Whenever I see something by Steven Moffat I watch it. You may never even have heard of the name, but for me, it’s that simple. For nearly 20 years now, he’s been one of the best British TV writers, from Press Gang through Coupling, his various Doctor Who episodes and now Jekyll. He’s the must watch writer, rivalled only by someone like Joss Whedon I guess.
As a sort of self-conscious followup to the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, Jekyll is modern, high tech and full of surprises. Tom Jackman (James Nesbitt) has two sides to himself — a rather extreme form of split personality disorder. Literally.
There’s mysteries everywhere — an American group that wants to track and then capture him, an assistant who doesn’t really seem to work for him at all, and an estranged family that has no idea what is happening, and are increasingly scared.
Nesbitt is excellent — he has the charm to switch between nice guy and psycho and make it believable. Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman) is his assistant, and she is gorgeous, mysterious and somehow unbalanced with her ease at Mr Hyde’s more extreme behaviour. And Gina Bellman (Coupling) is effective as his wife (she comes into it more next week) — and hot in her always offbeat way (especially at 40ish).
It has Steve Moffat’s fingerprints all over it — diverging timelines, a mystery based on personal perspective and memory, and a twisting tale that is guaranteed to leave you guessing until the end.
Definitely worth watching — Jekyll is a slick, modern and clever take on a classic tale.