Seeing as it’s the start of Spooky Season, I’ve been casting around for seasonally appropriate shows and movies that we may have overlooked because it always feels like we’ve covered everything and then suddenly, the streaming algorithm throws something at me that seems like it should have been covered ages ago, and yet somehow we haven’t gotten to it. Jekyll and Hyde (2015) is just such a flick (ok, technically, it’s a miniseries that never got green-lit for a second season).
Starring Tom Bateman as Robert Jekyll, grandson of the infamous Dr. Jekyll, who discovers he’s a “Hyde” — which is the show’s clever way of introducing the idea that Mr. Hyde wasn’t just an alter ego, but a type of supernatural creature lurking in his DNA that the original Dr. Jekyll unleashed through his experimentation — and has to learn how to responsibly become a terrifyingly amoral monster any time he gets the least bit inconvenienced. Set in the 1930s and mostly in London (save for some bits here and there in India with Robert’s adoptive Indian family), the show plays with classic “monster of the week” horror tropes, introducing a whole slew of supernatural creatures who are trying to get their hands on Jekyll’s powerful Hyde for nefarious, world-domination purposes.
The plot is not complicated in the least, which is actually what I enjoyed the most about the show. It’s a campy horror fantasy tale with elements of noir and murder-mystery thrown in for good measure, all tied up in an attractive little 1930s package. That said, apparently the show was pulled for a second season after complaints rolled in that it was “too gory,” which is so bizarre to me considering it was right in line with Penny Dreadful, which was also on around the same time and managed at least a handful of seasons with similar a premise. Meanwhile, American Horror Story is still churning out gory pap 15 years on from its debut, but I digress.
Costume designer Howard Burden, whose work on Poldark our readers will likely be the most familiar with (and will no doubt notice that several alums from that show are also in this one), was tasked with creating a believable 1930s London despite the supernatural characters. Speaking of Burden’s work, Tom Bateman related,
The costumes help tremendously. They hold you in a certain way. I love the coat I wear. I tried on loads of things to see what worked and what didn’t. The costume designer Howard Burden came up with this one coat and as soon as I put it on it felt completely right.
Have you watched Jekyll and Hyde (2015)? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Find this frock flick at:
I remember nothing of this TV show, except I watched it, that should tell you something.
That Tenebrae lady has Vampire Cheekbones, I swear (I swear, she looks as though she could have had my great-grandparents liquidated at a word).
I can’t see much of Bella’s jewelry, but the bracelet and earrings are at least nodding at Art Deco styles popular at the time.
This article has made me consider how curious it is that so few adaptations of THE STRANGE CASE OF DOCTOR JEKYLL AND MISTER HYDE work the angle inherent to the original plot – the horror of seeing a friend become completely unrecognisable due to an addiction, albeit in this case even more literally than most.
We’ve had umpteen tales of personal horror and ‘Evil self Vs Good self’, it might be interesting to see things from the perspective of someone other than the Doctor for once (and one could certainly mine a good deal of pathos from the audience knowing more than the characters do at almost every point).
It might be interesting to split the role of Jekyll & Hyde between two actors for a change too.