Imagine a pairing of House M.D. and Doc Martin and then throw in a small amount of those cool tech effects from the newly revamped Sherlock Holmes series on the BBC, then add some slightly more toned down musical attributes of Scrubs. Monroe? Yeah, that’s about right.

Monroe stars James Nesbitt (Murphy’s Law, Jekyll) as Dr. Gabriel Monroe, a genius in the department of neurosurgery but a bit of a failure in a lot of other area’s. His son has just moved off to college and his wife has just told him that she is leaving him. This is important because how Monroe deals with this sudden turn of events is the theme of the show and can be seen through every character in it. So what does he do? Pretty much nothing.

Despite the fact that there are so many medical dramas on television, and it’s not like Monroe completely escapes the monotony of that idea, the core of the show is extremely subtle and different even though it’s mentioned several times during the season one course. Basically, there is no room for emotion when it comes to being a surgeon. You never let your emotions stand in the way of your ability to see your patients as the disease that’s hurting them rather then get bogged down by sentiment that could end up breaking your concentration and costing the patients their lives. Unfortunately in the world of Monroe there is no on or off switch, especially since the cast of the show seemingly spend all of their time on the clock. A medical drama? Absolutely, but it’s also something else that’s not thrown up against the TV glass and pointed out. That’s what keeps it interesting.

Nesbitt’s Monroe is sarcastic, sometimes flat out rude, but likeable, in that rouge way, that makes you think he’d be a cool guy to hang with but not one you’d want mad at you. Fleshing out the rest of the show is Monroe’s best (and only) friend anesthesiologist Lawrence Shepherd played by Tom Riley (Lost In Austen), Monroe's archrival heart surgeon Jenny Bremner played by Sarah Parish (Hatfield’s & McCoy’s), and Monroe’s wife Anna Monroe played by Susan Lynch (Elizabeth: The Golden Age). The rest of the cast are first years and their bookie. Enjoyable to watch at times but mainly plot devices and not really main characters. All in all though it’s a pretty decent show. We’ll see if it continues on. Until then, enjoy.