St. Elsewhere is remembered as a formative medical drama whose gritty, serialised storytelling helped shape later series including ER, Grey’s Anatomy and The Pitt. Although it was never a major ratings hit, its focus on imperfect clinicians, complicated personal lives and patients who could not always be saved made it unusually influential.

The NBC drama ran for six seasons from 1982 to 1988, following staff and patients at a struggling Boston hospital. It won 13 Emmys, including six in 1986, and helped launch or advance the careers of Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, David Morse and Howie Mandel. Its 1988 finale became especially famous for implying that the show’s events existed in the imagination of an autistic child, Tommy Westphall.