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Hyde bound

Tuesday, June 5, 2007 by

It’s the press launch for Steven Moffat’s Jekyll tonight, but I shan’t be going as I’ve got a prior engagement… with my wedding anniversary. Nonetheless, I’ve ensured I’m not missing out on too much. Last December I was lucky enough to visit the production on set (they filmed at an MOD base in Chertsey, Surrey – where, at the same time, another unit was shooting Holby Blue). It was a fantastic experience, five or six of us chatting to Moffat and the show’s producer Elaine Cameron in a grimly furnished office, before having some time with stars Michelle Ryan, Gina Bellman and the two-faced bastard himself, Jekyll (Jackman as he is here)/Hyde – James Nesbitt. The result of this beano appears in the latest issue of SFX, I believe. Haven’t seen it yet. Anyway, here’s Steven Moffat from the day: “It’s grown-up show. It’s not really meant for children. It’s a thriller, it’s a bit of a love story. And it’s … Jekyll and Hyde has never been the wolfman. The original story isn’t about that. And even most of the movies aren’t the wolfman. It’s about a man who’s got two sides to him. And that metaphor is sort of … It’s too rich just to turn into a ghost story. Especially if you do it over any length of time. You can have a certain amount of fun with him turning into a black-hearted villain, but that goes off quite quickly. In this version of the story, Hyde develops too. So he’s a man who is two people and two different kinds of people. But he’s not a monster. Jimmy looks very similar in both roles. The difference is largely in performance. You can tell the difference if you look – there are darker eyes and darker hair. But that’s about it.” This weekend just gone, I gorged on all six episodes, and it’s a fabulous show. I’d say that even if episode one doesn’t grab you, come back the following week and that’ll probably change. Each edition does something new and unexpected. It’s a real roller coaster. That’s Jekyll, then. From Saturday June 16 at 9pm, on BBC1.

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