Getting On is an American television comedy based on the BBC television series produced by Vera Productions and created by Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine, which is set in a geriatric extended care wing of a down-at-the-heels hospital and follows put-upon nurses, anxious doctors and administrators as they struggle with the darkly comic, brutally honest and quietly compassionate realities of caring for the elderly.
At the Billy Barnes Extended Care Unit of Mt. Palms Hospital in Long Beach, California, the staff attends to the needs of female patients who are often "getting on" in years, while dealing with the challenges of a health-care bureaucracy in need of an overhaul.
Even as they attempt to serve their charges under less-than-ideal circumstances, the lives of this ragtag crew are complicated by conflicting agendas, both professional and personal.
Based on the BBC series of the same name, Getting On is created for American television by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer (co-creators of the acclaimed HBO series Big Love), the show follows the daily lives of overworked nurses and doctors as they struggle with the darkly comic realities of tending compassionately to their aging charges in a rundown, red-tape-filled hospital extended-care wing, blending outrageous humor with unexpected moments of tenderness.
Cast regulars on Getting On include Laurie Metcalf as Dr. Jenna James, who once hoped to become a medical-research star, but has instead been sentenced to purgatory at the facility; and Alex Borstein (Family Guy) as Nurse Dawn, whose personal shortcomings and obsession with finding a boyfriend undermine her need to excel in her job.
There's also Niecy Nash (Reno 911!) as Nurse DiDi, whose easy rapport with patients should be an example to her superiors, but isn't; and Mel Rodriguez (Community) as Patsy De La Serda, a reform-minded supervising nurse of ambiguous sexuality.
Guest stars include Molly Shannon, Daniel Stern, Harry Dean Stanton, June Squibb and Irma P. Hall.
Getting On is executive produced by Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer under their Anima Sola Productions Banner, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner of BBC Worldwide Productions, and Geoff Atkinson, Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine; co-executive producers, Lisa Bellomo and Courtney Conte; producer, Chrisann Verges.