The Dropout tells the story of the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of biotech company Theranos, starring Amanda Seyfried.
The true crime series starring Amanda Seyfried is now available to stream on ITVX.
The Dropout chronicles the true story behind the collapse of tech firm Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes.
The tale commences in 2002, when Holmes embarked on a chemical engineering degree at the prestigious Stanford University in California, where she quickly began developing concepts for groundbreaking inventions.
Her initial concept involved creating a patch that would adhere to a person’s skin and continuously monitor the body for infections, automatically dispensing antibiotics when required. While the idea appeared fascinating in principle, it proved physically unachievable.
Professor of Medicine Dr Phyllis Gardner (Laurie Metcalf) advised Holmes of this, but she appeared to dismiss the academic’s knowledge as an underestimation of her capabilities.
Holmes insisted that she could “change the world” with this pioneering technology and garnered international acclaim, reports the Express.
She left Stanford before completing her second year to concentrate on her new venture, Theranos, which centred around an equally ambitious and potentially transformative piece of technology.
Nevertheless, when The Wall Street Journal launched an investigation into the firm, its reporting triggered a cascade of enquiries and increased scrutiny of Theranos, prompting it to become more transparent about its tightly guarded methods.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation, and 40 per cent of staff were made redundant a year later as the company went through restructuring.
Following the charges, the trial was postponed due to Holmes’ pregnancy and the COVID-19 pandemic, but eventually commenced in September 2021, with a jury convicting her on four counts of defrauding investors four months later.
No verdict was reached on three additional counts of wire fraud against investors, which the government later dropped, while Holmes was also acquitted on four counts of defrauding patients.
On 18th November 2022, Holmes received a sentence of 11 years and three months in prison, and she began serving her sentence in Texas on 30th May 2023.
The Dropout chronicles the dramatic downfall of the woman Forbes once dubbed the “youngest self-made female billionaire” in the world.
“Wow.. this show is insane. I want to start off by saying that I know movies and shows overdramatise true stories, so I’m speaking solely about the show right now. This goes from you rooting for the main character to you hating her.. like a real life Anakin Skywalker story”, one viewer commented about the series in a review on IMDB.
Another remarked, “The story itself is good. It moved at a quick pace, and everything they got is amazing. The one that played Edmund Ko, Stephen Fry as Ian Gibbons, are standouts for me. Sunny was also great.”
A third wrote: “Highly Watchable With Great Performances”, while another stated: “Wonderful! One of the very best shows you can see. Amanda Seyfried deserves every award to which she is eligible. Her performance as Elizabeth Holmes is off the chart.”
The Dropout is available to stream on ITVX