Penny Dreadful | |
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Created by | John Logan |
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Composer | Abel Korzeniowski |
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Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 27 (list of episodes) |
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Running time | 47–60 minutes |
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Release | May 11, 2014 – June 19, 2016 |
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Penny Dreadful: City of Angels |
Penny Dreadful is a horror drama television series created for Showtime and Sky by John Logan, who also acts as executive producer alongside Sam Mendes. The show was originally pitched to several US and UK channels, and eventually landed with Showtime, [1] with Sky Atlantic as co-producer. [2] It premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 9 and began airing on television on April 28, 2014, on Showtime on Demand. [3] [4] The series premiered on Showtime in the United States on May 11, 2014, and on Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2014. [5] [6] [7] After the third-season finale on June 19, 2016, series creator John Logan announced that Penny Dreadful had ended as the main story had reached its conclusion. [8] [9]
The title refers to the penny dreadfuls, a type of 19th-century British fiction publication with lurid and sensational subject matter. The series draws upon many public domain characters from 19th-century Victorian Gothic fiction, including Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray ; Mina Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, John Seward, Renfield, and Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula ; Victor Frankenstein and his monster from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ; and Henry Jekyll from Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , showing their origin stories as an explorer searches for his daughter. Justine from Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue by the Marquis de Sade also appears.
A spin-off series, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels , aired from April 26 to June 28, 2020.
The first season begins in London, 1891. Ethan Chandler, an American gunman and roadshow artist, is hired by the adventurer Malcolm Murray and the mysterious Vanessa Ives to help rescue Murray's daughter from a mysterious creature. They receive help from a young doctor named Victor Frankenstein. However, Frankenstein is soon stalked by an undead creature that he once reanimated and abandoned. Ives becomes romantically involved with the handsome, artistic Dorian Gray but also finds herself haunted by Lucifer, who wishes to make her his bride and queen.
In the second season, Ives is hunted by a coven of witches led by the charismatic Evelyn Poole, who wants to deliver Ives to Lucifer. Frankenstein is forced to make his creature a bride, and an inspector investigates grisly murder that Chandler committed in a London inn.
In the third season, the main characters find themselves scattered across the world – Ives is in London, consulting the alienist Florence Seward, Ethan is being extradited to the United States, and Murray is in Zanzibar. Count Dracula soon appears in London, setting the stage for the final battle for Ives' soul.
Notable non-recurring cast include Mary Stockley as Victor Frankenstein's mother Caroline, Anna Chancellor as Vanessa's mother Claire, and Frank McCusker as Christopher Banning, a doctor overseeing Vanessa's treatment while institutionalized, all appearing in flashbacks during the first season, as well as Oliver Cotton as Father Matthew, having been requested to perform an exorcism on Vanessa in the first season's penultimate episode.
In January 2013, it was announced that Showtime had made a series commitment for the project. Logan and Mendes previously wrote and directed Skyfall , respectively. Production began in London in the second half of 2013. Showtime president David Nevins stated that the tone of the ensemble series will be "very realistic and very grounded, not Bela Lugosi. All exist in human form in turn-of-century London." This was also reflected during production of the sound for the show, where Logan often pulled things back towards more realism. [20] Logan, a lifelong fan of literary monsters, wrote the project on spec and scripts the majority of episodes of the series. It was intended that Mendes would direct episodes, but scheduling prevented this. [21]
Juan Antonio Bayona was announced as director for the first two episodes. [22] The remaining episodes of the first season were directed by Dearbhla Walsh, Coky Giedroyc, and James Hawes.
