Houdini & Doyle is a British-Canadian-American television drama series based on the friendship of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A 10-episode first season was ordered by Fox in the United States, ITV in the United Kingdom, and Global in Canada. The pilot episode was written by co-creators David Hoselton and David Titcher. The first episode was broadcast on ITV on Sunday 13 March 2016.[1]
On August 3, 2016, Fox cancelled the series after one season. [2]
Premise[]
Harry Houdini is a skeptic who doesn't believe anything unless he can see it himself. Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle is a believer who wants to prove that the supernatural is real. The drama opens in 1901 London, shortly after the publication of Doyle's The Great Boer War. Houdini and Doyle become involved in the investigation of several mysterious deaths. They argue over whether the causes are natural or supernatural, and often wager on the cause, which causes their police liaison, Constable Adelaide Stratton, some embarrassment.
Cast[]
- Michael Weston as Harry Houdini
- Stephen Mangan as Arthur Conan Doyle
- Rebecca Liddiard as Adelaide Stratton
- Emily Carey as Mary Conan Doyle
- Noah Jupe as Kingsley Conan Doyle
- Tim McInnerny as Horace Merring
- Adam Nagaitis as George Gudgett
- Diana Quick as Cecelia Weiss
Production[]
External scenes were filmed in Liverpool city centre. The series was filmed on two stages at The Space Project in Manchester.
Broadcast[]
The series premiered on ITV in the United Kingdom 13 March 2016. It premiered on 2 May 2016, on Global in Canada and Fox in the United States. Now TV became the Online Streaming Network for the series on 24 June 2015.
Episodes[]
No. | Image | Title | Writer | Director | Airdate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "The Maggie's Redress" | David Hoselton David N. Titcher |
Stephen Hopkins | 13 March 2016 | |
Houdini, Doyle and Adelaide investigate the murder of a nun in one of the notorious Magdalene Laundries. | |||||
2 | "A Dish of Adharma" | David Hoselton | Stephen Hopkins | 17 March 2016 | |
Claiming he’s avenging a murder – his own murder in a past life – a 12-year-old boy shoots a prominent suffragette. | |||||
3 | "In Manus Dei" | Melissa R. Byer Treena Hancock |
Daniel O'Hara | 24 March 2016 | |
When a heckler is mysteriously struck down at a faith healer’s show, the team investigates whether the healer is truly channeling the power of God. | |||||
4 | "Spring-Heel'd Jack" | Carl Binder | Daniel O'Hara | 31 March 2016 | |
A mysterious flying panthom is killing people at night in London. | |||||
5 | "The Curse of Korzha" | Josh Brandon | Edward Bazalgette | 7 April 2016 | |
The medium Madame Korzha led to discovery of kidnapped girls but the trio is not convinced by the spirit behind the psychic. | |||||
6 | "The Monsters of Nethermoor" | Nazrin Choudhury | Edward Bazalgette | 14 April 2016 | |
What seems to be an alien invasion in the country led Houdini, Doyle and constable Stratton to investigate. | |||||
7 | "Bedlam" | David N. Titcher | Robert Lieberman | 21 April 2016 | |
Doyle most terrible fear may become true when he's recovered at Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as Bedlam, a hideous psychiatric hospital in London. | |||||
8 | "Strigoi" | Carl Binder | Robert Lieberman | 28 April 2016 | |
When the housemaid of Doyle's old friend Bram Stoker is murdered with a stake through the heart, suspicions arise that Stoker may either be the killer...or a vampire. | |||||
9 | "Necromanteion" | Melissa R. Byer Treena Hancock |
Jeff Renfroe | 5 May 2016 | |
While Houdini visits New York to bury his mother, Doyle and Adelaide investigate a murderous poltergeist in Canada, encountering Thomas Edison with his newest invention, the Necrophone, a device for communicating with the dead. | |||||
10 | "The Pall of LaPier" | David Hoselton | Jeff Renfroe | 12 May 2016 | |
The trio investigate a small town where almost everyone died simultaneously with no visible cause. However Adelaide is distracted by the revelation that her husband faked his death, while Houdini continues to see his mother's ghost, and fears he is going mad |