Lukáš Vaculík in the serial shackles. The creators prepared a large dose of injustice for him, but he himself can handle such situations.

Based on real events

You may have also noticed the mysterious billboard with the face of actor Lukáš Vaculík combined with the words Night Operator. TV series fans already know that this is a new project, which is now available on the streaming service prima+. Vaculík became the main face of a four-part miniseries, which was created based on real events. Sisters Kateřina and Jitka Bártů, who are signed under the now legendary never-ending series Family Ties, set out to create a series from a medical environment with a criminal plot, which was inspired by an attempted murder case from 2022. At that time, a woman was attacked in Prague, who was then saved by doctors by manually compressing her heart for eighty minutes. The patient was successfully saved and the rescuers set a world record. Both ladies apparently knew when writing the story that the role of a confident cardio surgeon, capable of such things, had to be played by Lukáš Vaculík. But of course, they didn't just hand it to him. Portraying a respected doctor, who is successful and respected by everyone, would probably be boring.

Screenwriting Challenge

"Every screenwriter's first thought is how to embitter and ruin their character's life and put them in such a critical crisis situation. In the case of a doctor who is exceptional, we thought about what it would be like if this person experienced a downfall, what it would be like to kick a demigod from Olympus to the bottom," the Bártů sisters outlined their intentions at the press conference of the series. And so the character of Vojtěch Hart, played by Vaculík, gets into trouble. His colleague is found dead and he is the last one who saw her alive. Everything points against him and he can't even properly defend himself - after a car accident that happened to him the same night, he remembers nothing. The top doctor suddenly finds himself in custody, naked, humiliated and discredited, and the burning questions of guilt, innocence, and justice and injustice hang in the air.

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Personal experience

What did the actor draw from and how did he manage to capture such a critical situation?

"I have experienced similar feelings, but not so harshly, it was not that fatal. In your life, things happen that may cross a certain boundary, cross an imaginary line, and then you say that it's not possible to leave it like that, a person has to speak up. But in my case, it was not a matter of either or, completely,"

Lukáš Vaculík revealed for LP-Life. He was referencing a case from 2011. The actor then succeeded in court and for the fabricated report about his alleged homosexuality, which appeared in the tabloid, he was paid a record amount of damages for that time, 300,000 crowns. It was talked about the text being a revenge for the actor refusing to communicate with the tabloid.

Vaculík is renowned for guarding his privacy, and conducting interviews sparingly and if so, they are mostly about work. In response to LP-Life's question whether after this case the actor is even more careful about what he says where, he replied that he is not. "Since then, I feel like the tabloids are more careful," he thinks. At the same time, he pointed out that although he appears in series and mini-series quite often, he does not primarily focus on this sector. "I always do something and then I don't do anything for two or three years," he adds, indicating that theatre is his main interest.

Source: author's text, own inquiry, Aktualne.cz, prima+