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| Charlie Creed-Miles as Pritty |
One of my greatest pleasures is to watch a new adaptation of an old and well known classic story. The television series The Frankenstein Chronicles is one such story. I waited three years to see this series and had all but given up on it when I discovered it on Netflix. I was delighted to see that the writers of The Frankenstein Chronicles were able to adapt Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" into a delightfully new and challenging story that incorporated Mary Shelley as a character in the series.
Although Mary Shelley's part appears small, a subplot within The Frankenstein Chronicles radiates around a forbidden medical act, which involves not only Mary, but her poet husband Percy Bysshe Shelly, the fictional characters James Hogg, and the mysterious Sir William Chester during an unnaturally cold and stormy summer night, which is reminiscent of the night in Geneva.
In the series, Sir William Chester is a renowned surgeon and pioneer of galvanism which is the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current.
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| Anna Maxwell Martin as Mary Shelley, Sean Bean as Inspector John Marlott, and Richie Campbell as Joseph Nightingale |
It is in episode three that Mary Shelly makes her first appearance as a frightful woman with a dark secret that precedes her Frankenstein novel. She prefers to live a quiet life with her young son, Percy, and write novels. However, it is with dread that she discovered from John Marlott, a river detective, that her novel appears to be the impossible and unbelievable blueprints for a madman who preys on children.
In the beginning, I came to believe that in this series Mary wrote Frankenstein not as a frivolous exercise of exploring the imagination on a stormy night of fun with friends, but as a potent of what she feared was to come.
However, the true horror of Mary's potent comes to light with the three year chase between Detective John Marlott, Joseph Nightingale (Marlott's partner), Lord Daniel Hervey, a genius but impoverished nobleman who runs a private charity hospital, and who appears to carry the darkest secret of all, and Esther Rose, a grieving seamstress whose desire to be reunited with her dead son leads her to travel down a madman's devilish path where there is no joy and much more sorrow than she ever imagine.
What ultimately happens to Marlott, Nightingale, and Esther Rose is mild when one considers the unnatural and depraved horrors committed to reshape their lives.
The Frankenstein Chronicles is not for everyone given that the series starts with the discovery of missing children, and the apparent attempt to reanimate the corpse of a child made of many parts.
Another famous person making an appearance in the series is William Blake, the English poet, painter, and printmaker.
Season one of The Frankenstein Chronicles, first aired on ITV Encore on November 11, 2015. It made it streaming debut this March 2018 with the second season on Netflix (a total of twelve episodes).
The obvious question now is, will there be a season three for The Frankenstein Chronicle. There certainly is enough creative room for it. By the series streaming globally, it has probably garnered a large fan following among those who also enjoy watching reimagining of the classics. The other question that begs to be answered is who is John Marlott's father and what is his part in all that is happening.
Created by Benjamin Ross & Barry Langford
Starring
Sean Bean
Tom Ward
Richie Campbell
Vanessa Kirby
Ed Stoppard
Ryan Sampson
Robbie Gee
Anna Maxwell Martin
Charlie Creed-Miles
Eloise Smyth
Samuel West
Mark Bazeley
Elliot Cowan
Hugh O'Conor
Related but never aired in the US is the ITV Jekyll & Hyde a reimaging of Robert Louis Stevenson classic "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". The series is a British fantasy TV drama consisting of 10 episodes, and it aired on ITV in 2015. It of this one season because the ITV network decline to renew it for a second season. Although there is no talk of reviving the series, it might still prove an interesting watch should one find it streaming.
Created by Charlie Higson
Based on Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Starring
Tom Bateman
Richard E. Grant
Tom Rhys Harries
Enzo Cilenti
Michael Karim
Natalie Gumede
Stephanie Hyam
Christian McKay
Donald Sumpter
Original release October 25 – December 27, 2015
A Widescreen Online Review Article