It's Alive! - ITV Commissions New Frankenstein Drama

ITV has announced the commission of a new re-imagining of Mary Shelley's classic Romantic novel Frankenstein.

The Frankenstein Chronicles will re-explore the myth of the doctor and his monstrous creation as a six-part period crime drama.

Inspector John Marlott, played by actor Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Accused), will be taken on a terrifying journey in pursuit of a chilling and diabolical foe.

Set in Regency London in 1827, the drama opens with Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel recruiting Marlott following a successful operation by Thames River Police to apprehend a gang of opium smugglers.

As he stands on the water's edge, the body of a dead child is washed up on the shore. On further examination of the corpse, Peel is horrified to discover the body not actually a child but rather a crude assembly of parts arranged in a grotesque parody of a human form. Marlott accepts the challenge to track the perpetrator of this heinous crime.

ITV's director of drama Steve November and controller of drama Victoria Fea commissioned the series for ITV Encore. It is to be filmed in Northern Ireland.

"The Frankenstein Chronicles is an epic re-working of one of literature and cinema's most iconic stories," says November. "We're delighted to be working with Benjamin Ross, Barry Langford and the team at Rainmark Films with the vision to bring Mary Shelley's Frankenstein back to life."

(IT/JP)