“It has all the hallmarks of a traditional Victorian period drama but it’s much more dark and twisted”: George Webster, Freddie Carter, Eanna Hardwicke and Saoirse-Monica Jackson on The Doll Factory

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by author Elizabeth Macneal, The Doll Factory is a gothic drama loosely unravelling its narrative around real events and people during the Victorian era. With a screenplay by Charley Miles and a strong ensemble cast, the tale traverses between morbid obsessions, artistic expression, freedom and death.

Two sisters called Rose (Mirren Mack) and Iris (Esme Creed-Miles) paint porcelain dolls in the back of a shop as a kind of macabre keepsake for parents whose children have died. When Iris captures the eye of a shopkeeper of curiosities called Silus (Eanna Hardwicke) and also at the same time a Pre-Raphaelite artist called Louis, she soon makes a bid for freedom from the drudgery of her life flitting between the two love interests as navigates this new path.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to George Webster and Freddie Carter about their roles in the series, the beautiful visual adaptation of the book of the same name by Elizabeth Macneal and how they both prepared to play their characters.

Eanna Hardwicke and Saoirse-Monica Jackson spoke to us about the many layers to the story and their separate characters, what it was like for Silus to build this obsessive relationship with Iris, the costume and era the series was set in and what appealed to them about coming on board.

Ezelle Alblas

The Doll Factory is released on Paramount+ on 1^st December 2023.

Watch the trailer for The Doll Factory here: