Tom Bateman, Richard E Grant and Natalie Gumede join forces in Jekyll and Hyde, ITV’s new ten-part action adventure drama.
From an idea conceived by acclaimed novelist Charlie Higson (The Fast Show), the series has been inspired by The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
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Set in 1930’s London at a time of Hollywood glamour, aerodynamic cars and monster movies, the drama will pay homage to the Stevenson novel, and focus on the young, attractive, troubled hero, Robert Jekyll, the grandson of the original doctor.
At the heart of the drama is Robert Jekyll’s quest to discover his real identity, his true family history and the nature of his ‘curse’. Jekyll transforms into Hyde in moments of extreme anger, stress and when his or the lives of others are threatened.
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The cast also includes Stephanie Hyam (Murdered By My Boyfriend), Donald Sumpter (Game Of Thrones), Amit Shah (The Smoke), Phil McKee (Ripper Street), Christian McKay (Rush), Ruby Bentall (The Paradise), Enzo Cilenti (Game of Thrones), Lolita Chakrabarti (Death in Paradise), Michael Karim (Inspector Lewis) and Ace Bhatti (Silk).
Episode 1: ‘The Harbinger’
Sunday 25 October 2015, 6.30pm
It’s 1885 and Edward Hyde gets into an altercation in the street with his patron, Sir Danvers Carew – and murders him. Fast forward to 1935, in Ceylon, where Hyde’s grandson, the orphaned Robert Jekyll, is a young doctor and completely unaware of his ancestry. Here Robert saves a young girl with a superhuman show of strength.
This strength is a side effect of his mysterious ‘condition’, for which he has always taken pills. But this time the incident gets into the newspapers. The report reveals his whereabouts to a lawyer, one Max Utterson in London. So, Utterson summons Jekyll to England and Robert learns he is the sole heir to a large estate. There’s only one snag, Robert wants nothing to do with the dark story.
However, Robert has also been spotted on the radar by two other organisations. The first is MIO, a government department headed up by Mr. Bulstrode. MIO’s mission is to combat monsters. For them Robert’s appearance is a harbinger of increasing enemy action.
Tenebrae are the enemy: an ancient and sinister organization with a keen interest in recruiting shape‐shifters like Robert. Sure enough Tenebrae and their top agent, Captain Dance, arrive in Ceylon and descends upon Robert’s family.
Now Robert is adrift in London, with only Utterson and a new friend, Lily, to guide him. At which point news of event’s with his foster family reaches him. Right now, right when he needs them most, Robert discovers his pills are missing and he suffers his first full blown transformation into another personality – Hyde.
In contrast to the sensitive, considerate Robert Jekyll, Hyde is a selfish, uninhibited, muscle‐bound brute. He goes out on the town looking for trouble, and finds it. At ‘The Empire’ bar, an old watering hole of Edward Hyde’s, Robert’s drunken antics start a fight and he gets injured. An old man called Garson and the lovely bar owner, Bella, save his life.
Episode 2: ‘Mr Hyde’
Sunday 1 November 2015, 7pm
Flashback to Ceylon: Captain Dance interrogates Robert’s foster parents, demanding to know where Robert is? In the chaos Ravi, Robert’s younger brother, escapes into the night and straight into the arms of the Police – who arrest him.
Robert wakes up in Bella’s room in The Empire, not as Hyde, but as Jekyll. His injuries have miraculously healed. Not knowing where to turn to he visits Lily. She persuades him that the answers to his personal mystery may lie with his inheritance. So they explore the old Jekyll house with Max Utterson.
In Ceylon Ravi trusts no one and refuses to cooperate with the Police. Now his one purpose is to get to England and fulfill his father’s promise to give Robert his true family history. So when a fellow prisoner escapes – naturally enough Ravi tries to escape too.
Meanwhile, Bulstrode and MIO have news of Dance’s outrage in Ceylon. They know the Captain is en route for London and hatch a plan to use Robert as bait in a Tenebrae trap. Dance, for his part, has his focus firmly on Jekyll and is on a determined mission.
