TV Review: Painkiller should be a slam-dunk - but it's painfully bad

"It feels like someone in charge took a look at the first episode and said we need to sex it up - which isn’t exactly dignified when you consider the number of people whose lives were ruined by this drug."

Matthew Broderick as Richard Sackler in episode 101 of Painkiller

Painkiller (Netflix) is puzzlingly bad. It’s a slam-dunk story, how a pharmaceutical company developed OxyContin (a painkiller based on powerful opioids, the type normally found in end-of-life cancer treatments), and persuaded the regulators in the US to allow its use for everyday pain treatment under the supervision of a doctor. 

The ensuing epidemic of addiction and death ravaged families and communities across America, triggering a long fight for justice against company, Purdue Pharma, and the Sackler family that controlled it.