Dopesick following the spread of the opioid crisis in America and the Sackler family's involvement

If the answer is yes, then BBC Two is the place to be this Sunday evening. A few weeks ago, the Beeb broadcast The Dropout, a mini-series based on a true story that had originally been available via Disney+.

Clearly it was a success, because now it’s doing the same thing again.

Dopesick first hit British screens via the streaming service in late 2021, and is now making its way onto regular TV. It’s not always an easy watch, but it is brilliantly acted, written and covers a hugely important story – the opioid epidemic that has swept across the US, resulting in thousands of overdoses.

“It made me feel furious and I, thankfully, am not directly linked to anyone who’s been lost,” says one of the series’ stars, Will Poulter. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a victim of this crisis, to be battling with the disease of addiction in relation to this drug.

“And for the families of the victims, and the people associated indirectly with this, my heart goes out to them.”

Created by Danny Strong, the actor-turned-writer who appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mad Men and Gilmore Girls before penning screenplays for the two-part Hunger Games finale and the TV show Empire, it’s based on journalist Beth Macy’s non-fiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America.

It reveals how, after pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that people would not become addicted, healthcare providers began prescribing opioid pain relievers to an increasing number of patients in the late 1990s.

Since then, evidence has revealed that this rise has led to widespread misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioids in the US. Dopesick focuses on the part allegedly played by the company Sacklers, who own Purdue Pharma, in the crisis.

Poulter plays sales rep Billy Cutler, who is employed to help launch a new painkiller.

“I’m really grateful to people like Beth Macy, with her investigative journalism, and the book that she created, and writers like Danny Strong, who have brought the truth to light and have allowed people to see the realities of how we got to this stage,” claims the London-born star, before adding: “For the prevailing narrative to be that the opioid crisis is due to a handful of people who derailed an otherwise good drug because they were looking for a high, that’s so upsetting, because it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“This was a drug that was introduced as a legitimate non-addictive form of pain relief, and it was a dangerous, highly addictive narcotic, and the reason it was introduced was solely for financial gain, and that’s the upsetting reality that we have to confront.”

The series begins with a double-bill directed by Oscar-winner Barry Levinson, which focuses on the development of the painkiller Oxycontin.

Michael Keaton, Michael Stuhlbarg, Kaitlyn Dever and Peter Sarsgaard are also among the excellent cast of a series that could be described as America’s equivalent to our own Mr Bates vs The Post Office – both use TV to shine a light on scandals with a direct impact on the public.