Violent Doctor Crippen starts drinking wine (7)
I believe the answer is:
drastic
'violent doctor crippen starts drinking wine' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'doctor crippen starts drinking wine' is the wordplay.
'doctor' becomes 'dr' ('Dr' can be a synonym of 'doctor').
'starts' indicates taking the first letters.
'drinking' is an insertion indicator.
'wine' becomes 'asti' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'crippen' is 'c'.
'dr'+'c'='drc'
'drc' going around 'asti' is 'DRASTIC'.
(Other definitions for drastic that I've seen before include "Extremely severe" , "Desperate" , "Very severe or serious" , "'Severe, extreme (7)'" , "Harsh, severe" .)