If it seems only a few years since someone created a new televised take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde, that’s because it was, thanks to Steven Moffat’s Jekyll in 2007. Yet ITV now has Fast Show veteran Charlie Higson plotting his own version for a new series.
Higson, who has established himself as a novelist in addition to his TV work, has come up with an idea to follow Robert Jekyll, the grandson of the original doctor, in the 1930s. His grandfather’s experiments have left the family with a curse that Robert has inherited – usually a sensitive, naive man, he slips unwillingly between two personalities when he’s stressed or threatened. Hulk-style, he becomes a superhero with strength, speed and invulnerability that thrives on taking risks and is always getting into trouble. The two sides are eternally wrestling for control as Jekyll’s life spins into chaos.
“It’s an exciting challenge to take Stevenson’s work and use it as the basis for a new Jekyll and Hyde,” Higson says in a statement. “So many superheroes with secret dual personalities have been brought to life thanks to Jekyll and Hyde. He’s one of literatures most important and influential characters and it’s a privilege to be rediscovering him.” Doctor Who/Being Human veteran Colin Teague is set to direct the series starting in India this January and then in London until July, with the series awaiting an airdate.