History Series / TheFrankensteinChronicles

The story, originally billed as [[RecycledWithAGimmick Frankenstein as a detective series]] quickly sets sail for [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy far]], ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs far]]'' stranger waters.

The story, originally billed as [[RecycledTheSeries Frankenstein as a detective series]] quickly sets sail for [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy far]], [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs FAR]] stranger waters.

* AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues

* CorruptChurch: One part of the Anglican Church is portrayed this way. The Dean of Westminster [[spoiler: orders the murders of priests who oppose his plan to sell church land which would result in the poor who live there being thrown out. He then has the murderer himself killed to tie up loose ends.]]

* MythologyGag

* WindmillCrusader: The case presented against the Anatomy Act is not based on something humanist regarding "decency", nor on something material regarding compensating the families of those who will be "donated to science", but on a more esoteric basis: those who are dissected by surgeons for the purposes of education cannot be resurrected when JudgementDay comes. The Anatomy Act is seen as creating "a heaven only for the rich", which ties it to Jemima's fears of "a world without God". Granted, by the standards of the InUniverse time, that’s not an unconvincing argument.

* BackForTheDead / BusCrash: A mixture with [[spoiler:Lady Jemima Hervey in series 2]], who dies offscreen between seasons but [[ISeeDeadPeople appears as a ghost to Marlott.]] It's not immediately obvious she's actually dead, however, as at this point in the story she could plausibly be FakingTheDead or [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness merely be a hallucination]].

* ChildByRape: Fiona's pregnancy is the result of her being drugged and later raped by an aristocrat. [[spoiler: It turns out this was Garnet Chester.]]

* DefectiveDetective: John Marlott. He's traumatized by his service in [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars the Peninsula]] and the loss of his wife and daughter, as well as [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness suffering from both syphilis and mercury poisoning]] for much of the first season.
* DistressedDamsel: Flora in the first season. Esther Rose in the second.

* HardboiledDetective: Marlott.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[EverybodyDiesEnding Damn near everyone]] by the end.
* TheHeroDies: Of course, it's Creator/SeanBean. [[spoiler:[[FrankensteinsMonster He gets better]].]]
* HistoricalDomainCharacter

* HistoricalInJoke

* {{Immortality}}: A minor concern in series 1, this rockets to the forefront in series 2.
** ExpositionOfImmortality: [[spoiler:Frederick Dippel's]] immortality is revealed to the audience after he scares off Esther by telling her [[ISeeDeadPeople he can see the ghost of her son]]. He opens a briefcase, inside which are a series of labeled vials, all empty, going back over a hundred years to when [[HistoricalInJoke his father claimed to have discovered the Elixer of Life]].
** ImmortalityHurts: [[spoiler:Marlott]] repeatedly suffers from lethal wounds and eventually recovers, and seems to be in misery the whole time.
** ImmortalityInducer: The Elixer of Life, which is used to resurrect the dead.
** ResurrectiveImmortality: This appears to be the effect of the Elixer of Life, judging by the punishment [[spoiler:Marlott takes after being brought back]].
** WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:Frederik Dippel's motivation in series 2.]] He's immortal and needs a companion that won't age and die before his eyes. To this end he first tries [[spoiler:to build an artificial human, then later to make Rose immortal like him.]]

* IronicNurseryRhyme: ''Oranges and Lemons''

* ItWillNeverCatchOn

* LostLenore: Marlott's wife and daughter.

* ThereShouldBeALaw: "A dead body isn't property."

* WindmillCrusader: The case presented against the Anatomy Act could be considered this, as it is not based on something humanist regarding "decency", nor on something material regarding compensating the families of those who will be "donated to science", but on a more esoteric basis: those who are dissected by surgeons for the purposes of education cannot be resurrected when JudgementDay comes. The Anatomy Act is seen as creating "a heaven only for the rich", which ties it to Jemima's fears of "a world without God". Granted, by the standards of the InUniverse time that’s not an unconvincing argument.
* AWolfInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Lord Daniel Hervey]], who initially comes off as a kindly physician concerned that the Anatomy Act may outlaw his practice (which is charitable for the poor) and implied to share his sister's religious objections as well. [[spoiler: However, it turns out that he is a multiple murderer who experiments on raising the dead with kidnapped children. [[HollywoodAtheist Oh, and he's also an atheist]].]]

