The Pitt is the series that everyone is talking about right now. This award-winning drama follows the staff of an emergency department as they attempt to get through a single 15-hour shift at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Centre. The team navigates staff shortages and underfunding, as well as their own personal turmoil, leading to a realistic portrayal of healthcare workers that had been praised by the medical community.
The cast is full of well-known names from other silver screen escapades, but one face will be more recognizable than others to the people of Barry.
Gerran Howell, 35, stars as the gentle, yet naïve, Dr Dennis Whitaker in the series, bringing a little piece of the Vale to fictional Pittsburgh.
Howell grew up in Barry, where he attended Barry Comprehensive School, before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Some readers might recognise him best from his roles as Private Parry in 1917, or as Vlad in the CBBC series Young Dracula. The series followed a family of vampires and their move from Transylvania to a rural Welsh town – a far departure from the chaos of the emergency department at The Pitt.
Howell’s work has the stamp of approval from one of the biggest names in Hollywood, with his recommendation for the role of Dr Whitaker coming from George Clooney, with whom he starred in TV miniseries Catch 22.
Star of medical drama ER Noah Wyle leads The Pitt as Dr Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch, offering the perfect guidance for someone like Howell who is making the first foray into the world of the emergency department with this series.
Those who want to watch The Pitt will need a subscription to HBO Max, with subscriptions to the service starting at £4.99 per month. A subscription to the service without ads costs £9.99 per month and their premium tier costs £14.99 per month.
Its won Emmy Awards, Golden Globes and was named as one of the ten best television programs of 2025 by the American Film Institute – and now it is helping a Barry boy make even more of a name for himself.
With a third season of The Pitt already on the horizon, fans will be able to see even more of Gerran Howell in the near future.
