‘He should never have been allowed to operate’: Christian Slater on the real-life horror story of Dr Death
After listening to almost two weeks of evidence against disgraced neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, the jury in Dallas, Texas, reportedly took just a few hours to find him guilty of maiming patients.
Following at least a year of botched surgeries, which resulted in the deaths of two patients and left dozens of others paralysed or seriously injured, he was sentenced to life in prison in February 2017.
The conviction was based on one victim but Duntsch had been accused of wide-ranging malpractice that included improper placement of screws and plates along patients’ spines, a sponge left in another patient and a major vein cut in another, according to an Associated Press report from the time. Records also showed that he operated on the wrong part of a patient’s spine, damaged nerves, and left one woman with chronic pain and dependent on a wheelchair.
Former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch was jailed in 2017. Pic: Dallas County Sheriff’s Department via AP
The story of “Dr Death” and how he was able to continue his work before his licence was finally revoked is the stuff of nightmares. When a patient is lying on an operating table, they are putting their life in a medical team’s hands; the surgeon in charge is not supposed to make mistakes.
But Duntsch did, over and over and over, and the story of how he was able to continue working has now been dramatised in a series starring The Affair and Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson as the titular Dr Death, and Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin as two physicians who fought to expose him.
Christian Slater plays Dr Randall Kirby, one of the good guys, in Dr Death. Pic: Barbara Nitke/Peacock/StarzPlay
Slater – known for films including True Romance, Heathers, Pump Up The Volume and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and more recently in TV series such as Mr Robot and Dirty John – plays one of those real-life doctors; vascular surgeon Randall Kirby, who he met after shooting on the show had finished.
“It’s a horrifying story,” Slater tells Sky News. “[It’s] very scary that someone like this could get away with what he was doing for so long. He’s a real performer, was able to kind of play the part but lacked all the skills necessary in order to really perform those surgeries.
“[Dr Kirby] said that Dr Christopher Duntsch, he shouldn’t have moved beyond operating on mice. That should have been where his career stopped, he never should have been allowed to operate on human beings.”
Over eight episodes, Dr Death tells the story of a rising star in the Dallas medical community, a man who promised to change the lives of patients suffering from spinal issues. A man who thought he could play God. At best he was woefully inept but arrogant and completely misguided; at worst he was evil.
It was “incompetence mixed with ego, narcissism – a sociopath”, says Slater, based on his conversations with Dr Kirby. “He [Kirby] saw him in that regard. He got to witness Christopher Duntsch at work. He stood over a body and watched him perform with such ineptitude that it horrified him and scared him. Those are the moments within the show that are horrifyingly true and as accurate as we could possibly make them.”
Joshua Jackson plays Duntsch, the titular Dr Death. Pic: Peacock/ Starzplay
As a viewer, it is not just what you see on screen but what you can hear that makes the show so terrifying, and gruesome. “The sounds… they stayed with me after we would finish shooting the scenes, they’re still in my brain,” says Slater. Fortunately, behind their surgeons masks, they were able to keep the mood light. “Of course, we take it seriously, but there is an element of humour that comes along with it because both Josh and I are so inept at being doctors that, you know, behind our masks we’d be laughing quite a bit.”
As well as examining Duntsch and his catalogue of horrors, the series also looks at the American healthcare system and how the malpractice was able to continue; how he moved between clinics, which enabled him to work for longer, and how profit was put above patients.
“Our healthcare system is one that has been examined and questioned for such a long time now and it’s one that is in desperate need of revisions,” says Slater. “The scary thing is Christopher Duntsch was able to take advantage of a part of the healthcare system that is not only designed to protect the patients, but also the doctors. And with that, he was able to kind of skirt through the system, and the system just kept kicking the can down the road, and he was able to continue to be enabled and get away with what he got away with for so long.”
Slater’s Dr Kirby teams up with Alec Baldwin’s Dr Robert Henderson to expose Duntsch. Pic: Peacock/ Starzplay
People put medics “on pedestals and we treat doctors as gods and forget that they’re human beings and, you know, they are fallible and they will make mistakes”, he adds. Duntsch was an extreme case of that.
Ego, greed, narcissism; traits that can apply to people in power in all walks of life, including Hollywood. When I ask Slater if he has come across any similar figures, and how he has dealt with them, he seems to allude to the US’s most recent former president, Donald Trump, rather than anyone in the entertainment industry.
“It’s not always easy, particularly when you have someone who is coming from a place of such delusional thinking and they’re in one of the highest offices in the land,” he says. “I feel like that’s what it’s been like for the last four or five years, that we’ve just been living in delusion land and moved so far away from honesty. Narcissism and sociopathic behaviour has been enabled for a long time now. And I can’t wait until we move through that process.”
