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''Kingdom Hospital'' (sometimes known as ''Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital'') is a thirteen-episode television series based on Lars von Trier's '' The Kingdom'' ( Danish title: ''Riget''), developed by
horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...
writer Stephen King in 2004 for American television. While initially conceived as a miniseries, it was later changed into a regular television series (albeit one that lasted one season). It was first aired on ABC on March 3 and concluded on July 15, 2004 after being put on hold during NBA playoffs. ''Kingdom Hospital'' has been compared to the paranormal hospital drama series '' All Souls'', another production which had been inspired by Von Trier's ''The Kingdom.''


Plot

The story tells of the fictional Kingdom Hospital located in Lewiston, Maine, built on the site of a mill that manufactured military uniforms during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
. Previously, a hospital known as the "Old Kingdom" had been built on the site, but it burned 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 the cynical yet compassionate Dr. Hook to uncover the truth about the hospital and the mysterious spirits who haunt it – including a sinister teenage boy, a young girl who had died in the fire that burned the original hospital down, and a strange animal that follows and protects the young girl, who calls it Antubis (it is similar to a giant anteater, but whose long snout opens up to a set of jagged teeth). Elsewhere, Peter Rickman, a painter who is admitted to the hospital following a road accident (with severe injuries to his
skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, t ...
and spine) 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 Dr Lona Massingale.


Cast


The hospital staff

* Andrew McCarthy as Dr. Hook, the handsome surgeon who has made it his life's work to destroy incompetence among doctors. * Bruce Davison as Dr. Stegman, the arrogant, egotistical neurosurgeon who is on the verge of being initiated into the secret society of Kingdom Hospital, despite his numerous malpractice suits. He is given to repetitive bragging of his "great career" in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
, 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. Edward James Begley Jr. (born September 16, 1949) is an American actor and environmental activist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He played Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series ''St. E ...
as Dr. Jesse James, Kingdom Hospital'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. He is smitten with Dr. Massingale and pursues her romantically. * 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 Hospital's friendliest doctor, who has a romantic interest in Dr. Hook. * William Wise as Dr. Louis Traff, the leader of the Keepers, and also an important doctor at Kingdom Hospital; its longest serving member. * Lena Georgas as Nurse Carrie von Trier, Peter's nurse, who is afraid of blood. * Brandon Bauer as Abel Lyon, an orderly with
Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with child development, physical growth delays, mild to moderate ...
, 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 Mendelson, 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 The phonology of Standard German is the standard pronunciation or accent of the German language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof as well as the geographical variants and the influen ...
. Blondi's name is a reference to
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's favorite German Shepherd Dog, also named Blondi. * Del Pentecost as Bobby Druse, Mrs. Druse's son, and an orderly at the hospital.


Patients, past and present

* Diane Ladd as Sally Druse, a professed
psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...
, 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, a comatose painter who is discovering the past and future of Kingdom Hospital. He has latent psychic abilities that are triggered after his near death experience and proceed to develop through the season allowing him to perceive ghosts and travel between the human and spirit world. * Suki Kaiser as Natalie Rickman, Peter's wife, determined not to believe in the phenomena plaguing Kingdom Hospital. * 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. Gottreich's young assistant, who haunts the hospital as a figure of evil.


Recurring cast

*
Ron Selmour Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...
as the firecracker man * Zak Santiago as Dr. Sonny Gupta * Beverley Elliott as Nurse Brick Bannerman * Christopher Heyerdahl as Reverend Jimmy Criss, a "miracle worker" *
Antony Holland Antony Holland (28 March 1920 – 29 July 2015) was an English actor, playwright and theatre director who until his death in 2015 lived on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada. History Holland completed his drama training at the Labour ...
as Lenny Stillmach, an elderly patient *
Michael Lerner Michael or Mike Lerner may refer to: * Michael Lerner (actor) (1941–2023), American actor *Michael Lerner (angler) (1890–1978), American angler and businessman * Michael Lerner (rabbi) (born 1943), social activist *Michael Benjamin Lerner (born ...
as Sheldon Fleischer, a scheming attorney * Bill Meilen as Dr. Gottreich, a ghostly
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...
expert * Claudette Mink as Celeste Daldry, a reporter for Channel 9 * Ty Olsson as Danny, an EMT *
Gerard Plunkett Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...
as Dr. Richard Shwartzon, a seismologist * Paul Perri as Frank Schweigen, a vagrant who falls victim to Steg's incompetence and Elmer's pranks * Benjamin Ratner as Ollie, Danny's fellow EMT * Ryan Robbins as Dave Hoonan, Peter's hit and run driver * Alan Scarfe as Dr. Henry Havens *
Jim Shield Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...
as Rolf Pedersen, a
convict A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...
in the hospital *
Emily Tennant Emily Tennant (born August 9, 1990) is a Canadian actress. She played Ivy Young on the Canadian comedy television series '' Mr. Young''. Life and career Tennant was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2000, she played her first role in the ...
as Mona Klingerman, a young girl with irreparable brain damage due to Steg's incompetence * Janet Wright as Nurse Liz Hinton * Kett Turton as Antubis, the giant anteater-like companion of the ghost of Mary Jensen. Near the end of the season, he reveals his true name is Anubis, but accepts Mary's mispronunciation of his name without any problems.


