I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a victim of this crisis
Dopesick takes us inside America’s opioid epidemic. SARAH MORGAN finds out more from one of its stars, Brit Will Poulter
In the mood for something hardhitting and thought-provoking?
If the answer is yes, then BBC2 is the place to be on Sunday night.
A few weeks ago, the Beeb broadcast The Dropout, starring Amanda Seyfried, a mini-series based on a true story, originally available via Disney+. Clearly it was a success, because now it’s doing the same thing again.
Dopesick hit British screens via the streaming service in late 2021, and is now airing on regular TV. It’s not always an easy watch, but it is brilliantly acted and written, covering the opioid epidemic that has swept the US, resulting in thousands of overdoses.
“It made me feel furious and I, thankfully, am not directly linked to anyone who’s been lost,” says Will Poulter one of the show’s stars.
“I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a victim of this crisis, to be battling with the disease of addiction in relation to this drug.
“And for the families of the victims, and the people associated indirectly with this, my heart goes out to them.”
Created by actor-turned-writer Danny Strong, who appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mad Men and Gilmore Girls before penning screenplays for the two-part Hunger Games finale and TV show Empire, it’s based on journalist Beth Macy’s non-fiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America.
It reveals how, after the medical community was reassured by pharmaceutical companies that people would not become addicted, healthcare providers began prescribing opioid pain relievers to an increasing number of patients in the late 1990s.
Since then, evidence has revealed that this rise has led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids in the US.
Dopesick focuses on the part allegedly played by the Sackler family, who owned Purdue Pharma (makers of the drug OxyContin), in the crisis.
Maze Runner star Will, 31, plays sales rep Billy Cutler, who helps launch a new painkiller.
“I’m really grateful to people like Beth Macy, with her investigative journalism, and the book that she created, and writers like Danny Strong, who have brought the truth to light and have allowed people to see the realities of how we got to this stage,” says the Londonborn star.
“For the prevailing narrative to be that the opioid crisis is due to a handful of people who derailed an otherwise good drug because they were looking for a high, that’s so upsetting, because it couldn’t be further from the truth.
“This was a drug that was introduced as a legitimate non-addictive form of pain relief, and it was a dangerous, highly addictive narcotic, and the reason it was introduced was for financial gain, and that’s the upsetting reality that we have to confront.”
The series begins with a doublebill directed by Oscar-winner Barry Levinson, which focuses on the development of the painkiller Oxycontin.
Michael Keaton, Michael Stuhlbarg, Kaitlyn Dever and Peter Sarsgaard are also among the excellent cast of a series that could be described as America’s equivalent to Mr Bates vs The Post Office on ITV. Both use TV to shine a light on scandals with a direct impact on the public.
Dopesick kicks off with a double bill on Sunday, BBC2, 10pm