‘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
Entertainment
Police investigating historical sex offence allegations against Russell Brand understood to have handed file to CPS
The late Queen Elizabeth II will make a brief appearance in the new film Paddington in Peru.
It follows her skit alongside the world-famous bear in a short film for her 2022 Platinum Jubilee celebrations, just months before her death.
Now, a photo of Queen Elizabeth II and the marmalade-loving bear will appear in the third instalment of the Paddington movie franchise.
After the late Queen died aged 96 on 8 September 2022, many tributes left outside her residences featured nods to the bear and her skit with him.
Queen Elizabeth II and Paddington Bear had tea in 2022. Pic: BBC Platinum Party at the Palace / Heyday Films via AP
Her latest Paddington appearance via photo came “with the consent and agreement of the royal household,” Ron Halpern, head of global productions at France’s Studiocanal, told Variety.
Rosie Alison, a producer on the film, also told the publication: “[The royal family] were actually very happy for it to happen.
“But we don’t like to make a big deal of it, because Paddington’s obviously a very modest fellow.”
In the original video for her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the pair had afternoon tea together in Buckingham Palace, during which the late Queen whipped a marmalade sandwich out of her bag, telling Paddington: “I keep mine in here – for later.”
An apparent fan of film and TV, she also appeared with Daniel Craig in a James Bond-inspired sketch to mark the start of the London Olympics in 2012.
Read more:
Scottish comedian Janey Godley dies
Combative past of new Tory leader
Olivia Colman will play The Reverend Mother. Pic: Studiocanal
The latest Paddington movie takes the Brown family to Peru, as he visits his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears.
Getting into unexpected adventures in the Amazon rainforest and on mountain peaks, they also encounter a joyful nun, played by Olivia Colman, and a daring riverboat captain, played by Antonio Banderas.
The returning cast includes Ben Whishaw voicing Paddington, alongside stars including Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton (voicing Aunt Lucy), Hugh Bonneville and Emily Mortimer.
Paddington Bear was created by author Michael Bond in 1958 after he was inspired by the plight of refugee children arriving in the UK.
The beloved bear went on to star in more than 100 books, inspiring multiple TV adaptations and a film franchise.
Paddington In Peru will be in cinemas on Friday 8 November.
Scottish comedian Janey Godley has died a month after she moved to a hospice for end-of-life care, her agent has said.
The 63-year-old, who found viral fame with her dubbed imitations of Nicola Sturgeon’s COVID-19 news briefings during the pandemic, had announced last month that she was receiving end-of-life care for terminal cancer.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our client Doctor Janey Godley on 2nd November,” her agent said on Saturday.
“Janey died peacefully in the wonderful Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow surrounded by her loved ones. She will be hugely missed by her family, friends and her many fans.
“She will be remembered for her legendary voice overs of Nicola Sturgeon during the pandemic, her hilarious and outspoken comedy, but most of all for just being ‘Janey’.”
Pic: BAFTA/PA
‘We got her longer because of all the support’
Her daughter comedian Ashley Storrie announced the news on social media, writing: “We got her longer because of all of the support and the love in the world.”
She said in a short video: “I believe in my heart of hearts that she felt every bit of love you sent to her. And I think it kept her going.
“I think genuinely we got her longer because of all of the support and the love in the world. But that’s it over now. So, thank you once again and bye.”
She also revealed Godley had been awarded an honorary degree from the University Of Glasgow.
Ms Sturgeon, the former first minister, wrote on X: “Janey Godley truly was a force of nature, and one of the funniest people I have ever known.
“I was able to visit her in the hospice a couple of weeks ago and though she was fragile, she still had me in stitches.”
She added: “A bond was forged between us in the darkest days of COVID when her famous voiceovers of my daily briefings went viral. In the toughest of times, she made people laugh – and that was precious.
She did more that (sic) that though. In managing to project the serious public health messages of my briefings to a much wider audience than I would have managed alone, she helped save lives.”
Godley and Nicola Sturgeon pictured in 2023. Pic: PA
Paying tribute, Scottish First Minister John Swinney wrote on X: “Very sorry to hear of the death of Janey Godley.
“She brought joy and laughter on many occasions when we needed it most. My condolences to her family. May she Rest in Peace.”
That infamous Trump sign
In September, Godley cancelled her autumn tour titled Why Is She Still Here? due to her stage four ovarian cancer, which had been treated over the last few years, but had returned with added complications.
At the time, Godley said it was “devastating” to be facing the end of her life, adding “but we all come to an end sometime”.
She also joked: “I don’t know how long I’ve got left before anybody asks. I’m not a TikTok.”
In 2016, Godley went viral after protesting at Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort with her infamous “unwelcome” sign (Godley’s sign used slightly spicier language).
She then went on to gain attention during COVID times, voicing videos of Ms Sturgeon’s health briefings and became friends with the former first minister.
Pic: PA
Overcoming adversity
Born into poverty in the East End of Glasgow in 1961 to alcoholic parents, Godley left school aged 16 with no qualifications.
She revealed both she and her sister had been abused by an uncle as a child, for which he served a two-year sentence.
After 15 years running a pub with her husband during the 1980s and 1990s, she began her stand-up career in 1994, going on to co-present BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends, as well as fronting BBC Radio 4 series The C Bomb.
She also appeared on shows including Have I Got News For You, the Scottish soap opera River City, and crime drama Traces.
Godley with her daughter, comedian Ashley Storrie. Pic: PA
Never shying away from joking about the darker side of life, in 2023, she won the inaugural Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.
Godley wrote her debut novel in 2022, a murder mystery titled Nothing Left Unsaid set in 1970s Glasgow. Warmly received, celebrity fans included TV chef Nigella Lawson who said it was so good, she read it in two sittings.
A fierce supporter of Scottish independence, Godley was also a vocal advocate of transgender rights, she continued campaigning on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community up until her death.
She leaves behind her husband of 44 years, Sean Storrie, and her daughter.
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