New ABC drama set in Afghanistan

LOS ANGELES, March 14 (UPI) -- Production on the gritty new medical drama, "The Hot Zone," has begun in Toronto and is expected to continue until July, ABC said Monday.

The show is a procedural set in 2006 at the only military hospital providing advanced surgical care in all of Southern Afghanistan. It charts the lives of the hospital's resident doctors and nurses from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and other allied countries.

Thirteen one-hour episodes were commissioned by Global Television and were recently picked up by the ABC Television Network.

Starring Elias Koteas, Michelle Borth and Deborah Kara Unger, the drama is expected to air on ABC this summer.

"The series is being shot on an expansive 185,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor set recently constructed in Toronto," ABC said in a news release. "It is one of the largest standing sets ever built for a Canadian original production and is modeled after the real Canadian-led NATO Role 3 Hospital at Kandahar Airfield. The set is a meticulous recreation of a portion of the hospital compound and the vast Kandahar Airfield, including the helicopter landing zone, boardwalk area and barracks, which housed over 15,000 military and civilian personnel."