The Frankenstein Chronicles

With the recent glut of Superhero TV series hitting our screens I found this show to be welcome relief. Sean bean as lead manages to play the inspector with the air of someone who just isn't quite right, with flashbacks to his troubled past becoming more frequent it helps to build on his mental breakdown.

I have found the story at times needing a little more "Umph", yes the characters are being fleshed out and the mystery appears to deepen with each step the inspector takes to catch his "Monster", but at the same time do we really need to spend so much time in the inspectors rooms, what do they add to the story?

The overall gloom of the setting does lend weight to the story, the divide between rich and poor, privilege and servitude is very apparent, with the inspector squarely in the middle of these differing worlds.

I'd heard nothing about this show going in. I'm kind of surprised no word of mouth reached me before discovering it... seeing as how it hits so many beats that share my interests. History and mysticism and conspiracy and film noir... and Frankenstein! I was impressed when William Blake showed up in the series and even moreso when Mary Shelley herself makes an appearance. Her infamous book being a possible impetus behind the crimes the protagonist detective is tasked with investigating. The show is gritty and gruesome and complex in the motivations of its various political factions vying for power. Add to that that the protagonist is not entirely reliable because of disease and medication and the show becomes a quite a heady mix at times. The bad guys range from street scum on up to, maybe, members of Parliament... and no one is safe.

Great stuff, I hope there is more to come.

The first season was amazing,exept botched finale...The dark, gothic detective story in the beginning ,unfortunately transformed in something unrecognizable... Story became very slow, overly religious and plain,not in a good way,macabre. All in all,decent one time watch.

Felt this was let down by the marketing and fairly bland trailers. I only watched since Sean Bean was in it, thank goodness I did! Whilst its pretty slow initially, after 2 episodes when it all starts coming together the show stands out as a very creative one, with what I certainly felt was a completely original story based around the Frankenstein lore. In this respect it was a great surprise, and like others have mentioned, with so many shows coming out now based on established materials this was very refreshing.

Hopefully we see more, since whilst I do appreciate shows that keep it short and direct, instead of like others dragging on longer than they should (you know who you are!), this is one story that certainly has more to tell.

Not to miss.

I recently discovered this series and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I am also glad that I am not the only one to notice the references to the character Richard Sharpe. I have read every one of Bernard Cromwell's books and you can't ignore the constant references to John Marlott's past life that mirrors Richard Sharpe. The boy whistling "Over the Hill and Far Away." Marlott's reference of him being in the 95'th Rifles, and being at the Battle of Waterloo. The time when Marlott took his shirt off while bathing showing off scaring on his back (In the Shapre books, the main character was once punished by flogging), and in episode five when Marlott retrieved his pistol, it showed his old dark green army uniform, similar to the one Sharpe wore as a member of the 95th.. I wonder if all this was the doing of Sean Bean. if it was, then it compels the viewer to pay especially close attention to the story line. Great hook.