When Robert shares his tales of the previous night, Max is determined to go and play detective. He escorts Robert to ‘The Empire’ and uncovers the fact that ‘Garson’ was lab assistant to Robert’s grandfather. Garson refuses to crack under questioning, but when he heads home after work he’s cornered by Dance’s hired assassins. Hyde swoops in to save the old man, but not out of charity: Hyde wants answers.
Episode 3: ‘The Cutter’
Sunday 8 November 2015, 7pm
Old Jekyll’s experiments make perfect sense to Robert now. Robert’s grandfather discovered how to split a man in two. So, if his grandfather did it to himself with medication, then perhaps medication can be a permanent cure for Robert? Garson is skeptical. There’s a rare and missing ingredient called monocane. So when Garson searches the lab and finds a secret tunnel with some old dusty bottles in it, Robert is hopeful.
Dance arrives in England. Dance has enough monocane to control Jekyll including a fatal dose if needs be, as Dance demonstrates on a hapless henchmen. Dance’s aura is also agitating the monsters in MIO’s holding cells and Bulstrode informs his men they will need to be moved – including the fearsome Cutter.
Without any medication Robert is struggling to suppress his Hyde side. So when Lily shows up at his house Robert is terrified she will see his alter ego. Robert persuades Garson to tie him up in the lab and takes his own drastic measures – drinking his grandfather’s dusty potion – while Garson fends Lilly off.
It’s a gesture that convinces Garson of Robert’s good intentions. Now the old man is willing to tell Robert what he knows about his grandmother, Maggie Kendall. Robert immediately goes to Max and Hils and tasks them with finding a needle in a haystack. Where is Maggie? Is she even alive?
Meanwhile in Ceylon, Ravi unearths a cache of secret files about Robert.
After his close shave with Lily, Robert seeks her out and tries to break off contact. Lily’s having none of it and insists that whatever troubles he has, she can help. Quite specifically she can help with his medical research.
At the Empire, Hils surprises Bella by besting her in a drinking contest and extracts some key information about Maggie. Robert, Max, Hils and Garson duly set off to the countryside to track her down. When they arrive at Maggie’s lonely farmhouse, Maggie denies her identity. Then Silas arrives. Silas and his team have snatched the Cutter out of jail and they are here to cause trouble.
Episode 4: ‘The Calyx’
Sunday 22 November 2015, 7pm
Maggie is seriously injured and Robert is desperate to make sure his grandmother gets better. Robert, Lily and Garson work feverishly to develop an anti-microbial drug that will save her. Luck comes to those who seek it, and Garson makes the chance discovery that Hyde’s blood has the anti-biotic powers they need.
Yielding to all the stress, Robert suffers a lapse of self-control and initiates an amorous liaison with Bella, as Hyde.
Meanwhile, both Dance and MIO play cat and mouse in their pursuit of Hyde. Dance springs the trap to draw Robert in, promising the earth (and beyond) if Hyde will open the stone jar to unleash the supernatural forces that Tenebrae are seeking. Legend decrees that only a Hyde can open the jar.
MIO cannot allow Hyde to open the jar as its too dangerous so Sir Danvers Carew gives an instruction to Bulstrode to take control of the situation. Robert is faced with both Dance and MIO – what should he do?
Meanwhile Ravi arrives in England and is plummeted into a dangerous situation.
Episode 5: ‘Black Dog’
Sunday 29 November 2015, 7pm
Following on from the battle, Robert and Max don’t know whom to trust, Robert and Max follow the only lead available: distant Jekyll relatives living in the remote countryside.
However, when they call on the Jezequiel family they are less than welcome, they are warned of a black dog by the local pub landlord which is a local legend. Their host, the widow Renata seems distant and unwelcoming. She comes and goes late at night and wears no shoes, but in spite of these idiosyncrasies Max takes a shine to her.
That is, until a spate of disappearances and livestock deaths point to the local legend of a fearsome black dog stalking the countryside.
Robert’s medication is making him erratic and he soon gets it into his head that Renata’s dead husband and missing son Brant may have been killed. The question is how and why? As they investigate further they uncover a family chapel that brings lots of unanswered questions.
Robert suspects that Renata is behind all of the questions and assumes she is part of Tenebrae. Robert and Max capture Renata and Robert goes to search the chapel for the portal. While Max guards Renata he declares himself smitten.
Have Robert and Max jumped to the correct conclusions about Renata?