* HollywoodAtheist: [[spoiler:Lord Daniel Hervey]] is a surprisingly straight and dark example. He has murdered multiple people, on top of kidnapping children to experiment on hoping that he'll [[ImmortalityImmorality achieve immortality]] this way. Likewise, [[spoiler:Frederick Dippel]], his accomplice in all this, says there is no God and that once one realizes it then "anything is possible", implying a lack of any moral restraints.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Hoo boy, where to start?
** Creator/WilliamBlake's death is slightly rescheduled to give [[OneSceneWonder his impact on the story]] more weight.
** Creator/CharlesDickens ''did'' get his start in writing as a journalist with the PenName "Boz", but did so years after the setting of the first season.
** The Anatomy Act was passed later, in 1832. However, it did indeed follow revelations that body snatchers were murdering people to provide their bodies for dissection. The act did not outlaw unconventional medical practice.
** In 1827 Mary Shelley was thirty, but is played by an actress a decade older. Who also plays her at age seventeen in a flashback. Charles Dickens was a mere fifteen, but is an adult here, played by a thirty two year old actor.
** Ada Lovelace was only fifteen in 1830. Here the actress playing her is at least twice that age.
** The portrait of Johann Dippel, which appears in the last episode of season 1 and the first episode of season 2, depicts a man with a lean face, short reddish hair and a goatee. A portrait of the real Johann Dippel shows him as clean-shaven with a round face and thick, curly hair.

* AWolfInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: Lord Daniel Hervey]], who initially comes off as a kindly physician concerned that the Anatomy Act may outlaw his practice (which is charitable for the poor) and implied to share his sister's religious objections as well. [[spoiler: However, it turns out that he is a multiple murderer who experiments on raising the dead with kidnapped children. [[HollywoodAtheist Oh, and he's also an atheist]].]]

* HollywoodAtheist
** Lord Daniel Hervey is a surprisingly straight [[spoiler:and dark]] example.
** Likewise, Frederick Dippel.

* Immortality: A minor concern in series 1, this rockets to the forefront in series 2.

* AluminumChristmasTrees
** Nightingale, a black police constable (later sergeant) in the 1820s may seem like implausible PoliticallyCorrectHistory, but isn't that far off from the real deal, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kent_(police_officer) John Kent]].
** It's probably only to avoid this trope that they neglect to mention where Frederick Dippel's ancestor Johann Conrad Dippel was born: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_Castle Castle Frankenstein]].

* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[KillEmAll Damn near everyone]] by the end.

* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Not as a prelude to murder, but to preserve the incredibly sensitive political situation going on and prevent a panic. [[YouCanPanicNow Not that it lasts.]]

** A [[GenreShift surprising example]] when Boz discusses the case with Marlott: [[CelebrityParadox this whole story seems to be very similar to an incredibly popular book from a few years ago]]. All concerns of political sabotage then take a backseat as [[YouCanPanicNow the public becomes obsessed with "The Frankenstein Murders"]].

* YouCanPanicNow: Once "Boz" learns exactly what Marlott is investigating, he finds any drunken river patrol officer he can to go on the record with the incredibly lurid details of [[TitleDrop "The Frankenstein Murders"]].

* StuffedIntoTheFridge
** Series 1
*** [[spoiler:Flora]]
** Series 2
*** [[spoiler:Jemimah]], [[BackForTheDead offscreen.]]
*** [[spoiler:Spence]]
*** [[spoiler:Nightingale]], though [[ISeeDeadPeople that doesn't matter much by that point.]]

* MagicalDefibrillator: We see the experiment (with [[DirectLineToTheAuthor Mary Shelley]] taking part) that inspired the original novel, and it's basically Film/{{Flatliners}}: RegencyEngland Edition. The subject takes a dose of some kind of poison, is monitored until signs of life cease, and then is to be shocked back to life with a hand-powered dynamo. [[RealityEnsues The experiment is a failure.]]

* RealityEnsues
** The experiment that inspired Mary Shelley to write the original novel is a failure, as they attempt to shock a victim with no cardiac rhythm.
** A [[GenreShift surprising example]] when Boz discusses the case with Marlott: [[CelebrityParadox this whole story seems to be very similar to an incredibly popular book from a few years ago]]. All concerns of political sabotage then take a backseat as [[YouCanPanicNow the public becomes obsessed with "The Frankenstein Murders"]].
** When [[spoiler:Marlott dies and is resurrected a short time later]], the effects on his mind seem consistent with the real-world effects of traumatic brain injury. He's non-verbal and in a fugue state for three years before eventually recovering, and is never the same afterward.

* InfantImmortality: Averted right out of the gate, the patchwork corpse is made up of about 8 children between the ages of 8 and 12. Later, we learn Marlott's infant daughter died of natal syphilis, and further down the road see plenty of fetuses in jars.

* ImmortalityTropes: A minor concern in series 1, this rockets to the forefront in series 2.