After the significant triumph of Showtime's "Penny Dreadful," it appears that many classic monster stories are now being revisited. Robert Louis Stevenson's enduring "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is the latest genre property in development, with ITV plotting an ambitious, 10-part "Jekyll & Hyde" series, according to an article at Deadline.
Stevenson's tale is being adapted by Charlie Higson, the British scribe behind the bestselling "Young Bond" series and the teen-targeted, post-apocalyptic "Enemy" series. Higson will both write and exec-produce the series. Unlike previous takes on the classic novel, Jekyll & Hyde is set in 1930s London at a time of Hollywood glamour, aerodynamic cars and monster movies.
This reworking will focus on Robert Jekyll, the grandson of the original doctor, who is described as "young, attractive and troubled." Evidently, some unfortunate family genetics have been passed down the family tree. After becoming a doctor, Robert sets out to discover his real identity, his true family history and the extent of his "curse," which is being medically controlled by a mysterious Dr. Vishal Najaran. Only one actor will play Jekyll, and his alter-ego Hyde, into whom he transforms in times of stress or when he or those around him are threatened.
CGI will play into "Jekyll & Hyde" in a large way, both during the transformation sequences into Jekyll and what Deadline describes as "subsequent superhero sequences." The tormented doctor isn't the only fantastical creature running around 1930s London though, as all manners of supernatural creatures (ghosts, werewolves, freaks, etc.) will factor into the overall story.
ITV is definitely banking on this series because unlike most British series, this one will film first in Sri Lanka before moving back to the U.K., and to realize ITV's and Higson's vision, the network has hired Colin Teague ("The White Queen") to direct.
