If March is coming in like a lion wherever you are, why not wait for it to go out like a lamb with some gripping medical movies and series streaming on your laptop or TV? We’ve compiled a bunch of new and recent ones – many you may have missed. It’s never too late for a great flick, so throw some popcorn in the microwave and watch away. (All services are fee-based unless noted otherwise.)
Shutter Island — This taut psychological thriller, based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, is set in an antiquated “insane asylum” on a remote island. A female patient, a vicious murderer, has escaped from a locked room, and US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo di Caprio) investigates. As he becomes ever more deeply involved in the pursuit, he uncovers layer upon layer of mystery…many of them his own personal demons. Netflix, YouTube, Vudu, Google Play Movies & TV, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes
House — Improbable and often outrageous, this long-running drama series confronts and solves a diagnostic mystery in every episode. The irascible, brilliant iconoclast Dr. Jeffrey House (Hugh Laurie) and his intrepid postdoctoral fellows hunt down elusive etiologies — often by breaking into the patient’s own home! — while grappling with their own personal life dramas. This is as entertaining a medical soap opera and mystery as you’ll find, so suspend your disbelief and curl up with a few random episodes. NBC.com (free, but with commercials), Apple TV+ (free), Peacock, YouTube TV, fuboTV
Spellbound — In this classic 1945 Alfred Hitchcock thriller/romance, a brilliant psychoanalyst (Ingrid Bergman) tries to unravel the amnesia of a man (Gregory Peck) who has been accused of murdering the person he now believes himself to be. YouTube (free)
Doctor Blake Mysteries — If you have a soft spot for the Land Down Under, you’ll love this murder mystery series set in a smallish city in Australia in the 1950s. Dr. Blake is a WWII veteran who returns to take over his father’s medical practice and soon finds himself embroiled in mysteries and murders, which he, with the help of his astute housekeeper, solves with aplomb. iTunes, Apple TV+, Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play
Dr. Death — A dramatized true crime story of a sociopathic neurosurgeon whose incompetence, combined with toxic arrogance and malevolent indifference, led to the permanent disability or death of many patients. Two surgeon colleagues and an assistant district attorney work to stop his victimization of defenseless people. This story is as much about the failure of the medical system as a whole as it is about the pathology of one twisted person. Peacock, release date TBA 2021
Awakenings — Based on real-life cases described by the late neuroscientist and author Oliver Sacks, this drama stars Robin Williams as the fictional Sacks character, Sayers. Robert DeNiro plays Leonard, a man who has not moved or spoken in 30 years but is trapped in a body wracked by advanced Parkinson disease. The story of Dr Sayers’ compassion and curiosity as he tries to discover how to help Leonard and other seemingly hopeless patients is both moving and inspiring. Hulu, Sling TV, Starz, Amazon Prime Video, Philo, Vudu
Extreme Measures — Hugh Grant and Gene Hackman star in this hospital thriller about an ER doc whose patient, a homeless man, dies, along with any evidence he ever existed, including the body itself. As the physician tries to find out what happened to the patient, he uncovers troubling evidence that arouses his suspicion. The homeless man’s disappearance is just the tip of an iceberg of cover-ups and malfeasances that put the doctor in extreme physical and professional danger. YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple TV+, Vudu, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes
All Creatures Great and Small — OK, so this series is about veterinary medicine, and it’s not exactly a thriller, but this remake of the beloved old series is sure to warm the cockles of any heart that throbs to well produced, gorgeous British period drama. The characters are familiar, but the characterizations are updated, and the story remains as fresh as a May morning in Yorkshire. Season 1 currently playing on PBS
More of a bookworm? Check out these 6 Must-Reads for the Modern Traveling Nurse. Regardless, this plethora of media will help you make the month fly by!