Explorer Sir Malcolm Murray, American gunslinger Ethan Chandler and others unite to combat supernatural threats in Victorian London.
I don’t watch much in the way of regular TV, there’s just so much awful programming out there, especially with the advent of Reality TV. I could care less about “The Bachelorette”, “Survivor” and the abomination that is “Amish Mafia” and I just don’t care too much for regular programming. What I like about Showtime, is that they’re a channel in which you have to subscribe to so they can bypass the TV censors altogether with nudity, profanity and violence. You know what you’re signing up for with Showtime and that’s a good thing. I started watching two terrific shows, “Dexter” and “Ray Donovan” and it was because of those two shows, I ordered Showtime.
“Penny Dreadful” is another new original show which premieres on Sunday, May 11th. Showtime has a terrific track record when it comes to original programming and attracting big name stars. With “Penny Dreadful”, we have Timothy Dalton (“The Living Daylights”, “License to Kill”), Eva Green (“Casino Royale”, “300: Rise of an Empire”) and Josh Hartnett (“The Faculty”, “30 Days of Night”), along with some terrific Irish and English supporting actors. The show very successfully blends elements of horror and the supernatural, something which, in my opinion, isn’t always easy to achieve. The setting is Victorian London in the early 1890’s.
Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) is desperately trying to find his daughter. She has disappeared without a trace and he, along with Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), will do whatever it takes to find her. They request the assistance of Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), an American who is very proficient in handling a gun, or two, and along the way, they acquire the cooperation of Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) and one Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney), which makes for a very impressive and unusual assemblage of disparate characters. Sir Malcolm and Vanessa know what they are fighting against but the other characters only realize it after they have begun their journey.
We have vampires, monsters, demonic possession and the Egyptian Book of the Dead. As the narrative becomes bigger and more elaborate, the group must band together to get past any and all obstacles if Sir Malcolm has any expectation in seeing his daughter again. The show’s setting is London but most of it was actually filmed in my hometown of Dublin and its surrounding areas. The overall quality of the production is first class and the performances are excellent and I hope the show finds an audience as I believe there are some more great stories to be told in this environment.
New Series Premiere On Showtime: Sun, May 11th at 10PM ET/PT
