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Foreign Affairs: No Scrubs

Travelers, hello once more and welcome to the third installment of our journey! Today, we’re exploring another genre that tends to favorite our BLT characters—hospital dramas! Any future grad school students among us? Taking a vacation before starting med school? Well, this next leg of our trip is for you. (JK! It’s for everyone! There is no actual science involved!)

While Los Hombres de Paco is probably the most famous show in Spain to have queer characters, I’d like to mention Hospital Central. Why? Because I suspect it might be Spain’s version of Grey’s Anatomy (though officially, they are described as the Spanish version of ER, but shhhh).

Hospital Central ran for 20 seasons (technically, it aired between 2000 and 2012, but who knows how TV seasons work with soaps—I mean, dramas). The show followed the professional and personal lives of the staff in a hospital in Madrid. It had (at least) one bisexual character (Esther) and two lesbian characters (Macarena and Veronica), all departed way before the show ended, yet all three were part of the show for quite some time.

Macarena (aka Maca, try to fight the urge to start dancing) and Esther were a couple for a long while. Maca is a (wait for it) pediatrician (I told you so? Pfft… ER.) She left her fiancĂ© at the altar and came out publicly which resulted in a lot of family tension and was the reason for her move to Madrid to start over.

Esther is the loveable head nurse at the hospital who has a very close relationship with her mother. Esther always identified as a heterosexual, but guess what? The tables have turned. Big time. These two didn’t get along at the beginning. Slowly but surely, they embarked on a friendship that ended being so much more. We sure do love the ships that start with a bit of a stink eye.

The couple was on the show from Seasons 8 to 11. Expect cheating, and pregnancies, and marriage and a whole lot of drama, thrills (in the words of one, Jessica Capshaw.)

Thanks to this lovely Daily Motion user, you can watch some of the seasons with English subtitles.

Here are the girls, getting a chocolate massage (yep) and then things happen. You might also appreciate this, even with the lack of subtitles, and even though Maca is with Vero here, and not with Esther.

The DVDs for most seasons can be bought here, but sadly, no English subtitles. Start a petition! You’ll find that YouTube has quite the selection if you search “Maca and Esther English subtitles.”

Now that we’ve mastered our teleporting, we can quickly move to our next, somewhat faraway destination.

Shortland Street is New Zealand’s longest running drama/soap. It’s been on the air since 1992 and it’s currently on its 23rd season.

The show, which follows the medical and personal shenanigans at the Shortland Street hospital, had at least eleven queer female characters over the years. These days, we’re only left with the bisexual nurse Nicolle Miller. It gets ever sadder (well, it depends on your perspective) for she is pregnant with her boyfriend’s child.

The show has always been controversial (again, depends on one’s perspective). One of the things that gained criticism was the kiss between Annie and Meredith back in 1994. The two left the show together, so even though the characters aren’t around, that couple got a happy ending. You’ll find that most of the complaints and warnings the show got over the years were either due to LGBT content, or, well, murderous story lines. This is not a joke.

But back to our friend, Nicole (10 points to those who get the reference). The character, who arrived on the show in 2009, was created to be a love interest for Maia’s character (who was a nurse with a very complicated past.)

Nicole and Maia were together for a while, breaking up twice over major events (murder, cheating, the usual) which eventually lead to Maia’s departure from the show. Following Maia’s leave, Nicole eventually dated Lana, Bonnie and Harper. We’re staying tuned to see if she’d decide to leave her best friend and baby daddy Vinnie, and go back to the gay side of the force, where the cookies are.

Here‘s Nicole and Maia’s first kiss. You can get a collection of the favorite episodes from the first 15 years, right here on Amazon.co.uk. And lastly, two hours worth of the Maia/Nicole relationship right here.

Shortland Street airs Mondays through Fridays on TVNZ.

History lovers! Here’s a period piece! And thank you for letting us know about it.

I can assure you this one most definitely has no scrubs.

UK’s Call the Midwife premiered back in 2012. The show is based on a book under the same name, that is a memoir by Jennifer Worth, who was a midwife working in London’s East End during the 1950s and 1960s. The nurses work at a nursing convent called Nonnatus, though their duties often take them out to the community.

The fourth season has just begun, but the show has been so successful that a fifth season was already ordered for 2016.

Season 3 introduced us Nurse Patsy Mount who joined as a series regular. Our Patsy is elegant, energetic and committed, yet somewhat guarded. That can be explained once you learn about her traumatic history, and her sexuality.

Season 4 brought us Nurse Delia Bubsy, with whom Patsy worked in the past. The two are romantically involved.

The story line is brand new, as the photo above is from the January 25 episode. Delia wasn’t seen again in the following episode, but as the season just started, it definitely opens the door for something wonderful. Considering it’s the 1950s, I’m sure it’s not going to be a smooth sail.

You can watch the trailer here, catch the shows Sundays on BBC and guess what? Seasons 1-3 can be purchased/watched on instant video on Amazon!

Now do that thing we do when I tell you to take out your notepads to write down future destinations!

Australia’s Offspring got a webshow “spin-off” called The Nurses. You should care, because among others, it follows the life of Kim Akerholt, the gay nurse. New season of “Offspring” is TBD.

As a fun side note we should mention that Canada’s Saving Hope, a show with two gay characters but thus far no queer female, introduced two lesbian mothers-to-be on their January 21 episode. But wait, that’s not all, for the couple stirred some drama at the hospital. A drama that resulted in a kiss on the mouth between Dr. Sydney Katz, an engaged (to a man) Season 3 newcomer, and series regular Maggie Lin. Sydney is an Orthodox Jew, and Maggie has only dated men so far, and lost a baby in the process.

Oh, wait, did I say they kissed? JK! I totes meant to say they hooked up, even if it’s just implied.

Where is it implied, you ask? Well, right here, of course.

On the following episode there was already awkwardness (and dates with other people-ish) galore. Things are about to get both steamy, and complicated. If you’re in Canada make sure you catch it Wednesday on CTV.

We hope you enjoyed today’s outing! Join us next time and consider bringing the Ghostbusters!

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