1 STAR
Being a great lover of quintessential British fiction, it was with excited anticipation that I settled down to watch ITV’s new adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde. The advert had been glamorous and the idea exciting. Nothing seemed to stand in the way of some great pre-Halloween gothic Sunday night viewing. A little voice inside me, however, was doubtful. Could ITV, the channel that churns out the X Factor and Jeremy Kyle, really manage to pull off a classic literary adaptation? And after watching 5 minutes, I got my answer. No. No, they really can’t.
Initial confusion turned to despair as I proceeded to watch the butchery of the novella unfold. Instead of following the original Dr Jekyll, the episode introduces us to a Dr Robert Jekyll (played by Tom Bateman), the original Jekyll’s grandson, living and working in Sri Lanka with an adopted family. Instead of taking a potion, this Jekyll gobbles some mysterious pills (the origin of which remains unexplained) to keep a genetic condition under control. On suddenly being called to England to receive an inheritance from his unknown grandfather, Jekyll of course runs out of these pills, and Hyde is revealed to 1930’s London.
What could have been an interesting and intelligent take on the Jekyll-Hyde alter ego was instead transformed into a massive fantasy farce. ITV, so painfully obvious in their attempt to create some strange Doctor Who/Sherlock love child to pull in the ratings, throw at us every cliché in the book. The dialogue that aims to be witty and pithy is miserably melodramatic and the monsters that are supposed to be scary are just plain bizarre. Hyde is an oversexed pantomime villain in excessive amounts of guyliner (because guyliner is automatically dangerous and sexy, right?) and quite frankly there aren’t even words for the CGI monster that pops up halfway through– apart from the fact that it appeared to be a cross between a dog and Lord Voldemort.
However, the series does boast a range of talented actors: another reason as to why this episode was so disappointing. Tom Bateman in abstract seems to be the perfect person to play a Jekyll/Hyde character; he seemed to have the capability to be both sweet and charming and dark and instable. Plus he is very good looking which never hurts. It clearly wasn’t the actors but the screenwriting and production that caused the English student inside of me to weep.
A lesson to be learned, both for myself and ITV I feel, is to leave adaptations to the bigger and better brother that is the BBC. Stick to the X Factor. Stick to Downton Abbey. They’re great. But leave my favourite books alone.
Edited by Georgina Varley
Sources:
http://www.itv.com/presscentre/content/jekyll-and-hyde
Image Sources:
http://i1.cdnds.net/15/42/618×397/uktv-jekyll-and-hyde-still-03.jpg