The Knick

Set in downtown New York at the turn of the 20th century, The Knick follows the people who keep a crowded hospital running and the risks they take in the name of progress. The Knickerbocker Hospital is run on tight budgets, with patients spilling into shared wards and the city's rough edges pressing in. At the center is Dr John Thackery, a gifted chief surgeon who pushes beyond established methods even as a cruel addiction shadows his work. Around him a rotating cast of residents, nurses and administrators square off over new techniques, ethical tradeoffs, and the cost of innovation. The series treats medicine as both a means of healing and a field where ambition can blur lines between science and survival.

The show premiered in 2014 on Cinemax as an original drama created by Michael Begler and Jack Amiel. It uses a cinematic lens on early hospital life and centers on Clive Owen as Dr John Thackery, with Andre Holland as Dr Algernon Edwards, Juliet Rylance as Cornelia Robertson and Jeremy Bobb as Herman Barrow.

The Knick earned recognition in major award circles with nominations across several ceremonies, reflecting strong craft across acting and production. Critics highlighted Clive Owen's powerful portrayal and the show’s uncompromising period detail, which drew attention to television as a platform for ambitious medical drama.

With its cinematic look and unflinching medical realism The Knick left a mark on television's approach to historical settings. It brought attention to topics like medical ethics and race in early 1900s New York, sparking conversations about how drama can illuminate the origins of modern medicine.

Critics praised the atmosphere, performances and willingness to test moral boundaries. The series threads together themes of addiction, ambition and responsibility, asking what progress costs in human terms. Thackery is a flawed genius whose pursuits illuminate both the promise and danger of pushing medicine forward, while the ensemble shows a city negotiating change, class and opportunity.