Houdini & Doyle arrive at ITV
Announced in June last year, ITV Encore is to broadcast a ten part supernatural crime drama series in Houdini & Doyle. Stephen Mangan and Michael Weston headline the cast.
“It was a great set up, that seemed almost too good to be true. The real life friendship between the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the great magician Harry Houdini. The pair bonded by a mutual interest in the paranormal. And most intriguing of all was the fact they were on unexpected sides of the debate. For one would assume Doyle to be the sceptic and Houdini the believer – but it was quite the opposite.” – David Hoselton, Co-Creator and Executive Producer
Described by the ITV drama team as a ‘bold and thrilling new crime drama series’ the episodes follow Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Mangan) alongside Harry Houdini (Weston), two of the most fascinating and iconic characters of the early 20th century. The story follows these real-life friends, real-life adversaries and real-life crime solvers.
Harry Houdini: master magician, escape artist, born penniless and now the highest paid performer in the world and he wants everyone to know it. He refuses to believe in the paranormal. As a professional magician and master of illusion he knows there’s nothing supernatural about magic. To him, everything unexplained is a trick, a gimmick, or a fraud. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the creator of the greatest detective of all time – Sherlock Holmes – but is also a passionate believer in the paranormal. Because, having lost someone very close to him, he desperately wants to find a way of communicating with them.
This fundamental difference between the two men leads to conflict… and humour… and competition. High-minded competition in the pursuit of the truth and ridiculous petty competition because they’re… guys. But despite all this, they need each other. Doyle needs Houdini because he is gullible. Houdini needs Doyle because he is wrong.
Houdini & Doyle will draw heavily on the rich history of the period. At the turn of the 20th century the Metropolitan Police, mired in the ways of the 19th century, were overwhelmed with bizarre and often inexplicable cases so they turned to outsiders including, believe it or not, Houdini and Doyle, who collaborated with New Scotland Yard on some unsolved and inexplicable crimes.
At its core, it’s a character study masquerading as a procedural involving vampires or ghosts or time travel and so on. Each week there will be a mystery solved, or almost solved! There is to always be a nagging doubt about what really happened which gives viewers a chance to explore real fundamental human issues. Is cynicism to be admired or is it the death of issues. What do we believe and why?
“Of course we needed someone to ground this rich and famous pair, and who better to do that than the first female police officer, Adelaide Stratton, who is based on a real person. Remember this was seventeen years before women got the vote and females in the workplace were pretty much unheard of. So Adelaide gives us a window into that evolving world and the fact that she just might add some romantic tention to our tale seemed like not a bad idea.” – David Hoselton, Co-Creator and Executive Producer
In the first episode, which will air on the main ITV channel as well as ITV Encore, Houdini and Doyle with Adelaide investigate the murder of a nun in one of the notorious Magdalene Laundries. A witness claims the killer is a young woman who was tormented by the nun. The only problem is that young woman has been dead for six months.