In March 2013, it was announced that the series would be filmed in the United Kingdom; eyeing the new UK tax credit for high-end TV productions that offers a 25% rebate. [23] However, it was reported in August that production would instead take place in Bray's Ardmore Studios and other locations around Dublin, Ireland, because of the country's section 481 tax incentives. Filming began on October 7 and lasted 5 months. [24] Reports indicate that the change was made as no stage space of a sufficient caliber was available due to the filming of major motion pictures in London. [25]
In December 2013, Showtime announced its first production blog for a series with the launch of The Penny Dreadful Production Blog. The venue gives viewers an online, behind-the-scenes look at the series' production from its early stages of filming in Ireland through the end of the first season, featuring interviews with cast and crew. [26] In February 2014, Showtime released a full-length trailer for the series. [27]
Logan revealed at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International panel that one of the texts he thought about while planning the series that he would like to use in a future season is The Island of Doctor Moreau . [28] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly prior to the premiere of the third season, Logan stated that the addition of Dr. Henry Jekyll was implemented because the rights to Doctor Moreau were not available. [18]
Showtime announced shortly before the end of the first and second seasons that another season (of 10 and 9 episodes, respectively) would debut the following May. [29] [30] [31] [32] However, Logan had decided during the middle of the second season that the third season should be the last, and he pitched the third season to Showtime president David Nevins accordingly. They did not release this information until after the final season had completed, as Nevins stated, "given what I knew the ending of Penny Dreadful was going to be felt like a massive spoiler and it felt disrespectful to the experience that people were having with the show." Logan said regarding not releasing the information: "That's what the ending of this series is, it is meant to be a strong, bold, theatrical ending because I think that's what our fans like and to water that down with an announcement or having them know I think would be an act of bad faith." [8]
Season | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
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1 | 81% (62 reviews) | 70 (37 reviews) |
2 | 100% (21 reviews) | 77 (14 reviews) |
3 | 93% (15 reviews) | 83 (9 reviews) |
The first season of Penny Dreadful received positive reviews from critics, with a Metacritic rating of 70 out of 100 based on 37 reviews. [33] It holds an 81 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 7.4 out of 10, based on 62 reviews, with the site's consensuses stating, "Skillfully shot and superbly acted, Penny Dreadful is perplexing in a good way – even if it's a bit silly at times." [34] The first season was described "as riotous as it is ridiculous, taking the macabre to new heights (or depths)" by The Guardian reviewer Ben Hewitt. [35]
The second season also received positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, it has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [36] On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 100 percent rating with an average score of 7.7 out of 10 based on 21 reviews, with the site's consensus stating, "Penny Dreadful's second season maintains the show's intense, bloody drama, utilizing a vast array of fascinating characters and locales to tell a unique story." [37]
The third season received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, it has a score of 83 out of 100 based on 9 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". [38] On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 93 percent rating with an average score of 8.1 out of 10 based on 15 reviews, with the site's consensuses stating, "Penny Dreadful is back for a beautifully bloody third season of ever-expanding mysteries and Gothic horrors." [39] Ben Travers of Indiewire gave it a B+ grade and wrote, "Season 3's American-set storyline breaks things up nicely with some classic western elements mixed in with the show's established creature horrors, and the aesthetics of the production have never looked better." [40]
The series debuted to 872,000 viewers (1.44 million including re-runs). This number does not include the 900,000 viewers who previewed the series on Showtime on Demand and the Showtime app. [41]
Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
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2014 | Critics' Choice Television Awards [42] | Most Exciting New Series | Penny Dreadful | Won |
2015 | BAFTA Television Craft Awards [43] | Best Costume Design | Gabriella Pescucci | Nominated |
Best Make Up and Hair Design | Enzo Mastrantonio, Nick Dudman, Stefano Ceccarelli | Won | ||
Best Original Television Music | Abel Korzeniowski | Won | ||
Best Production Design | Jonathan McKinstry, Philip Murphy | Won | ||
Best Titles | Erik Friedman, Rudy Jaimes, Ray Burris | Nominated | ||
British Society of Cinematographers Awards [44] | Best Cinematography in a Television Drama | PJ Dillon (for "And They Were Enemies") | Nominated | |
Canadian Cinema Editors Awards [45] | Best Editing in Long Form Television Series | Christopher Donaldson (for: "Closer than Sisters") | Won | |
