Vincent Lam's 'Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures' to be made into TV series

Brad Frenette, The National Post
June 8, 2009

he Movie Network and Movie Central have announced that they've acquired a forthcoming television series based on Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Toronto writer Vincent Lam.

The series will be called Bloodletting and is due to start filming in Toronto and Hamilton later this month. It will premiere on the networks (The Movie Network in the east and Movie Central in the west) in early 2010. 

The eight episode series will be based on the interconnected short stories in Lam's book (which picked up Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2006). The work is in good hands - it's being adapted by Governor General-winning playwright Jason Sherman.

Here's the summary, via the press release: "Bloodletting follows a group of conflicted young doctors from medical school through their internships and on to their years as emergency room doctors. Their stories reveal that there are no miracles in hospitals, just hard work, hope, pain, mistakes – and the occasional triumph. The series is produced by Shaftesbury Films with executive producers Scott Garvie, Christina Jennings and Julie Lacey."

Shaftesbury has tapped a trio of talented directors to work on the series, including Rachel Talalay (Terminal City), Kari Skogland (The Stone Angel) and Erik Canuel (Flashpoint, Bon Cop Bad Cop).

You can read Take All of Murphy, one of the stories from the book – as well as listen to excerpts of some of the others – on Vincent Lam's site.

© 2009 The National Post