ten episodes, we firmly believe the format. <\/p>\n
\u201cAudiences liked to be prodded and we shouldn\u2019t underestimate viewers. With \u2018Emergency 53,\u2019 we are broaching major societal issues without repeating ourselves with every episode.\u201d<\/p>\n
Torres echoes that sentiment. \u201cGloboplay is a streamer that believes in artistic input. It doesn\u2019t try to control artists, which is really rare. Their notes are smart, their comments are constructive. I think the series found a perfect home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Season 1 hasn\u2019t even rolled out yet, and they\u2019re already writing more. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what is going to happen, but we feel we still have a lot to say and a lot of places to go with this one,\u201d Waddington says.<\/p>\n
If Under Pressure was about survival inside hospital walls, Emergency 53 is about charging straight into chaos with the sirens blaring. Think scrappy anti-heroes, high-stakes rescues, and a city that feels like it could explode at any moment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four years after wrapping up the intense hospital drama Under Pressure, Andrucha Waddington and Cl\u00e1udio Torres are back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-492179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}