Stephen King's Haunted Hospital

By Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

In 1996, Stephen King wandered into a video store and picked up the Danish film Riget (The Kingdom). The thriller, directed by Lars von Trier (Dancer in the Dark) and set in a haunted hospital, spooked even the King of Creepy. "I thought, We really ought to do this for American TV," he recalls.

King continued to covet the project even after film studio Sony acquired it. Then, in 1998, he was hit by a car in rural Maine and confined for months in--that's right--a hospital. Inspired and determined, he made a deal with Sony, secured a series with ABC and swiftly banged out most of Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital.

The 15-hour series, which begins on Feb. 5, takes place in a state-of-the-art hospital built on the grounds of--cue minor-key music--a textile mill that burned down long ago. The lead characters include Dr. Hook, played by long-lost Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy, a "brilliant" surgeon who isn't so brilliant that he can find a home outside the hospital basement or a hobby outside of collecting scalpels. Diane Ladd is Mrs. Druse, a "psychic hypochondriac." Bruce Davison plays Dr. Stegman, a hopelessly incompetent yet arrogant doctor. Naturally, the spirits of the child workers who died in the fire lurk in the corridors; naturally, the living characters foolishly ignore them.

What's next for King, who has retired, sort of, from writing novels? "John Mellencamp and I are talking about a Broadway show," King says. O.K., now you're really scaring us. --L.T.C.