Sean Bean is set to star in a 6-part television event series that reimagines Mary Shelley: The Frankenstein Chronicles.
Like all great gothic literature, Frankenstein never seems to die; it just gets reanimated. How fitting.
Despite already appearing in their most classical form yet on Showtime’s excellent Penny Dreadful, as well as subject to be the star of a new Fox series set in modern times, the monster and his creator are now going to be the subject of a new six-part miniseries from ITV: The Frankenstein Chronicles.
Created by Benjamin Ross and Barry Langford (Torte Bulma), the series stars Sean Bean as an “extraordinary” detective and hero living in Regency London circa 1827. As one Inspector John Marlott, Bean will be at the center of a gruesome thriller that stitches together the parts of mystery procedural and horror to create a terrifying new vision for Mary Shelley’s legendary mythology.
Reads ITV’s synopsis for The Frankenstein Chronicles:
In the drama's opening sequences, the Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, following a successful operation by Thames River Police to apprehend a gang of opium smugglers, recruits Marlott.
As he stands on the water's edge contemplating the arrest of the smugglers, Marlott makes a shocking discovery. The body of a dead child is washed up on the shore and on further examination of the corpse he is horrified to discover it's not actually a child but rather a crude assembly of body parts arranged in a grotesque parody of a human form. The mutilated child-like body leaves an indelible impression on Marlott and he finds himself unable to shake off the memory of what has happened that fateful night.
With a formidable reputation as an investigator, he is known as a man who "doesn't know the meaning of fear," so it comes as no surprise when coldly efficient Peel, summons him insisting the "details of your investigation must remain confidential." And after what he's witnessed Marlott accepts the challenge to track the perpetrator of this heinous crime.
We follow him as he pursues the crazed killer behind the mutilated body. As he investigates, Marlott discovers that what he's dealing with is more horrific than he could possibly have imagined.
Filming for the series is set to begin in Northern Ireland in January 2015.
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