Tom Bateman (The Tunnel, Da Vinci's Demons) is to star alongside Richard E Grant (Dr Who, Downton Abbey) and Natalie Gumede (Death In Paradise, Coronation Street) in ITV's forthcoming new ten-part action adventure drama, Jekyll & Hyde.
Credit: ITV
Inspired by The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the series was born from an idea conceived by critically-acclaimed novelist Charlie Higson.
Higson has written the entire drama and will now produce, hoping to showcase mystery, fantasy, horror and sci-fi.
Fresh out of London's West End after playing the lead in Shakespeare in Love, Tom Bateman takes the lead role here of Robert Jekyll.
Sir Roger Bulstrode is played by Richard E Grant - the man who heads secret government department M10 - and Natalie Gumede steps into the shoes of Bella, a woman who forms part of a love triangle with Robert.
Foz Allan (Wolfblood, The Dumping Ground, Robin Hood) will act as Series Producer, and ITV Studios Director of Drama Francis Hopkinson (Lucan, DCI Banks, Wallander) is to executive produce.
Set at a time of Hollywood glamour and monster movies in 1930's London, the series hopes to pay tribute to the novel, focusing on the young and attractive hero Jekyll, now the grandson of the original doctor.
With a quest to discover his true identity, family history and the nature of his curse, Jekyll goes through moments of extreme stress or anger which see him transformed into Hyde.
Young and sensitive, Jekyll is here a well-meaning character who's unwilling to slip between his two characters. Hyde here isn't our conventional villain, however. He's a confident risk-taker who goes to great measures to get things done no matter the consequences.