Bad Luka Australia TV Week, 2003 by ? What on earth has happened to Dr Luka Kovac, the formerly good-natured doctor played by Goran Visnjic in ER? Since breaking up with Nurse Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney), the doc's behavious has become erratic. He's been drinking heavily, sleeping around and caused a car accident that almost claimed the life of a female student. "It's a little bit crazy for Luka," admits Goran, speaking to TV WEEK on the Los Angeles set of the Nine Network's hit US medical drama. "He loses a patient, and there was that car crash. He's not been drinking at work, fortunately, just living life a little bit crazier." Luka's womanising and hard-living ways haven't gone down well with some viewers, but Goran loves every second of playing a bad boy. "As things are getting bad for Luka, in my life as Goran, things are getting better," says the 30-year-old Croation actor, who joined the show in 1999. "It's more challenging to do more things as an actor. Everybody has some problems. People like to see that. Actors like to portray characters like that." But what do his hard-core fans think? "Some people like what's going on, they enjoy watching the show," he says. "But some people get a bit too into the show. They're getting a bit too serious. The fans ask why I'm so nasty. I have to respond that it's Luka, I'm Goran, we are a show, it's fantasy. That gets a little tricky." Life is unlikely to get any easier for Luka. In coming episodes, we'll see him battle with the rest of the ER staff, and his own demons. He may even consider leaving County General hospital for a posting in another country. "He's a bit misplaced and doesn't know what to do with himself," Goran says. "He thinks maybe he should go and join Doctors Without Borders (and serve in parts of the world where emergency medical aid is required.) He might do that, at the end of the season, travel outside the US...but I can't tell you anymore than that." Goran has plans to be like his alter ego and look for opportunities elsewhere. He loves appearing in ER. "In a perfect life, I would have a couple more years on ER," he says. "Then I would move to Europe and just read scripts." KALAMITY KOVAC Luka Kovac has had a bad year. Here's a few of his mistakes and mishaps. - He has a supply closet interlude with the mother of a sick girl he's treating. - Nurse Chuny Marques (Laura Ceron) files a grievance order against him for inappropriate sexual behaviour at work. - He picks up a prostitute in a bar - A desperate husband shows up in the ER and begs Luka to end his affair with his wife. - He takes home medical student Erin Harkins (Leslie Bibb) and makes a pass at her - He crashes his car, endangering Erin's life - Tired and hung-over, he mistreats a leukaemia patient who later dies