Penny Dreadful
A must-watch for lovers of classic Gothic and literary adaptations. Eva Green creates a magnetic, tragic heroine, and the visual style of the series is one of the best in television history.
The premiere on Showtime took place on May 11, 2014 — this is a Victorian Gothic of the 21st century, gathering all the monsters of classic literature under one roof. Sir Malcolm Murray is on a quest for his missing daughter along with medium Vanessa Ives, American sharpshooter Ethan Chandler, and young doctor Victor Frankenstein. London in the 1890s appears as a dark, foggy hell populated by Dorian Gray, a mummy, vampires, and reanimated corpses. The tone is heavy, decadent, with baroque dialogues and the aesthetics of bloody tableaux. The series differs from standard "supernatural" shows in its theatricality and literary quality — here, "The Autumn of the Cannibal" and Byron are quoted, and the monsters symbolize the inner demons of the characters. The three seasons are structured as a trilogy: the first — assembling the team, the second — witches, the third — vampires and Dracula. For those who miss classic Gothic and love "Interview with the Vampire" (1994) or "Dark Shadows."
No, creator John Logan consciously ended the series after the third season, considering the story complete.
Cheap pamphlets with macabre stories, popular in Victorian England — from there the series draws its characters (Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Dracula).
The main character, a medium and hereditary witch, pursued by the devil in various forms — the central figure of the entire trilogy.
"City of Angels" (2020) is a spinoff with different characters set in 1930s Los Angeles, which was canceled after one season and has no direct relation to the original London series.
John Logan specifically sought a balance between romantic Gothic and psychological horror — each monster here reflects the inner traumas of the characters.