Canada's tainted-blood scandal subject of TV miniseries

Posted July 29, 2017 7:00 am

The Associated Press

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - SundanceTV and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. are making a miniseries about Canada's 1980s tainted-blood scandal.

The eight-part series, titled "Unspeakable," follows the emergence of HIV and hepatitis C in Canada and the thousands of infections caused by contaminated blood.

The TV project announced Saturday is based on two books, "Bad Blood" by Vic Parsons and "The Gift of Death" by Andre Picard.

Considered one of the largest preventable medical disasters in Canadian history, the contamination prompted a federal inquiry and billions of dollars in claims.

Executive producer Robert C. Cooper said in a statement that he was both thrilled and daunted to tell a story that affected so many. SundanceTV and CBC's announcement said the miniseries is a passion project for Cooper because he was among the victims, having contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood.

The miniseries will be filmed in Canada for broadcast by the CBC and SundanceTV in early 2018.

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