Four years after wrapping up the intense hospital drama Under Pressure, Andrucha Waddington and Cláudio Torres are back in the medical trenches, but this time they’re trading operating rooms for sirens, street chaos, and a team of anti-heroes in ambulances.
Their new Globoplay series Emergency 53 just debuted at the Berlinale Series Market, and it sounds like it’s aiming to mash up the adrenaline of Suicide Squad with the grounded urgency of E.R., all set against the combustible backdrop of Rio de Janeiro.
Produced under their Conspiração banner, the show follows doctors, nurses, and drivers working in a special mobile emergency unit. They aren’t confined to hospital walls. They’re out in the city, responding to trauma in real time while juggling their own messy personal lives.
Every call is a race against death, and every episode digs into the pressure cooker that comes with saving lives in a place that feels like it’s constantly on edge.
According to Torres, the idea came straight from Conspiração CEO Renata Brandão. “Renata wanted another medical procedural series, but this time with multiple protagonists,” he explains.
He also points out something kind of wild. “Renata made a great observation: every single country has a medical procedural and yet, there wasn’t one made within the context of Rio de Janeiro.
“Rio is crazy because it mixes war and a very well-organized society. It’s a city in a state of war. Doctors come to do their internship in the public hospital, and they see war-like wounds.”
That tension between order and chaos fuels Emergency 53. But if you’re expecting a direct extension of Under Pressure, think again.
Waddington makes it clear they didn’t want to rinse and repeat. “In ‘Under Pressure,’ we dealt with a couple who were doctors dealing with long arcs as well as episodic arcs dictated by the patients they were seeing. With ‘Emergency 53,’ we have a much more pop-leaning tone, with a mostly young cast that is not contained in a location.”
They really mean it when they say this isn’t just a remix. “We actively subverted everything about ‘Under Pressure,’” he says. “We have multiple protagonists, we are not inside a hospital, and we’re seeing professionals working in a sector of Brazilian public health that actually works.”
Instead of focusing on a single central duo, Emergency 53 plays like an ensemble piece, driven by a younger cast and a punchier rhythm. The storytelling leans into speed, energy, and spectacle while still tackling heavy themes like class inequality and systemic pressure inside Brazil’s healthcare system.
Torres even compares the setup to a comic book team-up. “We kept thinking of this veteran who, after years of dealing with bureaucrats from behind a desk, wants to get back on the streets and enlists a group of renegades for her special unit,” he says.
“It’s a little like ‘Seven Samurai’ or ‘Suicide Squad.’ Our first episode is very much like ‘Suicide Squad.’ Our visual language is also inspired by Marvel and DC Comics. We have a garage that looks straight out of ‘Batman.’”
Torres adds that they leaned hard into flawed heroes. “You know a Marvel story is good when they have a good anti-hero. And we realized we could do that from the moment we saw our characters wearing uniforms. It felt like a comic book in a way, and then the ambulances became out batmobiles.”
That comic book influence extends beyond costumes and vehicles. The team wanted a distinctive visual identity, especially with multiple directors handling episodes. Consistency was crucial, and that started with Waddington and Torres co-directing the premiere.
“We had a large team between creators, directors, producers and cinematographers, so it was very tricky to find a visual standard,” says Waddington. “We decided that Claudio and me would co-direct the first episode, but truly co-direct it.
“We had the other directors and creatives on set, and we felt as if we were inventing a language. It helped that we had a very daring, dynamic script for the first episode, which allowed us to try many different things.”
They didn’t want the show boxed into the usual procedural format either. “The series is very diverse and dynamic. We have an episode with flashbacks, another one entirely at the garage, another one at a lavish party… We wanted to avoid a formula.”
That flexibility seems to have been encouraged by Globoplay itself. “Globoplay really trusted us when we pitched the project,” adds Andrucha. “We were a bit unsure at first but, today, watching all ten episodes, we firmly believe the format.
“Audiences liked to be prodded and we shouldn’t underestimate viewers. With ‘Emergency 53,’ we are broaching major societal issues without repeating ourselves with every episode.”
Torres echoes that sentiment. “Globoplay is a streamer that believes in artistic input. It doesn’t try to control artists, which is really rare. Their notes are smart, their comments are constructive. I think the series found a perfect home.”
Season 1 hasn’t even rolled out yet, and they’re already writing more. “We don’t know what is going to happen, but we feel we still have a lot to say and a lot of places to go with this one,” Waddington says.
If Under Pressure was about survival inside hospital walls, Emergency 53 is about charging straight into chaos with the sirens blaring. Think scrappy anti-heroes, high-stakes rescues, and a city that feels like it could explode at any moment.
