Before 'Sherlock' there was this sleek, stylish, creepy, slightly camp BBC1 updating/sequel to ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’
Episode 1
Dr Tom Jackman’s (James Nesbitt) dark side has an agenda of his own, a love of Disney songs and uses the name Hyde. Jackman tries to protect his family by abandoning them, hiring Katherine a psychiatric nurse and communicating with his alter ego via Dictaphone. Meanwhile people are following Hyde, Jackman learns he may be a descendent of Dr Jekyll and Hyde throws a bad guy through a window. Okay.
Best Line:
“Just once, just bloody once could you tell me where you parked?”
Episode 2
Jackman is unaware his ‘best friend’ Syme is part of the giant bad guy conspiracy. Syme and the baddie coterie set Jackman up by threatening his children. Jackman isn’t a violent man but he knows someone who is, so he becomes Hyde at will. Creepy retaliatory violence is meted out. This was okay.
Episode 3
Claire Jackman comes face to face with Hyde and learns all about her husband’s extreme form of DID. Syme sets Jackman up to be captured. Good.
Episode 4
Claire is a prisoner of Syme, Jackman is locked in a box and Katherine and her PI friends learn that their theory that Jackman is a clone of Jekyll is dead wrong. Flashbacks show how the tremendous nerd Jackman and the oversexed Claire met. They also show Hyde’s first emergence after a hoodie tormented the couple on their honeymoon. This was not good.
Best Lines:
“So what do you do?”
“Rich men.”
Episode 5
When the box is opened, Hyde emerges and prances around spewing exposition about genetic memory. Syme is smug until Jackman remerges. It seems Jackman and Hyde have come at last to peace. Good.
Best Line:
“It’s like Sky Plus in here!”
Episode 6
Jackman and Hyde go to rescue Claire and the children. Claire learns what Hyde really is and what she really is. Jackman’s mother drops several bombshells. Jackman and Claire’s twin sons turn out to have their own Jekyll and Hyde issues. This was good with a WTF final scene and a hilarious teaser scene as Syme hires a bad ass super macho mercenary to capture Hyde, the mercenary trains a bad ass super macho team and then said bad ass super macho mercenary walks up to Hyde only to be thrown off the roof in hilarious fashion.