Jason Deans and agencies

Monday 15 December 2014

The Guardian

The epic poem Beowulf is to be made into a 13-part drama by ITV.

Described as a western set in the dark ages of Britain’s mythic past, the series will use locations in County Durham and Northumbria to represent the poem’s Scandinavian setting, and will deliver “epic fights, thrilling chases, raids, celebrations and battles”, following the eponymous hero’s battles with a monster and a dragon, adds to a burgeoning fantasy roster that includes Jekyll and Hyde and a Frankenstein series starring Sean Bean.

One of its co-creators, ITV’s creative director of drama, Tim Haines, has credits including the BBC documentary series Walking with Dinosaurs, which made extensive use of CGI special effects to recreate prehistoric landscapes and animals, and the fantasy drama Primeval.

Haines will work with Katie Newman, with whom he collaborated on Primeval, and writer James Dormer, whose credits include Wallander and Strike Back.

The critical and ratings success of Game of Thrones has prompted renewed interest in the fantasy drama genre from broadcasters. ITV is also making a 10-part action adventure series, Jekyll and Hyde, written by the actor and comedian Charlie Higson. Set in 1930s London, the protagonist will be the grandson of the original doctor from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 19th-century tale.

Bean, who starred in the first series of Game of Thrones, will take the lead in the Frankenstein Chronicles, playing a police inspector in Regency London who stumbles across a corpse assembled from various bodies.