Jeckyll
Complete BBC Series 1 (2007, BBC Warner)
2-disc DVD, 6 episodes, 360 minutes
Picked up this BBC mini-series at the library on a lark and I'm glad I did. Set in contemporary England, it's more like The X-Files than a traditional Hammer horror movie - and that's just what you'd expect from Stephen Moffat of Coupling and the new Doctor Who fame. The only weak link - and it's hellacious - is the casting of the American badass dude Benjamin (Paterson Joseph), who forgets that he's in a BBC production and acts instead like he's casting for Bad Boys II (or is he just doing a really bad Bruce Willis/Die Hard impersonation?). But other than that, this is a well-scripted, well-cast production, particularly shag-a-licious female leads Gina Bellman (Coupling) and Michelle Ryan (EastEnders) - the latter best known stateside for her brief turn as Jaime Sommers in last Fall's cancelled NBC series Bionic Woman.
Beauties Michelle Ryan & Gina Bellman
Irish actor James Nesbitt (Bloody Sunday, Cold Feet, Murphy's Law) is the star and he shines brightly here.
Cutting-edge beastly as Mr. Hyde
Here's the Beeb's official capsule description:
It's 2007 and there's a new Dr Jekyll, with an old problem - Mr Hyde. But they have a deal - a body share – and an impossible life is somehow lived.
James Nesbitt (Murphy's Law, Cold Feet) takes the much-coveted lead role in this six-part thriller alongside Denis Lawson, Gina Bellman, Michelle Ryan and Meera Syal.
What Hyde doesn't know: Jekyll is married. There's a wife and two children he'll do anything to protect from his dark side. With all the resources of modern technology, and the best surveillance hardware, he's determined to keep his dark side in line. He's done a deal with his own devil.
What neither of them knows: an ancient organisation, with limitless wealth and power, is monitoring their every move, and a plan over a century in the making is coming to fruition.
The return of Dr Jekyll is no accident.
Writer Steven Moffat (Doctor Who) has taken a modern twist on the classic tale of scientific misadventure, which he describes as "somewhere between a modern horror story and The Odd Couple."
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