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New series ‘Mercy Street’ brings ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Josh Radnor to Richmond

Posted at 10:57 AM, Apr 30, 2015
and last updated 2015-05-01 07:39:21-04
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Nurse Mary Phinney and Josh Radnor as Jedediah Foster. (PHOTO: Antony Platt/PBS)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Nurse Mary Phinney and Josh Radnor as Jedediah Foster.
(PHOTO: Antony Platt/PBS)

RICHMOND, Va. — ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Josh Radnor, ‘The Returned’ star Mary Elizabeth Winstead and ‘Office Space’ star Gary Cole are among the actors in Richmond filming the new PBS Civil War-based drama ‘Mercy Street,” the network officially announced.

“It’s an honor to be able to tell the exciting stories of real experiences and struggles of the war,” Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, General Audience Programming, PBS, said. “I know this talented and diverse cast and crew will be able to bring MERCY STREET to life on screen. We will tell the story of what it was like in Alexandria, Virginia — the crossroads of the Civil War — by delving into the multifaceted lives of those in the hospital wards.”

The six-part series, filmed in both Richmond and Petersburg, is scheduled to air in 2016.

MERCY STREET follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War — New England abolitionist Mary Phinney (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Confederate supporter Emma Green (Hannah James). The Green family’s luxury hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, has been transformed into Mansion House, a Union Army hospital tending to the war’s wounded. Inspired by memoirs and letters from real doctors and nurse volunteers at Mansion House Hospital, this new drama reveals the stories of those struggling to save lives while managing their own hardships.

“I’m delighted to be working with such a talented cast and crew on MERCY STREET, a remarkable story that portrays perhaps the most challenging time in our nation’s history,” executive producer Lisa Q. Wolfinger said. “Our diverse and colorful cast of characters — Union doctors, female volunteers, contraband laborers and Southern loyalists — will bring to life the chaotic world of Union-occupied Alexandria, Virginia, and the Mansion House Hospital.”

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said Virginia was proud to be chosen as the filming location because it is a Virginia story.

“I enthusiastically welcome PBS and everyone involved in this important series to the Commonwealth,” he said. “This new project from PBS will be an important contributor to the new Virginia economy.”

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