And as something of an industry veteran, what does Slater know now that he wishes he’d known when he first started acting in the 1980s?
“I think to appreciate all the moments. I think I’ve learnt in retrospect that I’ve been very, very fortunate in my career, very, very lucky. I’ve had great opportunities to work with some pretty amazing people. And it really is only in retrospect that you realise how special some of these experiences really were. So today, I think I’ve learnt to be in the moment as much as possible and appreciate every aspect of what it is that I get to do.”
Which includes Dr Death. Slater asks how much I’ve seen; I tell him I’ve just finished episode three.
“Wait till you get to episode eight,” he says. “They get scarier and scarier.”
Dr Death is out on Starzplay in the UK from 12 September
Despite The Who’s Quadrophenia being set over 60 years ago, Pete Townshend’s themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
The album is having a renaissance as Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia A Mod ballet is being brought to life via dance at Sadler’s Wells East, and Sky News has an exclusive first look.
As Townshend puts it, the album he wrote is “perfect” for the stage.
Pete Townshend
“My wife Rachel did the orchestration for me, and as soon as I heard it I said to her it would make a fabulous ballet and we never really let that go,” he tells Sky News.
“Heavy percussion, concussive sequences. They’re explosive moments. They’re also romantic movement moments.”
If you identify with the demographics of Millennial, Gen Y or Gen Z, you might not be familiar with The Who and Mod culture.
But in post-war Britain the Mods were a cultural phenomenon characterised by fashion, music, and of course, scooters. The young rebels were seen as a counter-culture to the establishment and The Who, with Roger Daltry’s lead vocals and Pete Townshend’s writing, were the soundtrack.
Quadrophenia the album is widely regarded as an essay on the British adolescent experience at the time, focusing on the life of fictional protagonist Jimmy – a young Mod struggling with his sanity, self-doubt, and alienation.
Townshend sets the rock opera in 1965 but thinks its themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
He says: “The phobias and the restrictions and the unwritten laws about how young men should behave. The ground that they broke, that we broke because I was a part of it.
“Men were letting go of [the] wartime-related, uniform-related stance that if I wear this kind of outfit it makes me look like a man.”
Paris Fitzpatrick and Pete Townshend. Pic: Johan Persson
This struggle of modern masculinity and identity appears to be echoing today as manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, incel culture, and Netflix’s Adolescence make headlines.
For dancer Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy, the story resonates.
Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy in the ballet
“I think there’s a connection massively and I think there may even be a little more revival in some way,” he tells Sky News.
“I love that myself. I love non-conforming to gender norms and typical masculinity; I think it’s great to challenge things.”
Despite the album being written before he was born, the dancer says he was familiar with the genre already.
“I actually did an art GCSE project about Mods and rockers and Quadrophenia,” he says.
“I think we’ll be able to bring it to new audiences and hopefully, maybe people will be inspired to to learn more about their music and the whole cultural movement of the early 60s.”
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In 1979, the album was adapted into a film directed by Franc Roddam starring Ray Winstone and Sting but Townshend admits because the film missed key points he is “not a big fan”.
“What it turned out to be in the movie was a story about culture, about social scenario and less about really the specifics of mental illness and how that affects young people,” he adds, also complimenting Roddam’s writing for the film.
Perhaps a testament to Pete Townshend’s creativity, Quadrophenia started as an album, was successfully adapted to film and now it will hit the stage as a contemporary ballet.
It appears that over six decades later Mod culture is still cool and their issues still relatable.
Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet will tour to Plymouth Theatre Royal from 28 May to 1 June 2025, Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10 to 14 June 2025 and the Mayflower, Southampton from 18 to 21 June 2025 before having its official opening at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London on 24 June running to 13 July 2025 and then visiting The Lowry, Salford from 15 to 19 July 2025.
Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.
The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.
The charges relate to four women.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.
Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.
He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.
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Ashna Hurynag discusses Russell Brand’s charges
The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.
Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.
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The comedian has denied the accusations and said he has “never engaged in non-consensual activity”.
He added in a video on X: “Of course, I am now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”
Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.
Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.
Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.
Tom Cruise said ‘I wish you well on the next journey’. Pic: AP
Val Kilmer in 2017. Pic: AP
His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.
“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.
“I wish you well on the next journey.”
The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.
Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.
Tom Cruise at Caesars Palace on Thursday. Pic: AP
Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.
He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.
Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
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He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.
In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.
The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.
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