A ‘jaw-dropping’ series that follows the real-life story of a woman who went from the Forbes rich list to being sentenced to more than a decade behind bars is now streaming for free.
In 2003 American biotechnology entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, then 19, set up the health technology company Theranos, which claimed to have revolutionised blood testing.
Holmes claimed that she’d developed methods of blood testing that needed only small volumes, like a fingerprick, also asserting that her tests and product was better, cheaper and faster than traditional laboratory methods.
However, it was a complete lie – with the technology not only ineffective but posing serious risks to patient’s health as it provided incorrect diagnostics.
But before the fraud was uncovered, Theranos managed to raise more than $700million (£516million) from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $9billion (£6billion) valuation at its peak in 2013.
In 2015, Holmes was also named the youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in the United States by Forbes.
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But within a year her company came crumbling down.
The story of Holmes’ rise and fall was detailed in the 2022 series The Dropout, which was this week added to ITVX.
Running across eight episodes, the show is based on the ABC Audio podcast of the same name and stars Amanda Seyfried as Holmes.
As its original broadcaster Disney teased: ‘Money. Romance. Tragedy. Deception. The Dropout is the story of Elizabeth and Theranos, an unbelievable tale of ambition and fame gone terribly wrong. How did the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire lose it all in the blink of an eye?’
It also starred Naveen Andrews, Elizabeth Marvel, William H. Macy, Stephen Fry, and Sam Waterston.
The Dropout was a critical success, being nominated for six Emmys and two Golden Globe awards.
It holds a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critics’ consensus reading: ‘The Dropout succeeds more as a docudrama than a dark comedy, but Amanda Seyfried’s disquieting portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes brings fresh blood to this retelling of recent history.’
‘It was only a matter of time before someone adapted Holmes’ story to the screen. The Dropout is the first – and its canny performances, writing, and directing should set a high bar for every other version to come,’ Variety wrote in its review.
‘It’s a maddening, gripping, and at times startlingly funny recreation of a story that would feel too absurd to be true if we didn’t already know otherwise,’ Rolling Stone shared.
‘Employing a deftly selected soundtrack of early-to-mid-aughts bangers to bring home the cultural specificity of her rise and fall, the limited series compounds both the gravity and ridiculousness of what Holmes did not achieve,’ Vanity Fair added.
We Live Entertainment also explained: ‘In Amanda Seyfried, it’s difficult to imagine a better choice, as the Oscar-nominated performer not only captures the socially-stunted side of Holmes but the aggressively vile liar who lay at the centre of the carefully crafted persona.’
Meanwhile viewers called it ‘captivating’, ‘insightful’ and a series that ‘exceeded their expectations’.
Theranos’ downfall was first uncovered by a series of journalists and regulatory investigations who questioned the company’s claims and whether Holmes had been truthful with investors and the government.
In 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Theranos, Holmes, and former Theranos chief operating officer Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani with raising $700 million from investors through a fraud involving false or exaggerated claims about the accuracy of the company’s blood-testing technology.
Following a trial, Holmes was convicted in 2022 of defrauding investors and acquitted of defrauding patients. She was sentenced to serve just over 11 years, while she and Balwani were also ordered to pay $452 million in restitution to the victims of the fraud.
The now 42-year-old has been in a relationship with hotel heir William Evans since 2017, with the pair sharing two children – a son born in 2021 and a daughter who was born in 2023. When her pregnancy was announced weeks before her sentencing, Holmes was accused of conceiving a second child as a strategy for delaying the start of her prison term, however she denied these claims.
She is due to be released in 2032.
The Dropout is streaming on Disney Plus and ITVX.
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