Dopesick: What the Must Watch reviewers think

Wednesday 17 November 2021, 15:06

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell review Dopesick on Disney+. Michael Keaton, Rosario Dawson and Will Poulter star in the drama miniseries about America’s struggle with opioid addiction.

Disney+

Hayley says: “Getting Michael Keaton in was a genius idea”

“I really like this show. It’s a bleak story but it's broadly a true one: it’s based on a non-fiction book by the journalist Beth Macy and although many of the specific characters in the show are made up, it gives you some basis for understanding what the opioid crisis is and where it came from.

“Michael Keaton is particularly great in this and I think he is a very underused actor these days. He started out as a comedian and I think comedians especially are very good at doing very deep, bleak roles. Robin Williams was always great at it, and getting Michael Keaton in was a genius idea.

“It’s particularly effective in showing how drug companies can invent a problem so they can invent a solution that you need to buy. There’s a lot going on in this show and you will end up googling quite a bit afterwards. It’s not a story you can cram into one TV show so I don’t think that’s a failing on their part – it’s something for you to find out later. I think it’s really well done.”

Disney+

Scott says: “It makes you so shocked at how American healthcare works”

“Some of the characters are based on real people. Two things stand out to me. One is the shocking, awful consequences of opioid addiction and about how the checks and balances that were in place obviously failed and how ordinary people’s lives were destroyed as a result.

“The second is how, as a Brit, it makes you so shocked at how American healthcare works. Just the idea that there are companies where marketers would push themselves on to doctors to recommend to their patients to take drugs or up the dose, whereas here the NHS ensures only the prescriptions patients actually need.

“There’s also drugs, with many side effects listed, being constantly pushed on adverts on TV. The NHS is not perfect, but thank goodness when you are ill you trust that you’re only given what you actually need! I’m not sure American viewers would get that from this show but that’s a certain thing I did!”