Episode 6: ‘Spring Heeled Jack’
Sunday 6 December 2015, 7pm
While Robert buries Max, a Ripper stalks London and bloodless bodies without their organs are appearing in the streets. When Hyde discovers that Ripper hysteria is impacting on Bella’s business he promises to deal with the Ripper for her. At the same time Bulstrode and MIO decide now is the time to bring Hyde in from the cold and recruit him in their fight against monsters.
A neat kidnap is pulled off with the use of Dance’s monocane gun. However, Robert is not willing to co-operate – until MIO reveal they are holding Ravi. In return for Ravi’s freedom Robert agrees to play ball.
Once Robert gets home he discovers that Ravi has successfully smuggled him some pills – finally giving him a degree of control that he has struggled to find for four episodes. However, when Bella reveals something about the Ripper it flips an enraged Robert into Hyde.
Hyde follows the trail and nearly kills the creature at the end of it – only to discover it is actually Spring Heeled Jack – a citizen vigilante on the same hunt. Together they discover a monstrous parasite is to blame and ensues havoc going forward.
Episode 7: ‘The Reaper’
Sunday 13 December 2015, 7pm
Ravi and Robert are in a race against time to find out where the parasite-Jack has got to. Sure enough, they find a Jack-cocoon and take it to the laboratory to examine.
The hope is that they might save their friend, but instead their probing provokes a response from the creature. It bursts out to attack them. Robert quickly transforms into Hyde and in the ensuing fight MIO arrives and try to incinerate parasite-Jack. Hyde tries to defend him, but there is a disastrous outcome involving Ravi.
Now MIO shows their true colours and there’s an order that goes out in regards to Ravi. Hyde is forced to save and then conceal his brother. As Ravi’s condition worsens, the stakes are again raised. Robert takes Ravi to Bella’s safe room and plots a trap of his own.
Using Bella to whet Bulstrode’s appetite with the promise of betrayal, Hyde lures Bulstrode to the Empire and locks him inside. The three of them are confined together: Hyde, Bulstrode and Ravi. Risking all, Robert makes a decision.
Episode 8: ‘Moroii’
Wednesday 23 December 2015, 8pm
When a vampire starts to pick off the brightest and best young men of the British establishment, MIO has a crisis on its hands. The Home Secretary orders Bulstrode to solve it and Bulstrode appeals to Hyde. Hyde, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with it. He’s done with MIO after episode 7 and all he wants is his secret file… Although when he’s taken to the latest murder scene something catches his eye.
Following a trail, Hyde finds himself face to face – and fighting – a female vampire. This is no ordinary vampire and she challenges everything he knows by revealing that she is his sister, Olalla. The second shock is when she reveals that Dance is not dead. Dance is being regenerated. Garson is highly sceptical. How does Olalla know all this? Well, because she was captured by Dance as a five year old and raised by Tenebrae. Robert is distrustful and he devises a test: if she can turn into Jekyll he’ll believe her story. Reluctantly, Olalla complies. She has lived for years as Hyde, using a monocane and blood mix fed to her by Dance, so this reversal is agony for her.
Meanwhile Tenebrae’s plan to raise Dance is in trouble. With the parasite destroyed, Lord Protheroe and Fedora are obliged to take drastic measures. They release the eel-like creatures that have been Dance’s life support to go and seek the missing organs he needs.
Now Robert decides to make a commitment to Lily and breaks things off with Bella. So when Bella brokers a deal with Bulstrode – for Robert’s file – that’s the last she wants to see of Robert. But the proposal also reveals shocking information about Lily that is still kept hidden away from Robert.
Olalla, unable to sustain life as Jekyll, runs away to find her secret supply of blood and monocane. This leaves Robert to track the eel-creatures alone, in pursuit of Dance’s lair. Olalla arrives at the last moment to save him, but so does Bulstrode and MIO. Bulstrode is convinced he has finally found his vampire.
Episode 9: ‘The Incubus’
Sunday 27 December 2015, 7pm
Olalla wakes in the Jezequiel house to discover that Robert has taken her there to lie low. Unbeknown to him the spectral creature that escaped at the end of episode 5 has been stalking the house. It is a Siren, able to take the form of the beloved to anyone who looks at it. It is also driven by the need to suck the life out of its victims with a kiss. Olalla quickly senses something amiss in the house and she’s right. The Siren knows they are there and sees them as fresh prey.
