Airdate: The Knick

Steven Soderbergh’s fictionalised version of the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York during the early part of the 20th century begins on Showcase next week.

Clive Owen stars as Dr. John W. Thackery in The Knick, which premiered in the US in August. It has since been renewed for a second season after receiving good reviews.

In this new scripted drama from director Steven Soderbergh (who directed all ten episodes), a brilliant surgeon named John Thackery (Oscar nominee Clive Owen) pushes the boundaries of medicine, morality and race relations in 1900 at a downtown NYC hospital. The Knick, short for The Knickerbocker Hospital, faces a major upheaval due to an exodus of affluent patrons, an infusion of poor patients, and gross mismanagement of its finances. One of the hospital’s remaining stars is Thackery, who searches to solve a plethora of medical mysteries while developing an unhealthy addiction to cocaine, legal at the time. Thackery is eventually paired against his will with a young doctor, Algernon Edwards (André Holland), whose intelligence and at-all-costs methods rivals Thackery’s, but whose arrival is marked by contempt from fellow doctors and prejudice from patients.

8.00pm* Wednesday December 10 on showcase
*all subsequent episodes will air at 7.30pm.