Critics' Choice Television Awards [46] | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Eva Green | Nominated | |
Dorian Awards [45] | Campy TV Show of the Year | Penny Dreadful | Nominated | |
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards [45] | Best TV Actor | Josh Hartnett | Nominated | |
Best TV Actress | Eva Green | 2nd place | ||
Best TV Makeup/Creature FX | Nick Dudman | Nominated | ||
Best TV Series | Penny Dreadful | Nominated | ||
Best TV Supporting Actor | Rory Kinnear | Nominated | ||
Best TV Supporting Actress | Billie Piper | 3rd place | ||
IGN Awards [47] | Best TV Actress | Eva Green | Won | |
International Film Music Critics Awards [45] | Best Original Score for a Television Series | Abel Korzeniowski | Nominated | |
Irish Film & Television Awards [45] | Best Director – Drama | Dearbhla Walsh | Nominated | |
MPSE Golden Reel Awards [45] | Best Sound Editing – Dialogue and ADR for Short Form Television | Jane Tattersall, David McCallum, Dale Sheldrake (for: "Séance") | Nominated | |
Best Sound Editing – Sound Effects and Foley for Short Form Television | Jane Tattersall, Oriol Tarragó, Andy Malcolm, Goro Koyama, David Rose, Marc Bech (for: "Night Work") | Nominated | ||
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards [48] | Outstanding Main Title Theme Music | Abel Korzeniowski | Nominated | |
Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) | Abel Korzeniowski (for: "Closer than Sisters") | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie, or a Special | Nick Dudman, Sarita Allison, Barney Nikolic (for: "Grand Guignol") | Nominated | ||
Satellite Awards [49] | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Eva Green | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Rory Kinnear | Won | ||
Best Television Series – Genre | Penny Dreadful | Won | ||
VES Awards [45] | Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial, Broadcast Program or Video Game | Matthew Borrett, Lorne Kqechansky, Graham Day, Jason Gougeon (for: "Séance") | Nominated | |
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program | James Cooper, Bill Halliday, Sarah McMurdo, Lorne Kwechansky (for: "Séance") | Nominated | ||
2016 | BAFTA Television Craft Awards [50] | Best Make Up and Hair | Enzo Mastrantonio, Nick Dudman, Ferdinando Merolla | Nominated |
Costume Designers Guild Awards [51] | Outstanding Period Television Series | Gabriella Pescucci | Nominated | |
Critics' Choice Television Awards [52] | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Eva Green | Nominated | |
Best Drama Series | Penny Dreadful | Nominated | ||
Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series | Patti LuPone | Nominated | ||
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Helen McCrory | Nominated | ||
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards [53] | Best TV Actor | Josh Hartnett | Nominated | |
Best TV Actress | Eva Green | Won | ||
Best TV Series | Penny Dreadful | Nominated | ||
Best TV Supporting Actor | Rory Kinnear | Nominated | ||
Best TV Supporting Actress | Billie Piper | Nominated | ||
Golden Globe Awards [54] | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Eva Green | Nominated | |
IGN Awards [55] | Best Horror Series | Penny Dreadful | Nominated | |
Irish Film & Television Awards [56] | Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Drama | Sarah Greene | Won | |
Best Director – Drama | Brian Kirk | Nominated | ||
Best Drama | Penny Dreadful | Nominated | ||
Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards [57] | Television and New Media – Best Period and/or Character Make-Up | Enzo Mastrantonio, Clare Lambe | Nominated | |
Television and New Media Series – Best Special Make-Up Effects | Nick Dudman, Sarita Allison | Nominated | ||
Satellite Awards [58] | Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Helen McCrory | Nominated | |
Best Television Series – Genre | Penny Dreadful | Nominated | ||
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards [48] | Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series | Ferdinando Merolla, Sevlene Roddy, Giuliano Mariano, Orla Carroll (for: "Glorious Horrors") | Nominated | |
Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) | Enzo Mastrantanio, Clare Lambe, Caterina Sisto, Lorraine McCrann, Morna Ferguson (for: "Glorious Horrors") | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) | Abel Korzeniowski (for: "And They Were Enemies") | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) | Jonathan McKinstry, Jo Riddel, Philip Murphy (for: "Fresh Hell", "Evil Spirits in Heavenly Places", "And Hell Itself My Only Foe") | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie, or a Special | Nick Dudman, Sarita Allison, Barney Nikolic, Paul Spateri, Dennis Penkov (for: "And Hell Itself My Only Foe") | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Special Visual Effects | James Cooper, Bill Halliday, Sarah McMurdo, Mai-Ling Lee, Greg Astles, Ricardo Gomez, Matt Ralph, Alexandre Scott, Kyle Yoneda (for: "And They Were Enemies") | Nominated | ||
Visual Effects Society Awards [59] | Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode | James Cooper, Bill Halliday, Sarah McMurdo, Mai-Ling Lee (for: "And They Were Enemies") | Nominated | |
2017 | Bram Stoker Awards [60] | Superior Achievement in a Screenplay | John Logan (for: "A Blade of Grass") | Nominated |
Canadian Cinema Editors Awards [61] | Best Editing in 1 Hour Scripted | Aaron Marshall (for: "A Blade of Grass") | Won | |