MIO lead a failed raid on Jekyll’s to capture Robert and Olalla, but of course they’re not there. Lily fares no better when she tries to wheedle the information of their whereabouts out of Garson.
Robert shares the news of his proposal with Maggie but Maggie is unimpressed. She is certain that Robert cannot keep the lid on his Hyde side. Olalla agrees and Robert argues with them. Alone and brooding he discovers Lily has arrived… but it isn’t Lily. It’s the Siren. Robert is mesmerized as ‘she’ tells him she knows all his secrets – but will he kiss her?
Tenebrae soon pick up the Siren’s energy on their radar and Fedora is tasked with tracking it down. Legend has it that the Siren is powerful enough to release the dark power of Lord Trash and free him from beyond the seal where he is trapped. Reviving Dance is no longer Tenebrae’s priority.
Still unaware of the Siren, Robert tasks Ravi with finding Dance, using the vestiges of his psychic parasite-vision. Inadvertently Ravi sees Renata conversing with the Siren and the team race to save her before she is killed by a kiss. The Siren escapes and Robert pursues… only to find Lily again. This time they kiss with unexpected consequences.
Now it is Renata’s turn to confess. She has allowed this thing to escape from the Temple through the ancestral portal she is tasked with guarding. The Siren seduced her by taking the form of her dead husband. Now she knows she must make amends. The team also learns that the Siren must reach full strength before it can break the seal for Lord Trash. During this time it is vulnerable and they resolve to destroy it.
Episode 10: ‘The Heart of Lord Trash’
Sunday 27 December 2015, 8pm
Robert is travelling back to London with Maggie and Ravi when Fedora ambushes them on the road. Fedora’s goal is to retrieve the Incubus and she does so at gun-point with the aid of a supernatural extraction box. Garson and Bella turn up to rescue their friends but Fedora makes her escape.
Robert now knows that Tenebrae have the demon – and that can only mean a final reckoning. Before that happens he resolves to make a clean breast of everything to Lily.
At Lily’s house, Robert can find no sign of her but he does find Hannigan from MIO. It infuriates him. He explores the house, searching for Lily and discovers Bulstrode, Lily and Sir Marian Carew together. The shock flips him into Hyde and the scales fall from his eyes as he realizes Lily has been an MIO spy all along. Sackler knocks him out with a monocane dart before Hyde can do any damage.
Meanwhile, Fedora resuscitates Dance by channelling the Incubus into his rotting body. Dance is completely rejuvenated – and then horrified to discover the demon’s power has been wasted on him. Fedora persuades Dance it is a win-win outcome: he is alive and he holds the Incubus’ power inside him. Now Dance can open the stone Calyx, containing Lord Trash’s heart, by himself. All they have to do is retrieve it from MIO HQ. Then they can resurrect the apocalyptic Lord Trash…
At the Jezequiel house Renata finds Olalla in the temple trying to decipher the story of the battle book. Renata is dying and Olalla has realized the importance of the portal. When Olalla offers to become the Jezequiel guardian, Renata feels able to share her last secret. If Robert finds the Calyx first there is one way he can thwart Dance…
Robert wakes in his Jekyll guise and forms an uneasy truce with Lily. The urgency of facing a common enemy binds them together and they head for the Jekyll house, intending to use Ravi’s power to track down Dance. At home Robert receives a crucial phone call from Olalla, giving him the information he needs to destroy the contents of the Calyx.
The Cutter and Silas’ men launch a surprise attack on MIO. They release the captured monsters from the cells, and trap the MIO troops and staff in the basement while they steal the Calyx. A major battle ensues, while the Calyx is hastened away to Captain Dance. Fedora and Dance then launch their attack on the Jekyll house, trapping Robert and his team inside.
Dance opens the Calyx, holding everyone except Hyde in suspended animation as Lord Trash’s heart starts to beat. Only Hyde is able to force his way through the Calyx’s paralyzing power and he plunges his hand into the stone jar – unleashing a devastating explosion… Who lives? Who dies?
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