Jekyll
Synopsis
Dr Jackman's life is in tatters. Recently, he's been playing host to an uninvited guest – a dangerous alter-ego. Desperate to protect his wife and children from his dark side, Jackman has been forced to leave his old life behind and strike a diabolical deal with his own devil.
Now, the two share a body, and an impossible life is somehow lived. It takes a trusted assistant, lots of second–guessing and the best surveillance hardware around to keep the "night shift" in check.
Savage, carnivorous, carnal, Hyde is everything that the repressed Jackman is not – a narcissistic newborn in a grown man's body, with a Disney habit to go with his drink problem. And he's getting stronger. Every time Jackman falls asleep, gets angry or aroused – Hyde threatens to take over.
However, he won't be chained up forever.
What neither of them realises is that an ancient organisation with limitless wealth and power is monitoring their every move, and a plan over a century in the making is coming to fruition.
Part conspiracy thriller, part horror, part love story, Steven Moffat's dark and very modern take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic brings the ultimate tale of inner conflict to unforgettable new heights.
Episode One
It's London, 2007. Tom Jackman, the only living descendent of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – a new man with an old problem. He's fighting back – but are all the resources of 21st-century surveillance technology enough to keep a Victorian demon in check? Can he keep his wife and children safe during the "night shift"?
Psychiatric nurse Katherine Reimer is busy preparing a restraining chair in a simple apartment. Someone is expected on the stroke of midnight. Her boss, Dr Jackman, self-contained, preoccupied and intense is talking into a dictaphone:
"She can be trusted. If you approve, she's coming to work for us. For both of us." This is a man who's done a deal with his own personal devil: "If he ever harms anyone, I'll turn myself in. If ever I look for a cure, he'll put a bullet in his brain."
As Tom sweeps down the drive of an idyllic country home, his small twin boys, Harry and Eddie, rush to greet him. His wife, Claire, brandishes a large brown envelope full of photographs. "You might at least have the decency to be having an affair."
She has hired a private detective to find out why he left his family and his job six months ago, with no explanation. Tom is secretly puzzled – there must be more photos. He clocks the name of the agency and then has to tear himself away – Hyde is coming, and Hyde must never meet Claire.
Later, he wakes up in a seedy flat with a prostitute, and no clue where he is: "Just once, seriously, just bloody once, could you tell me where you parked?"
Tom goes to visit the company he jacked in months ago, Klein & Utterson. A slightly grumpy looking man eyes him. Peter Symes is Tom's best friend. Tom tells him to advertise his research job as he's never coming back.
Despite a scheduled change due to happen within the hour, Tom realises he is just a short distance from the detective agency and risks dropping in to find Min, angry and unreasonably posh, putting all her belongings into a box.
Miranda Callender runs the agency – attractive with effortless command and fierce intelligence, she's suddenly come into a lot of money, so is closing down the agency. She's been paid off – but by whom, and why did she hold back some of the pictures?
Tom then bumps into an aggressive young boy in an alleyway who puts a knife to his neck and slams him against a wall. Big mistake. The clock is striking seven – the night shift has begun...
Information about future episodes will be published in BBC Television Programme Information.
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