JEDDAH, 30 July 2007 — In Riyadh’s Care Hospital a group of Saudis in their 20s are shooting scenes for “37 Centigrade”, a sitcom about a daily grind of a group of hospital interns, all men, and their supervising resident doctor.
Despite the similarity to another popular US series about a group of hospital staffers, 24-year-old director Samir Aaref says he came up with the idea over a year ago based on his personal experiences.
“We are not imitating ‘Scrubs’,” said Aaref. “All my close friends and my elder brother are physicians. I’m the only one in the group who is not a doctor. And when we sit together they talk about their work and studies, and I thought that stuff would make great comedy material.”
Unlike “Tash ma Tash,” Saudi Arabia’s most popular entertainment export that’s syndicated in much of the Arab world, “37 Centigrade” (the name is based on the temperature of the human body) won’t rely heavily on caricatures and poking fun at regional accents or overweight people, says Aaref.
Another unusual aspect of the series is that it may be the first time a Saudi series will take place wholly in a workplace environment without much ado about family.
“We promise Saudis that they will see something new. I cannot say it’s better but I can say for sure it’s new,” said Aaref. “We’re showing different types of students: The lazybones, the nerd, the conservative, the liberal, the Najdi, the Jeddawi. It’s a mix from real life.”
Aaref said that because the series is being filmed in a real hospital, the crew has received plenty of offers from the real hospital staff to work as extras.
Though the sitcom is focusing on the life of male interns, Aaref says two episodes will feature actresses prominently. One of the episodes mocks the alleged privileges female interns have over their male counterparts; in the other the interns’ supervisor is temporarily replaced with a woman doctor.
“We where hoping that that (Saudi film director) Haifa Al-Mansour would act that part but unfortunately she is abroad now and we’re still searching for a woman to fit that role,” said Aaref.
The show’s producers are aiming to have the 20 episodes in the can and ready to air during Ramadan, which is when most new seasons are introduced, most probably on Saudi One.
The show stars Naif Faiz, Badr Al-Luhaid, Mohammad Al-Ghamdi, Nawaf Al-Muhanna, Abdullah Al-Ahmad and Ahmad Al-Duwaihi.
