I'm really enjoying this BBC (mini?) series, even if I'm having to catch it in somewhat butchered form on BBC America. Creator Steven Moffat has been compared by some fans to Joss Whedon (and he admittedly does something with his villains here that's vaguely similar to what Whedon did with Mr. Trick and The Mayor in the 3rd season of BUFFY), but after four episodes of this and his much-lauded DOCTOR WHO episodes ("The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", "The Girl in the Fireplace," "Blink"), he reminds me more of a combination of THE X-FILES Darrin Morgan and Nigel Kneale.

In JEKYLL, James Nesbitt plays Dr. Tom Jackman, modern descendant (or is he?) of You Know Who. The series begins in media res, with Jackman not yet knowing who is famous ancestor was, but very much aware that he's turning into Hyde (even though the latter doesn't have a name yet) at regular intervals, although he doesn't know why, and having already made an uneasy truce with his impulsive, amoral and superhumanly fast and strong alter-ego.

Like Spencer Tracy, but FAR more effectively, Nesbitt plays Hyde with only a subtle amount of make-up -- prosthetics change the shape of his face, but only slightly, he has black eyes, darker hair, and a "younger" hairline. Hyde also appears to grow vampiric canines when he actually bites somebody (he has a bit of Hannibal Lector in him, and isn't adverse to chomping on his enemies, although so far he hasn't actually eaten any of them), but most of the time he sports only slightly alarming stereotypically British teeth.

Four episodes in, Hyde doesn't seem to be evil, exactly, but is more pure Id. Admittedly, when the series begins, he's restrained by the fact that he and Jackman have already arrived at a working relationship. If Hyde kills anyone, Jackman will turn himself in. If he has unprotected or non-consensual sex, Jackman will lock himself up during future transformations. And so on. But so far, Hyde hasn't killed anyone who wasn't menacing him or Jackman's family, and his threats of "I will eat your children" to Jackman seem to be a bluff caused by his anger over the way that Jackman has hidden the fact that he has a wife and kids from him (the two don't share memories, except for occasional flashes).

It's much more complex and interesting than I'm probably making it sound. Setting the story in the modern day, with various digital recording devices used by both Hyde and Jackman, allows the two to have a genuine relationship in a way that I've never seen in any previous treatment of this type of story.

The acting is good. I liked Nesbitt's quiet, tormented Jackman from the start, but it took me a couple of episodes to really warm to his Hyde (it was his confrontations with Jackman's wife and his Dirty Harry/Wolverine moment in the third episode that completely sold me on him), as like Hopkins' Lector, it's a very stylized and over-the-top performance that may grate on some people. I'm also really impressed by Gina Bellman (from COUPLING, the original version, which was also created by Moffat) as Jackman's wife Claire. She's sexy in a not-actressy-beautiful, "real world" way, and she holds her own in his big scenes with Hyde and with the story's real villains in the third and fourth episodes. Michelle Ryan, who is also apparently the new Bionic Woman, doesn't have as much to do as the personal assistant to both Jackman and Hyde, but she's extremely hot, reminding me slightly of Carla Guigino. The guy who played the Marquis of Carabas in Neil Gaiman's NEVERWHERE makes for a pretty broad and somewhat grating "Ugly American" villain, but then the plot takes an interesting turn I won't reveal here. And there's VERY good work by Dennis Lawson, Wedge Antilles himself (and the innkeeper in LOCAL HERO, as well as Ewan McGregor's uncle in real life), even though it makes me feel too damn old to see him as a grey-haired father-figure type with a secret.

I don't yet know how this six-episode series is going to end up, but with episodes three and four I've become completely hooked, and so has my friend Nikki, whom I just showed them to. I'm certainly going to check out Steven Moffat's work whenever I can from now on.

Thanks to bit torrent, I've seen all of the unexpergated JEKYLL. It was an interesting and fun ride, but I have to admit that the finale left me underwhelmed. I can't really explain why without blowing it, and YMMV, but the two revelations/explanations and the final "twist"just didn't work for me. The thing of it is that I still immensely enjoyed the whole experience and would suggest everyone who's interested catch it for the excellent acting (James Nesbitt and Gina Bellman are great and everyone else is enjoyable to watch except, as Ian says, the rather broad "secret agency" guy. The lesbian detectives are a hoot!) and an interesting & rollicking story generally well told.

I agee that, at times, Nesbitt as Hyde is just a shade *too* OTT but I was happy to see that they moved away from the annoying & cartoony sound effects accompanying some of his movements in the first episode, although the entirety continues to feature this strange editing choice that makes it appear as if he's occasionally bilocating or teleporting when he goes all "feral". I'd assumed it was something that was supposed to actually be happening in the show but am left wondering if it was just a flashy editing choice. Or perhaps they want to leave some mysteries for the rumored "second season" (or is that a definite now)?

What's strange is that while I really enjoyed the show, I also have to say that as the second episode began to play out, I started to feel a little sad that they'd chosen to go in the direction they had. The initial Jekyll/Hyde agreement that the show starts with could have developed in a number of interesting ways but instead the show quickly barrels into a full-on pulp comic book/X-FILES direction. Which, as I said, was quite a lot of fun but also left me feeling like there was so much more unexplored potential in the start. I could easily see an american version of this series spinning the set-up out for a half-season before moving into the heavy duty conspiracy and man-plus freakazoid powers stuff. But on the other hand, I could also easily see an american version like that getting cancelled 5 episodes in and the viewer never getting any payoff to all the questions.

So, anyway - yeah, a neat series worth checking out!

I was getting ready to catch this weekend on BBCA on demand, but if they're cutting it, then forget it, I'll just get the uncut episodes.

Guess I'll be getting TORCHWOOD the same way, as well.

Domenick, even the BBC, here in the UK, showed slightly edited versions of the episodes, compared to the versions now available here on DVD.

Interestingly, though, during the commentary, there are pro and anti comments about the longer, more explicit scenes.

It's worth getting the DVD set, IMHO. A couple of episodes have commentary, and there's about an hour of interviews and behind-the-scenes stuff.

Sounds like a good idea, Julian. I've been catching up with DR. WHO that way, since the Sci-Fi Channel in the u.S. edits them to fit in more commercials.