Exclusive: Wendi McLendon-Covey on St. Denis Medical coming to the UK and what's on the cards for season 2

“Going to hospital is so many people’s worst day, yet for the staff who work there, it’s their everyday. Yes, they’re providing care but they also have to eat lunch, and these opposites make it compelling. It’s a fine line, but comedy happens. And the mockumentary style works so well because you see the jokes that are between the words. I love when something bizarre happens in the background with a voiceover underneath.”

“Yes! She would describe herself as a super-efficient team leader with a set of skills nobody else has. Her goal to turn this hospital in Merrick, Oregon - which by the way isn’t a real place, and I didn’t know that for the longest time! - into a medical tourist destination with a koi pond and an Instagrammable campus is delusional.

“She thinks she’s a visionary with a big picture. I think her employees would say she keeps the lights on, but spends money in ridiculous ways. They think she’s out of her freaking mind and her picture makes no sense to anyone but her.”

Joyce’s team consists of workaholic senior nurse Alex (Allison Tolman), grumpy emergency doctor Ron (David Alan Grier), egotistical trauma surgeon Bruce (Josh Lawson) and naive newcomer Matt (Mekki Leeper).

“Our other nurse Val, played by Kaliko Kauahi - she can level you with one line. I really love her, she’s deadpan and so funny.

“Then there’s Serena, played by Kahyun Kim. She’s a former travelling nurse, who has found herself at St. Denis for way too long and has a crisis about it later in the season.”

"It’s a studio, but our pilot was filmed in an abandoned hospital and that was recreated on a sound stage. I’m proud of the pilot. A lot of times pilots are a slog, but ours gets off to a good start. [The set] looks and smells so real, I don’t want to touch anything, but then you see an actor walking by with a cast and you know it’s coming off at the end of the day, so it’s okay.”

"Yes, it keeps things fresh and it’s fun to go to work, because you don't know what's going to happen that day and we get to work with so many amazing actors. That’s my favourite thing, getting to play with all these fabulous people that are playing patients.”

“I love it so much when a new actor comes in and you can tell that this is their everything. They’ve called their parents, their friends, everybody knows. I know, because I’ve been there too! The whole cast, we always try to make sure that whenever anybody comes in they feel like this is going to be a great day. None of us wants anyone to leave feeling anything other than amazing.”

“Well, because Joyce isn’t someone who's actually stitching people up, I didn't have to go through any training for that. But I listened to a lot of administrators on Tiktok complaining about their jobs and putting myself in their mindset. I also took marimba lessons for a scene in episode two, and can now play half of [Bill Withers' hit 1972 song] Lean on Me.”

[Laughing] “Joyce is a kicker - so if she’s trying to jolly people up she’ll throw a fake Judo move. Right before a take on our first episode, one of our showrunners said to me: ‘Be like a cheerleader.’ Well, I was a cheerleader, so what that means to me is a cartwheel. I think I surprised them that I was willing to go that far.

“Our Christmas episode is quite physical too. A Santa comes in with a risque malady, Joyce tears about making viral social media videos, and there’s a dance number. It turned out really great - I can't wait for you to watch it, because it was so joyous.”

“You’re going to meet her useless boyfriend [Sanderson, played by Steve Little] and you see why they’re together, because he’s very malleable and she needs that. She needs someone to bring her food, rub her feet and just do what she says, and he'll do it. Joyce can't keep a plant alive or have a pet because she's never home. So, as you'll see going on through the season, her whole office is filled with fake plants, nothing is alive. There are cute things there, but nothing lives. She likes the idea of cuddly things, but she can't nurture. Her personal life is dead, no matter how much bone broth she's drinking!”

“Thank you! I love comfort shows that are pure fun and you can return to, like The Golden Girls, Cheers, The UK Office, Peep Show, Father Ted… That's the kind of stuff I want to put into the world, things that will never be off the air because they’re just so uplifting."

“I would love to see Joyce have some kind of win, like maybe she does get a rose bush put in front of the building or something. One of her dumb little ideas should come to fruition and then be a disaster. I would love her to do something that she's so proud of that she can't shut up about it and it drives everybody crazy. I would also like to see Joyce stop a crime! At a hospital there’s no end of material so I guess we can go on as long as the audience wants us, and I’ve got no problem with that. I'll play Joyce as long as people want to see her.”