NRK’s Record-Breaking ‘Still Breathing’ Is Deadline’s Global Breakout

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So, we’re going to do the hard work for you.

It would be wrong to ever suggest that medical dramas are out of vogue, but with The Pitt winning Emmys and The Best Medicine demanding big audiences, the genre is having yet another moment. This week, we introduce one of the hottest new medical series out of Europe in the shape of Norway‘s Still Breathing. Featuring a group of ambitious interns in a high-pressure public hospital, Still Breathing’s debut this month was NRK‘s biggest-ever opening for a drama outside of the pubcaster’s fruitful festival season shows.

Name: Still Breathing
Country: Norway
Producers: Rubicon TV
Distributor: DR Sales
Network: NRK
For fans of: The Pitt, Grey’s Anatomy

We all know the set-up: an overstretched hospital, young workers at breaking point and staff wading through never-ending bureaucracy. Many medical dramas of the modern era broadly follow a similar pattern, but what sets Still Breathing, Norway’s latest entry into the canon, apart is the way in which it makes grand statements about the need to protect the institution of the public hospital through stories that relate to all audiences.

“We look for shows that can gather those large experiences in society, broad with youth appeal,” says Marianne Furevold, Head of Drama at Norwegian pubcaster NRK. “Our compass when we go into projects is that they will be entertaining but also strengthen and develop democracy – stories that come up with new perspectives and create conversations. Hospital drama is perfect for that. It is literally life and death.”

Titled LIS in Norway, Still Breathing follows 26-year-old Petra (Elpida Stojcevska), an idealistic medical intern at a struggling mid-sized Norwegian hospital, working alongside fellow newbies Joakim (Deniz Kaya), Samuel (Taume Dery), and Kissy (Sofia Tjelta Sydness) as they face gruelling long days, complex medical cases and a never-ending stream of patients – resulting in moral dilemmas. Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Cathrine Frost Andersen, Hannah Haslie, Thomas Gullestad, Andreas Stoltenberg Granerud, Henrik Rafaelsen and Kenneth Homstad also star.

“We started writing this about three years ago, driven by a growing awareness of the pressure points within the public healthcare system,” says Karianne Lund, the show’s co-creator. “The intention was to create a believable hospital drama set in present-day Norway – a drama that would feel familiar to anyone who has spent time in a hospital, whether as a relative, a patient, or an employee.

“I also found it particularly interesting to tell the story from the perspective of a junior doctor. From their very first day, they carry responsibility for people’s lives and health, and making mistakes can have fatal consequences. They stand at the threshold between theory and responsibility, and through them, the drama explores how ideals are tested, reshaped, or sometimes broken.”

Occupied writer Lund and producer Nicolai Moland are the co-creators and co-writers, with Banijay Nordic-owned Rubicon TV the production house and DR Sales shopping internationally. While NRK is the lead commissioner, the show has backing from various public broadcasters through the New8 European commissioning club, meaning ZDF (Germany), NPO (Netherlands), VRT (Belgium), SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark), YLE (Finland) and RÚV (Iceland) are attached through acquisitions. The Norwegian Film Institute and Nordisk Film & TV Fond have also provided support, and backing came from the Banijay Scripted Fund.

“The Banijay Scripted Fund was truly instrumental in the early phase of development,” says Ivar Køhn, CEO and exec producer at Rubicon, which is know for shows such as Beforeigners. “Launching a new show, especially one set within a highly-specialized professional environment like a hospital, requires extensive research and groundwork, with consultation and time needed to build authenticity. The fund allowed us to properly invest in that process.”

Still Breathing debuted on NRK on April 11 with top ratings. With 428,000 watching (231,000 on streamer NRK TV and 197,000 on the Sunday afternoon linear debut on NRK1), episode one of the eight-parter was the most-watched opening for a drama on the Norwegian network outside of its ever-popular Christmas calendar shows, breaking a record previously held by 2023’s The Power Play, which took 197,000.

The performance justified the initial two-season order that Furevold greenlit. “It’s always a bit risky going two seasons because you don’t know how it is going to be embraced, but it felt like a show that would fulfil our strategic needs and be very good drama,” she says. “The people behind it are very talented and reliable, and it felt great when we launched it. The show has been so very well received by the audience and created the conversations in society that we wanted.”

In a competitive market, where streamers continue to invest in originals, commercial networks are strong and imports rate well, the result was satisfying for NRK. “I felt very confident we had a great show, but there is a lot of competition from other types of content and life itself, and in general the last couple of years the audience’s modus when it comes to watching is so different,” says Furevold. “It was amazing to see.”

Production on Season 2 has wrapped ahead of fall launch and Rubicon’s Køhn adds that discussions for a third season are already underway. “The reception in Norway has been incredibly positive, which has been very encouraging for everyone involved,” he says. “It’s no wonder Banijay is looking at selling the format internationally.

“There’s a clear trend in drama to frame stories toward a recognizable, almost documentary-like reality. Audiences respond to characters who exist in systems they understand, like healthcare, justice, education, because those systems shape everyday life,” adds Køhn. “These shows invite discussion beyond the screen, sparking conversations at workplaces and around dinner tables. For a public service broadcaster like NRK, social relevance is not an add-on; it’s a core objective.”

‘The Pitt’ effect

In television, there are three core procedural precincts that occur time and time again: Police, legal and medical. Even so, The Pitt‘s 2025 Emmy win for Outstanding Drama Series was a shot in the arm for the hospital genre, highlighting how audiences could respond to gritty storytelling focused on characters working in brutal, relentless circumstances. On the lighter end of the spectrum from the Noah Wyle-starring HBO drama, Fox’s Best Medicine has rated strongly, while the well-received return of Scrubs on ABC has shown there is still space for humor. Grey’s Anatomy, meanwhile, goes from strength to strength.

Lund didn’t want to copy what was out there but was given a vote of confidence by the success of shows like The Pitt.

She adds: “We had already begun developing our idea when The Pitt came along, and although it is very different from our series, it felt like confirmation that these are still stories audiences are interested in – and that striving for realism is not something that scares viewers.”