SCI FI PI

In an Australian TV premiere, SCI FI presents Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. Premiering Thursday the 7th of January, at 8.30pm!

Stephen King is one freaky guy. He spends his days (and nights) delving into the bowels of hell, digging up chewy bits and then spitting it out onto a world eager for more. He is the world’s agreed upon master of horror, and with recent outings like Cell has proven he is still just as creepy, scary and horrifiyingly relevant as ever.

One of the more interesting tidbits in a long career that stretches all the way back to his first novel, Carrie, is that out of all the novels and films and made for tv films, he’s only ever been involved in one TV series – the thirteen part Kingdom Hospital.





It's set in the eponymous Kingdom Hospital in Lewiston, Maine (where else? King fans know that pretty much everything he writes is set in Maine), which was built on the site of a mill that manufactured military uniforms during the American Civil War. Previously, a hospital known as the "Old Kingdom" had been built on the site, but it burnt down. The current hospital is known as the "New Kingdom". The hospital's "turbulent" nature seems to reflect its ominous logo, a crimson stylized dagger, predicting what will come.

A psychic named Mrs. Druse has checked into the hospital numerous times and is taken by the staff to be a hypochondriac. She asks for the assistance of Dr. Hook to uncover the truth about the hospital and the mysterious spirits who haunt it — including a young girl, killed after the original fire; a sinister teenage boy; and a strange animal, similar to a giant anteater, whose long snout opens up to a horrifying set of teeth.





Elsewhere, Peter Rickman, a painter who is admitted to the hospital following a road accident (with severe injuries to his skull and spine, based on the real life events that almost killed King himself) begins to discover the ghastly goings-on while he lies comatose in room 426.

Other subplots included the initiation of arrogant chief of surgery Dr. Stegman into the secret society known as the 'Keepers', and the challenged-at-every-turn flirtation between young Dr. Elmer Traff and sleep doctor Lona Massingale.





Based on the ground-braking Danish TV series, "Riget" created by Lars Von Trier, Kingdom Hospital is a horror-comedy that should challenge your notion of what TV should be, shunning episodic storytelling for a 'novelization' approach, similar to 'The Wire'. It blends horror and comedy in some pretty bizarre ways. Ground-breaking, unsettling, atmospheric, and fun.





The cast of Kingdom Hospital is simply extraordinary:

Andrew McCarthy as Dr. Hook, the handsome surgeon who lives in the hospital's basement, and who has made it his life's work to destroy incompetence among doctors.

Bruce Davison as Dr. Stegman, the arrogant neurosurgeon who is on the verge of being initiatied into the secret society of Kingdom Hospital, despite his numerous malpractice suits. He is given to repetitive bragging of his "great career" in Boston, Massachusetts.

Meagen Fay as Dr. Brenda Abelson, Steg's only true friend in the hospital, an ambitious woman who would stop at nothing for what she wants.

Ed Begley, Jr. as Dr. Jesse James, Kingdom's Chief of Staff, and member of the 'Keepers' - the Secret Society, who spends his time initiating "Operation: Morning Air".

Jamie Harrold as Dr. Elmer Traff, a young surgeon whose father is an important man in the hospital.

Sherry Miller as Dr. Lona Massingale, the enigmatic sleep doctor, and love interest of Elmer, despite her determination not to get involved with "a child".

Allison Hossack as Dr. Christine Draper, Kingdom's friendliest doctor, who has a romantic interest in Doctor Hook.

William Wise as Dr. Louis Traff, the leader of the Keepers, and also an important doctor at Kingdom; its longest serving member.

Lena Georgas as Nurse Carrie von Trier Peter's nurse, afraid of blood.

Brandon Bauer as Abel Lyon, an orderly, with Down Syndrome, who sneaks around Kingdom Hospital with his friend Christa, being a trickster. Both he and Christa have an uncanny knack of knowing all the hospital's goings-on, including those of the otherworld.

Jennifer Cunningham as Christa, Abel's partner-in-crime, who also has Down Syndrome. Abel and Christa show a strange affinity for the hospital's mechanical workings.

Julian Richings as Otto, the all-purpose man of Kingdom, who regularly watches the security feeds. Otto is accompanied by Blondi, an intelligent German Shepherd dog. Blondi has on several occasions shown self-consciousness and actual thought capabilities; as an in-joke, he thinks in a German accent.

Del Pentecost as Bobby Drusse, Mrs. Drusse's son, and an orderly at the hospital.

Diane Ladd as Sally Drusse, a professed psychic, who regularly checks into Kingdom Hospital for all sorts of complaints, and who is determined to discover the truth lurking in the hospital's depths.

Jack Coleman as Peter Rickman, comatose painter who is discovering the past and future of Kingdom.

Suki Kaiser as Natalie Rickman, Peter's wife, determined not to believe in the phenomena plaguing Kingdom.

Jodelle Micah Ferland as Mary Jensen, the ghost of a girl murdered to cover up the arson of the mill in the 1860s; she is a symbol of death in Kingdom Hospital.

Kett Turton as Paul Morlock, Dr. Gotrich's young assistant, who haunts the hospital as a figure of evil.

Richings and Turton provide the voices of Blondi the dog and Antubis the anteater, respectively.







To check out our online show and episode guide, click here.


Kingdom Hospital - 8.30pm Thursdays, on Channel 125!