Frankenstein: A Modern Myth, the indepth documentary on the legacy of Mary Shelley’s novel that makes extensive use of footage culled from the NTLive production of Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, will finally recieve it’s television premiere in the UK on Channel 4 on October 31 2012 at 23:10GMT.

Read our review of the documentary

Earlier today in London, the Open City Docs Fest at University College London played host to the first public screening of ‘Frankenstein: A Modern Myth’, a documentary that examines the legacy of the original story by Mary Shelley, viewed through the prism of last year’s celebrated production at The National Theatre starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller.

Read More

Also included in the Channel 4 Press Pack are first details on Coup, a four part conspiracy thriller featuring Rupert Graves.

The series is due to screen in the summer.

Gabriel Byrne stars as Tom Dawkins, the reluctant hero at the heart of this contemporary conspiracy thriller, who finds himself thrust into the spotlight of front-line politics when he least expects it and risks everything by taking on the might of the Establishment.

Douglas Hodge, Gina McKee, Charles Dance, Rupert Graves and Ruth Negga also star in the four-part drama written by Robert Jones (Lennon Naked) and directed by Ed Fraiman (The Philanthropist), which is inspired by Chris Mullin’s novel A Very British Coup.

A devastating industrial accident on Teesside leaves several people dead and raises awkward questions about the safety procedures of the US petrochemical company involved. As a man who has a profound belief in transparency and open government, Dawkins will have to tackle vested interests, financial and military, both domestic and international, in his pursuit to uncover the truth and get justice for the families affected by the disaster. Along the way, he will struggle to keep his party onside and the electorate behind him, as he also weathers damaging revelations about his personal life. And as the investigation into the Teesside disaster proceeds, Dawkins becomes aware of the Establishment’s secret ties to the petrochemical company and comes to realise that there are bigger powers at play behind the scenes.

Channel 4 in the UK has announced the long awaited documentary featuring the Olivier Award winning production of Frankenstein at the National Theatre, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller.

Frankenstein: A Modern Myth will screen at some point this summer. Further information as and when we get it.

From Boris Karloff to Mel Brooks - Frankenstein has fired the imagination of generations of artists who have created their own interpretation of this Gothic masterpiece. Written by a 19-year-old girl nearly 200 years ago, this was the first and greatest myth of the modern scientific age.

Mary Shelley began writing her novel in Geneva, where she went to escape the judgmental gaze of British society with her lover, Percy Shelley (a married man), her half-sister Clare and Clare’s lover, the notorious poet, Lord Byron. Living a life of subversive glamour, they were the rock stars of the 1800s.

Shut up indoors during the wettest summer on record, Lord Byron suggested they each try to write a ghost story. Unable to begin, Mary panicked at first, but then in a waking dream she had the vision for her novel. Frankenstein - published anonymously in 1818 when she was just 21 - has gone on to inspire its own popular genre of horror movies, punk rock, and theatre productions.

Frankenstein: A Modern Myth looks at some of these depictions, including Danny Boyle’s sell-out hit at the National Theatre. The film has exclusive access to rehearsals and interviews with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller - who alternate the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature - and with Danny Boyle. It also features cult film director John Waters: “I’m sympathetic to monsters, and this was the first one I came across as a child”.