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The drama centers on the real-life 1980s scandal during which time thousands contracted HIV and Hepatitis C from tainted blood. The tainted blood scandal of the 1980s that infected thousands of Canadians with HIV and Hepatitis C is getting the miniseries treatment.
SundanceTV on Saturday announced at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour that it is teaming with with Canadian broadcaster CBC for Unspeakable, an eight-part drama from creator and showrunner Robert C. Cooper (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) based on first-hand experiences and two nonfiction books on the subject — Bad Blood by Vic Parsons and The Gift of Death by Andre Picard.
The drama chronicles the emergence of HIV and Hepatitis C in Canada in the early ’80s and the tragedy that followed when thousands were unnecessarily infected by tainted blood. The scandal is considered one of the largest medical disasters in Canadian history and triggered a federal inquiry as well as a billion-dollar lawsuit. The miniseries hits especially close to home for Cooper, who himself contracted Hepatitis C from tainted blood.