Guest stars

Charles Martin Smith Charles Martin Smith (born October 30, 1953) is an American actor, writer, and director of film and television, based in British Columbia. He is known for his roles in '' American Graffiti'' (1973), '' The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), ''Never Cry W ...
, Wayne Newton, Lorena Gale ('' Battlestar Galactica''), Bruce Harwood ('' The Lone Gunmen''), Evangeline Lilly ('' Lost''), Tygh Runyan ('' The L Word''), Peter Wingfield ('' Highlander: The Series''), Callum Keith Rennie ('' Due South''), Christine Willes ('' Dead Like Me''), William B. Davis (''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...
''), and Stephen King ("writer") all have guest appearances.


Production

King and producer Mark Carliner discovered the source material, the five-hour Danish television movie called ''Riget'' (''Kingdom'' in English), while searching through a video store during the making of the 1997 TV miniseries adaptation of King's novel '' The Shining''. They tried to buy the rights to the Danish original, only to learn that
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
had acquired them and intended to make a theatrical movie. After five years, Columbia concluded the work could not be adapted in two-hour form and sold the rights in exchange for the rights to King's novella from the 1990 book '' Four Past Midnight'' called ''
Secret Window, Secret Garden ''Four Past Midnight'' is a collection of novellas written by Stephen King in 1988 and 1989 and published in August 1990. It is his second book of this type, the first one being ''Different Seasons''. The collection won the Bram Stoker Award in 1 ...
''. This was the first time he had adapted someone else's work rather than his own from scratch. King kept most of the characters and dark humor in place, but added a new central character named Peter Rickman who was based on his own personal experience after being hit by a minivan. King described the finished product as "the thing I like best out of all the things I've done." The series is known for its tangential plots and characters who recur throughout, as King called it a "novelization for television". King committed to write the story line for the following year, should ABC decide to continue the series. While written as a miniseries, many fans wanted it to be renewed for a second season, and Stephen King had a storyboard written out for one. After incredibly successful ratings for the first episode, the highest rating drama debut of the year on ABC, ratings plummeted thereafter. Despite being cancelled, the series did receive Emmy Award nominations for Special Visual Effects for a Series and Main Title Design.


Episodes


Reception

The show received mixed reviews from critics. ''
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'' review argued that the "plot unfolds disjointedly and without enough suspense." CNN felt the premiere was promising and the "jittery pacing and oddball sensibility" were reminiscent of '' Twin Peaks.'' The ''
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'' review stated that the show "does have a few frightening moments, but they don't compensate for the lackluster performances, the absence of character development, humor or pacing, or the wild fluctuations in tone." The review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
gave the series a 46% approval rating based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Stephen King may bring autobiographical flourishes to this remake of a Danish series, but the self-indulgent ''Kingdom Hospital'' lacks the horror maestro's penchant for good scares."


Music


Distribution


Broadcasters

* Australia: Seven Network / Prime Television /
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* Argentina: SyFy Channel /
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* Belgium:
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* Bolivia: Red ATB/Red PAT (2015) * Brazil: AXN * Canada: ABC * Chile: RED TV * Denmark:
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* Finland: Nelonen * France: M6 * Germany: Kabel 1 * Greece: Mega Channel * Hong Kong: TVB Pearl * Hungary:
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/ RTL Klub * Honduras: SyFy Channel/ AXN * Italy: Italia 1 * Poland: TVP2 / AXN


Home video

The entire series was released on DVD. The DVD includes four short featurettes that cover the making of the miniseries: *''Patients and Doctors: The Cast of Kingdom Hospital'' is a segment running approximately 14 minutes that takes a look at the 'whys' and 'wherefores' of the casting decisions. *''Inside The Walls: The Making of Kingdom Hospital'' is a segment running a quarter of an hour that gives us a look at the thought process behind getting the actual miniseries made from its origins as Von Trier's original Danish production through King's 're-imagining' of that work. *''Designing Kingdom Hospital: A Tour'' is a seven-minute piece on the set design. *''The Magic of Antubis'' is an eight-minute look at the creation of the anteater with thoughts from the director and the chief effects supervisor. In addition to the four featurettes, there is also a commentary track on the first episode with King, director Craig Baxley, producer Mark Carliner and visual effects supervisor James Tichenor.


References


External links

*
''Kingdom Hospital'' series page
at BBC.co.uk * * {{Craig R. Baxley 2000s American horror television series 2004 American television series debuts 2004 American television series endings 2004 Canadian television series debuts 2004 Canadian television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming Fictional hospitals Television shows written by Stephen King Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by ABC Studios Television shows set in Maine Television shows filmed in Vancouver English-language television shows Horror fiction television series Lars von Trier