‘Dr. Death’ TV Series Based On Podcast In Works At Universal Cable Productions

Universal Cable productions is looking to take another popular podcast to the small screen. The studio has put in development Dr. Death, a TV series based on true crime podcast from Wondery. Happy! showrunner Patrick Macmanus will pen the adaptation and executive produce as part of his overall deal with UCP. The potential series will be shopped to premium networks and streaming services.

Wondery also is behind the Dirty John podcast, which UCP is making into a TV series. The project has a two-season order at Bravo with Connie Britton and Eric Bana headlining the first installment. Additionally, UCP is the studio behind Amazon’s upcoming series adaptation of podcast Homecoming, which stars Julia Roberts. Both Homecoming and Dirty John premiere in November.

Dr. Death is based on the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a rising star in the Dallas medical community. Young, charismatic and ostensibly brilliant, Dr. Duntsch was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice when everything suddenly changed. Patients entered his operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries and left permanently maimed or dead. As victims piled up, two fellow surgeons and a young Assistant District Attorney set out to stop him. Dr. Death explores the twisted mind of a sociopath and the gross negligence of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us. A trailer for the podcast is below.

Along with Macmanus, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch executive produce via Escape Artists, as well as Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of Wondery Podcasts.

Macmanus, is currently the showrunner and executive producer of UCP-produced Happy!, starring Christopher Meloni and Patton Oswalt, which is in production on its second season at Syfy. MacManus also is developing Slaughterhouse-Five for Epix based on Kurt Vonnegut’s classic.

UTA brokered the deal on behalf of Wondery, Macmanus and Escape Artists.