Was it pop art imitating life or just plain coincidence? On Thursday night, viewers of Sky One watched as ER's Dr Doug Ross was forced to resign in disgrace after assisting at the mercy killing of a terminally ill boy at the behest of his parents. Just days earlier a real-life American doctor had received a prison sentence for administering a lethal injection to one of his dying patients.
TV's version of Dr Death was played by George Clooney, the doe-eyed small-screen idol with hair more salt than pepper and a smile that can set pulses racing at 50 paces. But the Hollywood hunk that fans would gladly undergo heart surgery for strolled this week through the swinging doors of Chicago County Hospital for the last time.
Fans in the US had already witnessed the departure of the world's most lusted-after pediatrician while those who watch the show on RTE1 can savour his presence for another three episodes.
Events could have been much more traumatic for dishy Dr Ross, who was lucky to check out alive. "We're planning a big surprise for George," one scriptwriter had said, back when speculation was mounting as to exactly how Dr Ross would go.
"His character will be shot in the ER and killed in an awful bloody rampage by a gang member". Clooney was quoted at the time as saying he didn't mind "just as long as I don't get testicular cancer".
He joined the cast of the Michael Crichton-devised Chicago-based medical drama series in 1994 and is seen by producers as one of the reasons the show became the most successful ever on American television, watched by 35 million viewers every week. Before he left he is said to have been paid £8 million per episode.
While Clooney's first TV appearance came at age five (for a spot on his father Nick Clooney's talk show), it wasn't until he was 21 and moved from Maysfield, Kentucky, to LA that he began acting. The story goes that he secured his first job, in a stereo commercial, after arriving to the audition with a six-pack of beer under his arm.
"The best actor never gets the job," Clooney has said. "Especially in TV. You get the job when you walk in the door because in a weird way we are not selling acting, we are selling confidence."
Confident or not, the next 10 years saw Clooney stagger from one TV or movie turkey to another. By the age of 31 he had starred in such memorable productions as Return of the Killer Tomatoes, Grizzly 2 and had 15 never-seen pilot programmes under his belt. He had married and divorced actress Talia Balsam (after which he swore he would never marry again), and had earned the title of the world's richest unknown actor.
ER changed all that. The programme is grittier than most medical dramas, the blood more realistic, the script (laden with obligatory incomprehensible medical jargon) pacier, while at more exciting moments the camera work lends an almost docusoap air to proceedings.
Before he settled down with on-screen girlfriend Nurse Carol Hathaway he was the resident womaniser on ER, enjoying a string of affairs with, among others, a hospital administrator, a drugs company worker, a medical student, and his father's girlfriend.
The permanently tanned, practical trick-playing actor is notoriously guarded about his private life. He met his live-in girlfriend, 25-year-old French woman Celine Balitran, while visiting a friend in Paris.
Celine worked in a bar and George says she didn't know who he was when they met (yeah, right) but she moved over to his LA ranch to be with him almost immediately afterwards. Despite his vow not to marry again, his desire to spend more time with Celine is thought to be one of the reasons behind his departure from ER, and the childcare worker is currently sporting an expensive sparkler on her engagement finger.
To some observers, Clooney's tough years before his acting success have brought out the best in him. "I think anyone who has been locked out for a while, who has been rejected, suffers. And I think that kind of suffering doesn't build character, it reveals it. Once some people get successful, they emerge bitter and resentful. In George's case, I think he is grateful for the opportunities he has now," said Bat- man Forever director Joel Schumacher.
As soon as he began to gain recognition for his role as Dr Ross, Clooney began to scout for meatier movie parts. Among them have been the Quentin Tarantino movie From Dusk Till Dawn, the comedy drama One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer, Peacemaker with Nicole Kidman, a stint as the rubber-suited one in Batman Forever and a cameo role in war movie The Thin Red Line.
His long spell in the showbiz wilderness has left him refreshingly egoless compared to the younger generation. In October 1997 he told People magazine to find somebody else to christen its Sexiest Man Alive. It put him on the cover anyway.
He is somewhat militant about press intrusion and has likened tabloid journalists, the so-called stalkerazzi, to crack dealers. Since then he has spearheaded a successful celebrity-fuelled campaign to reduce their ability to spy on the stars.
The actor has yet to star in a critically acclaimed box-office smash, despite being compared by some critics to Cary Grant at his prime. "The problem is," one commentator has said, "none of his female co-stars has proved to be his Grace Kelly."
He has left ER to work more on writing and producing and to secure the movie role that will catapult him into the Tom Hanks/Tom Cruise league of leading men.
He may have left TV for now, but the level-headed Clooney is under no illusions that at some stage in his career he is likely to come crawling back:
"Because it could happen easily that tomorrow I'll be grateful to be back on some cheesy sitcom and the film offers will have dried up. It really is all about perspectives and timing . . . so you never win, eventually we're all gonna end up in the Old Folks' home going `I was a big star once, you know' ."