Getting On: trailer

Grant Bowler is in the third and final season of the US adaptation of medical satire, Getting On, as a “Thunder from Down Under” doctor.

Also appearing this season are Rhea Perlman, Frances Conroy, Rita Moreno, Kristen Johnston, Jonathan Silverman and musician Janis Ian.

It premieres on Showcase in December.

Based on the UK series of the same name, the medical comedy follows the daily lives of nurses and doctors as they struggle with the darkly comic realities of caring for the elderly in an overwhelmed healthcare system, skewering the petty bureaucracies of modern medical practice in America. The comedy series is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions and HBO Originals and stars Laurie Metcalf, Alex Borstein, Niecy Nash and Mel Rodriguez.

The show’s six episode final season picks up eight months after the conclusion of season two, with Dr. James determined to put the corporate-hospice scandal behind her, and pushing her research ambitions further than ever before. Nurse DiDi emerges as a union leader; Newly married Nurse Dawn struggles to make sense of her new responsibilities and uncertain future, continuing to circle the orbit of male Supervising Nurse Patsy, who’s looking to embrace a new lifestyle. These personal stories play out against the backdrop of Billy Barnes’ threatened demise and the fight to keep the ward (and hospital) alive.

Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine, co-creators and stars of the original BBC series, are set to make a special guest appearance in the fourth episode of Getting On‘s final season.