ITV mini- series, ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ comes to life in Sri Lanka

A new ITV  mini- series, ‘Jekyll & Hyde’, based on the classic but with a twist, is set partly in Ceylon of the 1930s.

  It’s a Saturday in Kandy and Executive Producer Foz Allan is kind enough to sit down with us on his one off-day in ages and give us an idea of  what the show is about.     It’s a series commissioned by ITV, the same network that produces Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Agatha Christie’s Poirot and most recently, The Great Fire.

The script was written by Charlie Higson, who penned King of the Ants, the Enemy novels and Young Bond. The show is directed by Colin Teague, of Being Human fame. Allan previously produced shows like Robin Hood and Casualty.

Unlike the original novel by R.L. Stevenson ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, this show is set in the 1930’s and follows Jekyll’s grandson Robert whose foster father is a doctor based in Ceylon.

[caption id="attachment_69531" align="alignnone" width="400"] Hidden away: The bunker set at Bogambara. Pix courtesy The Film Team[/caption] The exact nature of Robert’s presence in Sri Lanka is sketchy, although Allan tells us that his very existence is a well-kept secret. “We’re saying that Dr. Jekyll had a son, who passed on the gene to his son,” he explains. “We’re also saying that the Hyde aspect is passed down through their DNA, and the drug – instead of turning him as it does in the book- is actually what releases him from the demons.”   Read the full story