ITV axes Jekyll and Hyde after one series

The creator of ITV's thriller series Jekyll and Hyde, Charlie Higson, says the network has axed the show after one series.

The 10-part thriller which starred Tom Bateman and Natalie Gumede was set in the 1930s but based on the classic horror novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was shown in a pre-watershed slots on Sunday nights but was the subject of more than 800 complaints to the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom.

Charlie, who's best known for The Fast Show and writing The Enemy novels, tweeted: "Sad day today as ITV announce they don’t want any more Ah well, I tried. It was a grand adventure while it lasted."

He added that it they had many more stories lined up for series two.

He then thanked fans for their support.

 

Thanks for all the messages of support #JekyllandHyde I’m moving on to other things.

— charlie higson (@monstroso) January 5, 2016

 

Jekyll and Hyde suffered disappointing ratings from the beginning, averaging 2.6 million viewers by the time it finished at Christmas.

Charlie felt compelled to apologise after the first episode screened and hundreds of viewers complained about the violence.

 

Charlie explained to What's on TV why he created the thrills in the first place. "I love scaring people, particularly children, I do like scaring children. I've written this horror series of books, The Enemy, which is extremely frightening and disturbing for children, because I've always figured if you can really terrify a child, if you can scar them for life, then they will always remember...

"If you do it in a TV show or a film, if you can be the one thing that really scares them. If you talk to anyone about their childhood and they say, 'Oh my god, I watched Salem's Lot or Doctor Who', whatever it might be, everyone has this one thing."

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.