“Frankenstein Chronicles” Stalks America – Update – Now available on Netflix

It was announced at the MIP television conference in Cannes that the UK based ITV limited series “Frankenstein Chronicles” had been picked up by the A&E network for broadcast in the U.S., but with changes to that network, never quite made it. It has now been picked up by Netflix.

The original six episode show created by Benjamin Ross and Barry Langford, reimagines the Frankenstein story as a London set murder-mystery, with Police Inspector John Marlott, played by Sean Bean (now perhaps most known for his too-soon execution on “Game of Thrones”), following the trail of a gang of opium smugglers who discovers a grotesque sewn-together body floating in the Thames River. The discovery leads him into an investigation of the dark underground of early 19^th Century Georgian London, where presumably Dr. Frankenstein is experimenting, acquiring body parts from bodysnatchers and missing prostitutes. The miniseries follows the detective on a hunt for the mutilator discovering a horror greater than he can imagine.

The series was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where Game of Thrones production is based, with the harbor city environs doubling for period London. This is the third television iteration of the Frankenstein legend to show in the US. The monster and his creator have been a part of the “Penny Dreadful” series on Showtime for a couple of seasons, and Fox TV is soon to launch its modern detective show once titled “Frankenstein Code” with a reanimated dead cop, but have retitled the show “Lookinglass”, dropping the legendary horror name in an increasingly crowded field, but making spelling a bit more challenging.

The suggestion for the idea of the Baron Frankenstein as London serial killer likely comes from a fairly brief section in the Mary Shelley novel where the monster of his creation has demanded that the student-scientist Frankenstein create a mate for him, and while on his travels, stopping in London, Frankenstein mentions that he attempted to gather “the materials” necessary for this task. In the novel, this effort is not detailed, but obviously in this case “materials” to create a female version of his creature would require body parts, and female parts in particular, with prostitutes the most handy of fresh subjects, combining a bit of Jack the Ripper with the Frankenstein mythos.

The body Inspector Marlott finds in the river is a small one, like a child, so the suggestion might be that Frankenstein is trying to create a family for the monster which rules him, or perhaps a replacement for his own son, murdered by the monster. We have likely a whole series of clues to follow before the revelation. Police “Inspectors” didn’t quite yet investigate crimes in Georgian London, with an organized police force not appearing until Victoria ascended the throne, but perhaps that will be part of the Frankenstein Chronicles story. It is unclear at this point whether this will be a one-off series, or more misadventures are intended, but with Sean Bean’s habit of getting killed-off too soon, maybe it’s just the six-parts.

The crime drama also stars Anna Maxwell Martin, Charlie Creed-Miles, Ed Stoppard, Elliot Cowan, Hugh O’Conor, and Kate Dickie. Seasons One and Two premiered on Netflix February 20, 2018