Interny (Interns, Russian: Интерны) was a Russian sitcom from the TNT (ТНТ) network. It ran from 2010 to 2016. The series features the trials and tribulations of a group of four young medical interns, their mentor Andrey Bykov (Андрей Быков), and the other hospital workers. The show has an original plot line, though many comparisons have been made between Interny and American sitcoms House M.D. and, particularly, Scrubs, from which the show makes several obvious borrowings.
The series initially opens following four interns: Boris Levin (played by Dmitri Sharakois, Дмитрий Шаракоис), Varvara Chernous (played by Kristina Asmus, Кристина Асмус), Gleb Romanenko (played by Ilya Glinnikov, Илья Глинников), and Semyon Labanov (played by Aleksandr Ilyin Jr., Александр Ильин-младший). Their supervisor and mentor Andrey Bykov (played by Ivan Okhlobystin, Иван Охлобыстин) and head nurse Lyubov Skryabina (played by Svetlana Permyakova, Светлана Пермякова) run the show and constantly tease and torment the interns.
The show has been a source of some political controversy. Ivan Okhlobystin, who plays the head doctor, is ultraconservative but as flamboyant in real life as he is on show, if not more. Known for making anti-gay comments, he was eventually confronted by a public “coming out” by an American actor, Odin Bairon, who joined the show after its start, playing an American doctor who came to Russia on an exchange program. This eventually led to several newspapers articles on Bairon and passionate tweets by Okhlobystin.
The show has also given pokes-in-the-eye to those who point out the similarities between it and American shows. Bairon’s character, for instance, transfers to the Russian hospital from Princeton–Plainsboro, the hospital where House works.
The TNT network’s official Interny page.
Here is a trailer for the series:
