FAIR CITY'S DR JACK IN PILL DEATH

A SHOCKING suicide is about to rock Fair City to its foundations.

Bosses at RTE, who make the popular TV soap opera, have given the go- ahead for a controversial storyline in which Dr Jack Shanahan takes a massive drugs overdose after trying to kill his ex-lover.

The move drives a coach and horses through the usual taboo of never showing death in a home- produced TV programme.

And the sensational episode is expected to send the show's audience beyond the magic million mark.

Dr Jack, played by Eddie Naessens, is Ireland's most despised TV character.

Viewers will see him swallow a lethal cocktail of pills after plunging into depression over his failed love affair with beauty Lorraine Molloy (played by actress Maeve McGrath.)

But first he tries to kill Lorraine and her former boyfriend, Jimmy.

Script-writers are still working out details of the suicide, which will be screened in the next few weeks, but an RTE source said yesterday: "A lot of viewers may not like what they see, but we feel it's a logical development to the story-line.

"After all, Dr Jack is deeply depressed, his career is in tatters, his love life is up the creek - and he has easy access to lethal drugs.

"The audience will have noticed that he has become unstable over the past few episodes."

The show's writers had to get special clearance for the suicide scene from RTE bosses.

A station spokesman said: "Fair City is not going out of its way to shock viewers. The show's producers will do everything possible not to frighten or offend.

"But we must remember that suicide is now a very common and tragic thing in Ireland."

"All issues must be treated in good taste, but events like murder, domestic violence and suicide cannot be ignored.

"Soap operas are supposed to reflect everyday life - and death. These things happen in our society every day."

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