After working on the James Bond film Skyfall (2012), Sam Mendes and John Logan launched this intriguing horror show, an homage to all the classic literary monsters of the Victorian era. We followed a British explorer (Timothy Dalton) who got involved with a young American adventurer (Josh Hartnett) and a resourceful woman (Eva Green) who both had deep ties to the supernatural world; together, they battled evil forces. Over three seasons, the series (largely written by Logan himself) found ways to introduce characters like Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein’s creature. Sumptuously designed, the show was bloody but often beautifully written, acknowledging the romanticism of the source material. Above all, it had superior acting, with great performances by Dalton and Rory Kinnear as the Creature; towering over them all was Green, a magnificent, complex heroine.

2014-2016:U.S.-Britain. Made for TV. 27 episodes. Color. Created by John Logan. Cast: Timothy Dalton (Sir Malcolm Murray), Eva Green (Vanessa Ives), Josh Hartnett (Ethan Lawrence Talbot), Harry Treadaway, Rory Kinnear, Reeve Carney, Billie Piper, Simon Russell Beale, Helen McCrory (14-15), Danny Sapani (14-15), Patti LuPone (16), Wes Studi (16).

Trivia: Followed by a spin-off series, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020).

Last word: “Personally speaking, growing up as a gay man before it was as socially acceptable as it is now, I knew what it was to feel different, to feel alienated and to feel not like everyone else. But the very same thing that made me monstrous to some people also empowered me and made me who I was. So, I was really just thinking about that theme. And gradually I remembered the old Universal horror movies of the ‘40s where, all of a sudden, they would start mixing and matching the Wolfman with Dracula and with Frankenstein. I thought, ‘I wonder if there’s a way to do that now and to take the characters seriously.’ And that was how it all began.” (Logan, Collider)

ABOVE AVERAGE

IMDb