anything to stop it, even
something more dangerous
than heroin. We learnt that
Richard Sackler invented
“breakthrough pain”, in the
same way his uncle Arthur
Sackler invented “psychic
tension” to market Valium,
even though neither condition
was real.
Occasionally characters
would stop and give little
speeches reflecting this:
about mass marketing,
consumerism and American
greed — it almost felt like
Mad Men. In any other show
this might seem awkward,
but the script sparkles; it’s
loaded with clever nuggets,lightly delivered: in Germany,
for example, there was no
market for OxyContin,
because “the Germans don’t
believe in opioids”, Sackler
said. “They believe suffering
is a part of healing.”
Sometimes Michael
Stuhlbarg, as Sackler, could
seem a little bored, or
distracted, doing a low, growly
Sith Lord voice as if he were
actually a cartoon villain. But
otherwise it is a serious,
well-made, clever show — who
knew Disney had it in them?
The Sacklers are Jewish,
and I noticed that they had got
a number of Jewish actors to
play the many Sackler parts.turning point in history where
suffering simply stopped being
acceptable. Pleasure became
the point, rather than
sacrifice: life became a, um,
Disney film. So if you could
make Americans believe they
are suffering from something,
they would buy almostSTUART WOOD/BBCTELEVISION
Behold the
Mad Men of
Big Pharma
Dopesick Disney+
The Shrink Next Door
Apple TV
The Tower ITV, Mon-Wed
Inside the Care Crisis with
Ed Balls BBC2, Mon
If there is one thing Americans
are good at, it is being very,
very critical of their very, very
rich. Whereas we treat ours
like the largely benign
inhabitants of some twee,
chinless, sub-Mitfordian
petting zoo, barely an
American drama passes
without some seriously ugly,
unhygienic billionaire sitting
high up on a hill in a brand-
new 80-bedroom McMansion
with one sad wife and too
many dogs.
You cannot miss, for
example, the hideousness of
the Sacklers, owners of one of
the world’s biggest pharma
firms, in Dopesick, a brilliant
new eight-part miniseries
about America’s opioid
epidemic on, hilariously,
Disney+. The lovelier the
houses, the more expensive
their paintings, the more
voluminous their fine art
galleries — which they built,
and in which they crassly have
meetings — the more
unpleasant, small and greedy
the Sacklers seem.
Richard Sackler, in
particular, whose company
Purdue Pharma in 1995 helped
dream up OxyContin, a drug
that sought to “redefine the
nature of pain”, cannot enter a
room without people telling
him how stupid, weak or
misguided he is. He is called
“doctor” regularly, but there is
no sign of any learning: he
seems more venal and basic
than anything, unleashing his
salespeople on country
doctors to push his dangerous
and awful painkiller.
It is these heartless and
manipulative stormtroopers
who gripped me: we watch as
they fanned out in their
expensive clothes, telling
doctors how the drug didn’t
wear off early and wasn’t
addictive, when it did and it
was. One rep, Billy Cutler,
played by Will Poulter — is
there a face more grinningly
evil? — is assigned to Michael
Keaton’s Dr Sam Finnix. It was
simply engrossing watching
him insinuate himself into this
man’s life, bringing his staff
gifts, offering holidays, telling
him he should join him at
some all-expenses-paid
“pain” conference, where the
reps hand out “OxyContin
bucket hats”.
If you want a long,
luxurious, prestige look at
how vile one American can be
to another, then this is your
show. Even small things had
the power to horrify, like the
fact doctors speak to sales
reps at all. I loved it — it’s
beautifully made, confident,
slick to the point of mastery,
jumping back and forwards in
the timeline but never
seeming complicated.
Part of its skill is that the
characters simply repeat the
same thing over and over
again: “What? People are
dying? It’s OxyContin? And
Purdue Pharma is
responsible?” One extremely
complex storyline shows a
team of federal agents slowly
piecing together evidence.
And yet it isn’t just a
procedural. It also makes a
good philosophical point. It
documents an interestingCAMILLA
LONG
This story of America’s opioid epidemic is
clever, confident — and utterly horrifying
It’s a turning
point. When
life became a
Disney film
The big documentary of the
week was part-reality show:
Ed Balls tried living in a care
home for two weeks. Balls is
big on energy. He steamedThe best interview was a
discussion with a woman
who’d spent over £500,
on care bills. If she wanted
one-to-one care for her uncle
it would be £15,000 a month.
Why was it so expensive, I
wondered, especially when
care workers are on just £9.
an hour? But we never found
out. Maybe Balls just doesn’t
know how to dig deep or askED BALLS:
GOOD FOR FIVE
MINUTES
around St Cecilia’s, telling us
what he’d found out about
waking, eating and sleeping.
From time to time he’d let
other people say a few things,
like the woman who
recognised him in the drawing
room: “You know who I am,”
he whooped. “I don’t really,”
she answered. “That’s fine,”
he said, as if there was a
possibility it wasn’t.