SHE’S NO ANGEL!

Natalie Dormer plays a shape-shifting demon stirring up trouble in 1930s Los Angeles, in the spooky new spin-off of Penny Dreadful

Natalie Dormer found global fame as the scheming Margaery Tyrell in Game Of Thrones – but clearly she was just warming up. In Sky’s powerful new supernatural spin-off drama Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels, the British actress takes manipulation to a new level, playing four characters.

Primarily she is shape-shifting demon Magda, who is pulling the strings and causing mayhem in 1938 Los Angeles, a tinderbox of racial tension where police and city planners are at loggerheads with the Mexican community.

Magda transforms herself into Alex Malone, a seemingly meek and mild aide to powerful councilman Charlton Townsend, who actually influences him to dangerous effect.

The demon also becomes gang leader Rio and housewife Elsa, who quietly controls Nazi-supporting paediatrician Peter Craft.

In a city where the Nazis are starting to exert behind-the-scenes influence, all four of Natalie’s characters are hell-bent on stirring things up. ‘Magda has fallen out with her sister, Santa Muerte, who in Mexican folklore guides the dead into the afterlife,’ explains Natalie. ‘Unlike her sister, Magda believes humanity is inherently evil and sets out to prove her point by nudging LA towards a race war.’

In an early scene all four members of the wealthy but ill-fated

Hazlett family are found murdered. Their hearts have been ripped out, their throats cut and their faces caked in thick, white make-up.

Rookie Mexican-American cop Tiago Vega, alongside partner Lewis Michener, is one of the first on the scene, translating a sign in Spanish on a wall saying, ‘You take our heart, we take yours.’

Daniel Zovatto, who plays Tiago, explains, ‘Tiago’s bosses fear the killings will ignite a race war – especially as what appears to be an explanation for the killings was written in Spanish.’

Tensions soon come to the boil. The climax to the first episode sees a stand-off between the police and residents as bulldozers threaten to start flattening their homes.

There’s an uneasy calm until Magda strides onto the scene. She whispers something into the ear of a nervous, gun-toting young policeman – and triggers mayhem... n

Tim Oglethorpe Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels, Wednesday, 9pm, Sky Atlantic.

LEWIS MICHENER (Nathan Lane) The long-serving police officer stands up for Tiago Vega when he suffers racist abuse on his first day as a detective. SANTA MUERTE (Lorenza Izzo) Magda’s sister is a deity associated with healing, protection and safe passage to the afterlife. SANTIAGO ‘TIAGO’ VEGA (Daniel Zovatto) A Los Angeles detective, the first from his Mexican family to work for the LAPD. His very first case is a horrific multiple murder. MAGDA (Natalie Dormer) A supernatural demon who takes human form as key figures in 1938 Los Angeles.