Back in November, word emerged that Skyfall** director Sam Mendes and co-writer John Logan were looking to continue their collaboration beyond James Bond’s latest outing. Their plan was a horror-flavoured detective drama with various fictional characters investigating supernatural evens in 1880s London. Now the project has an apt title – Penny Dreadful – and a home on US cable network Showtime.
The channel, which already produces the likes of Dexter, Californication and just *slightly *popular CIA drama Homeland, feels like a great fit for the series, which will allow the writers to push the horror aspect without worrying about US broadcast network regulations. “It’s very realistic, it’s very grounded,” Showtime entertainment president David Nevins said in a statement picked up by Entertainment Weekly. “The characters are all in very human form in turn-of-the-century London. It’s very psychological and highly erotic.”
Showtime has ordered the show to series with Logan overseeing the writing and Mendes possibly directing the first episode (assuming he has time).
As for the actual character line-up, that’s still being figured out, but expect such literary notables as Dorian Gray, Dr Frankenstein and his creature and some of the Dracula characters to turn up. Literary monsters: they’re baaack!