Unspeakable
I finished watching this limited series about the Canadian tainted blood scandal, and I can now say I recommend it for a history lesson at the very least. I learned quite a bit because I only had a distant awareness of this happening, because the US media rarely does any in-depth coverage outside of the country, but I also learned a bit about hemophilia and hepatitis that I didn't know. As far as I know, I have never personally known anyone with either condition, though I do know a few who are HIV+.
There's also an article on Bustle about the series, wondering if there might be a second season, since this one left off in 2015. I doubt it, because it had a story to tell, and it did it, but you never know.
I knew this was loosely based in part on two books, Gift of Death: Confronting Canada's Tainted Blood Tragedy, by Andre Picard and The Tragedy of the Canadian Tainted Blood Scandal, Vic Parson. What I didn't know is that it also has the personal experience of the show's creator, Robert C. Cooper, who many of you will remember as part of TPTB behind the Stargate TV series. He's a hemophiliac who got Hepatitis C from tainted blood.
The Bustle article links to a longer one from the Vancouver Courier about Cooper's experience. He talks about not wearing his medical alert bracelet because of the stigma about hemophilia (and there's a scene with one of the characters that mirrors this experience), and how he rarely talked about it until he was cured by experimental treatment paid for by one of the class-action lawsuits that's covered in the series.
While I don't think there will be a second season, Cooper does make a comment about the opiod crisis being "Unspeakable 2", and he's right. People are dying preventable deaths, and the people who could have stopped it early on didn't, because of money.
The show aired in January on the CBC, and just finished on Sundance in the US. Here's their trailer to give you a taste:
There's also an article on Bustle about the series, wondering if there might be a second season, since this one left off in 2015. I doubt it, because it had a story to tell, and it did it, but you never know.
I knew this was loosely based in part on two books, Gift of Death: Confronting Canada's Tainted Blood Tragedy, by Andre Picard and The Tragedy of the Canadian Tainted Blood Scandal, Vic Parson. What I didn't know is that it also has the personal experience of the show's creator, Robert C. Cooper, who many of you will remember as part of TPTB behind the Stargate TV series. He's a hemophiliac who got Hepatitis C from tainted blood.
The Bustle article links to a longer one from the Vancouver Courier about Cooper's experience. He talks about not wearing his medical alert bracelet because of the stigma about hemophilia (and there's a scene with one of the characters that mirrors this experience), and how he rarely talked about it until he was cured by experimental treatment paid for by one of the class-action lawsuits that's covered in the series.
While I don't think there will be a second season, Cooper does make a comment about the opiod crisis being "Unspeakable 2", and he's right. People are dying preventable deaths, and the people who could have stopped it early on didn't, because of money.
The show aired in January on the CBC, and just finished on Sundance in the US. Here's their trailer to give you a taste:
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