Costume Designers Guild Awards [62] | Outstanding Period Television Series | Gabriella Pescucci | Nominated | |
Directors Guild of Canada Awards [63] | Best Picture Editing – Television Series | Geoff Ashenhurst (for: "The Blessed Dark") | Nominated | |
Best Picture Editing – Television Series | Christopher Donaldson (for: "The Day Tennyson Died") | Nominated | ||
Edgar Awards [64] | TV Episode Teleplay | John Logan (for: "A Blade of Grass") | Won | |
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards [65] | Best TV Actor | Josh Hartnett | Nominated | |
Best TV Actress | Eva Green | Nominated | ||
Golden Reel Awards [66] | Best Sound Editing: TV Short Form – Dialogue/ADR | David McCallum (for: "Ebb Tide") | Won | |
Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards [67] | TV and New Media Series – Best Period/Character Make-Up | Enzo Mastrantonio, Clare Lambe | Nominated | |
TV and New Media Series – Best Period/Character Hair Styling | Luca Vannella, Alexis Continente | Nominated | ||
Television and New Media Series – Best Special Make-Up Effects | Nick Dudman, Sarita Allison | Nominated | ||
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards [48] | Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series | Luca Vannella, Alexis Continente, Sevlene Roddy, Joseph Whelan, Orla Carrol (for: "Ebb Tide") | Nominated | |
Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) | Enzo Mastrantonio, Clare Lambe, Caterina Sisto, Lorraine McCrann, Morna Ferguson (for: "Perpetual Night") | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie, or Special | Nick Dudman, Sarita Allison, Barney Nikolic, Dennis Penkov (for: "No Beast So Fierce") | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) | Jonathan McKinstry, Jo Riddell, Philip Murphy (for: "Perpetual Night" / "The Blessed Dark") | Nominated | ||
Visual Effects Society Awards [68] | Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode | James Cooper, Bill Halliday, Sarah McMurdo, Mai-Ling Lee (for: "The Day Tennyson Died") | Nominated |
In 2015, Titan Books announced a comic book series based on Penny Dreadful, written by co-executive producer Chris King and writers Krysty Wilson-Cairns and Andrew Hinderaker. [69] The first issue was released on May 11, 2016. [70] In October 2016, Showtime announced that a new series would be released in 2017, set six months after the finale of the TV series. The project will be written by King, illustrated by Jesús Hervás, and published by Titan Books. [71]
In November 2018, a spin-off series, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels was announced by Showtime. It is set in 1938 and centers on Mexican-American folklore and social tension of the era in Los Angeles, California. [72] The series started production in August 2019 [73] and stars Daniel Zovatto, Nathan Lane, Natalie Dormer, Kerry Bishé, Rory Kinnear, Adriana Barraza, Michael Gladis, Jessica Garza and Johnathan Nieves. It premiered on April 26, 2020. [74] On August 21, 2020, the series was cancelled after one season. [75]
Joshua Daniel Hartnett is an American actor. He began his career playing Michael Fitzgerald on ABC's Cracker (1997–1998), after which he became known as a teen idol through starring parts in films such as Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, The Faculty, The Virgin Suicides (1999), Pearl Harbor, O, Black Hawk Down, and 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002).
Billie Paul Piper is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest female singer to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one; her follow-up single "Girlfriend" also entered at number one. In 1998, Piper released her debut studio album, Honey to the B, which was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Her second studio album, Walk of Life, was released in 2000 and spawned her third number-one single, "Day & Night". In 2003, Piper announced that she had ended her music career to focus on acting.
John David Logan is an American playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his work as a screenwriter for such films as Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000), Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011), Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Sam Mendes' James Bond films Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015). He has been nominated three times for Academy Awards, and has won a Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award.
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Reeve Jefferson Carney is an American actor, musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for originating the role of Orpheus in the original Broadway cast of the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown. He also played Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Dorian Gray in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, and Riff Raff in the Fox musical television film The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again.
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Vanessa Ives is a fictional character on Showtime's Penny Dreadful, created by John Logan and portrayed by Eva Green. Ives is the main protagonist of the story and is introduced as a mysterious and powerful medium. She is later revealed to be an incarnation of the goddess Amunet. Fallen Angels sought her out to unleash her destiny as the Mother of Evil, the harbinger of the End of Days.
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