True crime stories have long been a fascinating subject for podcast listeners. Now one of the most popular true crime podcasts, “Dr. Death,” has made its way to Peacock. The series was adapted by Patrick Macmanus and a team of writers from the Wondery podcast network.
“Dr. Death” is inspired by the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a young and charismatic physician in the Texas medical community. After building a flourishing neurosurgery practice, everything suddenly changes when patients entering Dr. Duntsch's operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries start leaving permanently disabled or dead.
Joshua Jackson (“The Affair”) transforms himself into the mind of a sociopath for this role and manages to give viewers a glimpse into what might have motivated this doctor to hurt so many people. During his two years as a doctor in Dallas, Duntsch operated on 37 patients. Almost all of them, 33 to be exact, suffered permanent nerve damage, paralysis or death.
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As victims piled up, two fellow Dallas physicians, Dr. Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and Dr. Randall Kirby (Christian Slater) set out to stop him. Slater captures the essence of what he describes as Kirby’s passion to stop Duntsch from hurting anyone else.
As the six-part series explores the twisted mind of Dr. Duntsch, it also exposes the failures of the health care system designed to protect patients.
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“Dr. Death” stars Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater and is executive produced by Patrick Macmanus (“The Girl From Plainville”). It’s available now on Peacock.
Peacock and this television station are owned by the same parent company, NBCUniversal
