174 Health & History, 2016. 18/1 Museums and Media ‘Modern Medicine had to Start Somewhere’ Peter Adams The Knick (Series 1 and 2). Directed by Steven Soderbergh. 2014–15. HBO Cinemax Running Time Season 1: 487 minutes (available on DVD and Blu-Ray). Rated R – Realistically simulated surgical procedures and drug use. Running Time Season 2: 564 minutes (available on DVD from 8 June 2016). Rated MA. Set in New York in 1900, The Knick is the abbreviated name of The Knickerbocker Hospital, the main setting for this period medical drama from Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh. The series deals with a number of contemporary issues treated in a historical context: how knowledge disseminates between surgeons, the god-like status afforded to some physicians, the competitive nature of medical research, pseudoscience creeping into medical practice, and the marketing of pharmaceuticals. It also gives us a peek into practices of the past: historical medical instruments, different treatments, racial segregation of medical care, the source of cadavers used for medical research, and the risks associated with the formative use of electricity in operations. With a desire to be historically accurate where possible, the program’s writers consulted American ophthalmologist Dr Stanley Burns, owner of the world’s largest private collection of early medical photographs that form part of the Burns Archives. This intent to be historically accurate is not always met, and so it would be best to describe The Knick as a pastiche of fact and fiction. The central character of Dr John Thackeray, the hospital’s head surgeon, is fiction drawn from reality. Played by British actor Clive Owen, Thackeray is a brilliant doctor and scientist, with a driving ambition to improve surgical techniques to save lives. While his quest is honourable, the viewer learns as early as episode one that he is also a flawed figure with an addiction to cocaine. Thackeray is inspired by Dr William Halsted,1 the American surgeon who practiced medicine 1 In an interview with Cinemax, actor Clive Owen said that the writers had told him that Thackeray was based upon Dr William Halsted. Cinemax, “Season 2: Q&A with Clive Owen” http://www.cinemax.com/the-knick/season-2-q-and-a-with-clive-owen.html (accessed 17 May 2016), n.d. Health & History ● 18/1 ● 2016 175 Image 1. The Knick Season 2 Box Set. Image courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment. Image 2. The Knick Operating Theatre. Image courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment. 176 MUSEUMS AND MEDIA from the late 1870s to the first couple of decades of the twentieth century, and one of four founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Like Thackeray, Halsted was addicted to cocaine, although Halsted became addicted in the 1880s and cured his addiction by replacing cocaine with morphine. The Knick’s African American surgeon, Dr Algernon Edwards, is another fictional character who is possibly an amalgam of two notable doctors—Daniel Hale Williams,2 and Louis T. Wright.3 Williams set up Chicago’s first non-segregated hospital and was the first African American to be admitted to the American College of Surgeons. Wright, a Harvard graduate, was the first African American doctor to work as a surgeon in a non-segregated hospital, at Harlem Hospital in New York City. Another example of altering facts to suit the fictional world of the television program is The Knickerbocker Hospital itself. This hospital existed in Harlem New York City, and served the community from 1862–1979. It had several name changes before finally settling on The Knickerbocker in 1913, a name it kept until a few years before its closure. Like its television counterpart, it had a policy of refusing to treat African Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century. Casting the African American surgeon Dr Edwards as a main character in a hospital that doesn’t treat African American patients appears to be employed for dramatic effect, as there is no evidence that this took place as early as 1900. However, elements of the show are historically accurate and well chosen for their dramatic interest. For example, in the final episode of season one, a character with a mental illness has all her teeth extracted by physician Dr Henry Cotton...