Penny Dreadful

Penny Dreadful is an old term used during the nineteenth century to refer to cheap popular serial literature, and it could be interchangeable with penny blood, penny awful or penny horrible. It means a story published in weekly parts, with the cost of one (old) penny. The main plot of these stories were typically sensational, focusing on the adventures of detectives, criminals, or supernatural entities.

The show is using many metaphors to point out the hidden or dual nature of the main characters. One of them is shooting scenes in reflective surfaces like mirrors. Most notably though is the dark versus light depiction of Vanessa and Mina.

As creator John Logan had never written a television series before, he did not produce a spec script, but instead wrote the first two episodes directly. When he had the opportunity to pitch it to Showtime, he also wrote a 40-page Bible exploring the characters and story, with the network eventually buying the show.