Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Noah Wyle, Maura Tierney, Goran Visnjic,
Sherry Springfield, Alex Kingston, Mekhi Phifer,
Parminder Nagra, Linda Cardellini, Ray Liotta
Written by Various, created by Michael Crichton
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £44.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 930 minutes
Directed by Various
It's a special kind of series that can keep interest, and quality, building across 14 years. However ER, the US's longest running medical drama, has achieved just that. Sure, there have been blips — some seasons have been bleaker than a very bleak thing on a bleak beach in December. And a particularly bleak December at that. In the rain. But, generally, ER has been a hugely impressive body of work that's made stars of its cast (and a megastar in the case of George Clooney), attracted the best of Hollywood to help out here and there — Tarantino's directed, the likes of Kirsten Dunst, Ewan McGregor, Forest Whitaker, James Woods, Ray Liotta, Sally Field, Shia LaBeouf and Thandie Newton have made guest / regular appearances — and, best of all, is cutting and running before it jumps the shark: next year, season 15, will be the final one.
Starting with the car crash that lead to the departure of Dr Chen (Ming Na), continuing with the bad-natured departure of series regular Alex Kingston as Dr Corday and ending with the departure of original cast member Dr Carter (Noah Wyle — and whatever happened to him?), Season 11 is probably not one of the greatest series in terms but, as transitions go, it's pretty darn solid. It also features Time of Death, the shot-in-real-time episode that won Ray Liotta an Emmy as Best Guest Actor in a Drama for his role as a dying alcoholic. It's a five star episode in a three star series and could, arguably, be ER's best episode of all time: it's certainly on a par with Mark Greene's emotional finale.
EXTRAS ** A few deleted scenes — under the odd title of 'Outpatients Outtakes' — and that's it. Still, it won't matter a jot to the ER completists and they, presumably, are the key audience?