Penny Dreadful
AtmosphericMood and place thick enough to touch.This show: 10/10Visually strikingComposition and imagery worth pausing for.This show: 9/10Dark toneShadowy mood and subject matter, a shade short of outright bleak.This show: 9/10MelancholicA wistful sadness woven through the story, even in its lighter moments.This show: 8/10Stylized directionBold, signature formal choices.This show: 8/10SupernaturalGhosts, demons and powers beyond nature in our own world.This show: 8/10Character studyInterior life matters more than plot.This show: 8/10Period pieceSet meaningfully in a past era.This show: 8/10
Rate this series
Starring
Josh HartnettTimothy DaltonEva GreenReeve CarneyRory KinnearBillie Piper
Written by
John Logan
Starring
Josh HartnettTimothy DaltonEva GreenReeve CarneyRory KinnearBillie Piper
Written by
John Logan
Ratings per Episode
Votes per Episode
Penny Dreadful Episode Ratings Heatmap
| Avg | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8 | E9 | E10 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 8.6 | 8.0 | 8.7 | 8.4 | |||
| S2 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 9.0 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 8.7 | 8.9 | |
| S3 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 9.1 | 7.9 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.2 |
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About
"Gothic literary icons collide in one haunted psyche"
Victorian London becomes a shared stage for Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, Dorian Gray and other gothic legends, bound together by a tormented medium named Vanessa Ives and the explorer trying to save her. It's less about jump scares than dread, desire and grief, moving at a deliberate, novelistic pace through fog-drenched streets and candlelit parlors. Lush production design, literate dialogue and a run of towering performances (Eva Green especially) carry it. Expect brooding atmosphere over plot momentum, with horror used as a lens on trauma and repression rather than pure scares.
Watch it for
Eva Green's ferocious, genre-elevating performance as a woman battling forces both supernatural and internal.
Maybe skip if
you want fast plotting or jump-scare horror rather than slow, mood-driven gothic drama.
Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.
All Seasons
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Season 12014
8.229K87h 16m
Vanessa Ives wages a personal battle against an evil demon determined to possess her; Sir Malcolm Murray tries to save his daughter from a fate worse than death; Ethan Chandler becomes enmeshed with a group of London vampire hunters and falls for a doomed local prostitute, even as his own mysterious past threatens to catch up with him; Dr. Victor Frankenstein must face the consequences of his successful death-defying experiments; Dorian Gray falls for the unapproachable Vanessa Ives; Brona Croft confronts her imminent demise from consumption.
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Season 22015
8.426K109h 5m
Vanessa Ives and her allies find themselves locked in an epic battle against an unholy evil; Sir Malcolm falls under the spell of a bewitching temptress; Ethan's big secret becomes known as his past comes back to haunt him; Dr. Frankenstein's newest creation breaks hearts and then some; Dorian Gray falls for an unlikely woman.
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Season 32016
8.421K98h 3m
Confronting new horrors in dangerous new lands, Ethan Chandler, Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Sir Malcolm, the Creature, and the ravishing but deadly Lily must each face -- and embrace -- their own most truly monstrous selves. But for Vanessa Ives, accepting her demons could exact a terrible cost and plunge the world into unending darkness.
Full Cast & Crew
Cast
Josh Hartnett Ethan Chandler
Timothy Dalton Sir Malcolm Murray
Eva Green Vanessa Ives
Reeve Carney Dorian Gray
Rory Kinnear John Clare, The Creature
Billie Piper Lily, Brona Croft
Harry Treadaway Dr. Victor Frankenstein
Danny Sapani Sembene
Simon Russell Beale Ferdinand Lyle
Douglas Hodge Bartholomew Rusk
Crew
John Logan
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