Superheroes – but in corsets not capes. That’s the premise of The Nevers, a lavish new sci-fi thriller set in Victorian times
There are top-hatted toffs, street urchins and horse-drawn carriages — but this version of Victorian London has a supernatural twist. It’s 1899 and three years ago, glittering dust fell from a UFO hovering over the city, giving those it touched amazing powers.
Mary Brighton was blessed with a singing voice that mesmerises and soothes and Annie Carbey can produce balls of fire at will, while anything Lucy Best touches shatters and Doctor Horatio Cousens can heal the sick.
But these powers can be a terrible curse too, as we discover in Sky’s new six-part sci-fi thriller
The Nevers, which stars James Norton, Eleanor Tomlinson and Olivia Williams. The Touched, as they’re known, generate sympathy and support from some but for others they’re to be feared, loathed and even annihilated.
Among those protecting The Touched are the staff of St Romaulda’s Orphanage, a sanctuary for some of those with special powers. It’s run by Amalia True with support from her best friend Penance, while Lavinia Bidlow (Olivia Williams) funds it with her fortune.
‘Lavinia sees those with superpowers as forces for good, potentially able to change the world,’ explains Olivia, who will appear as Camilla Parker Bowles in the next series of The Crown.
Chief foe of The Touched is government official Lord Massen, who is determined to maintain the established order of things whatever the cost.
Looking to exploit The Touched is aristocrat Hugo Swann, who we first meet after a night of debauchery. ‘Hugo takes what he wants and gets away with it because of his privileged background,’ says former Grantchester star James
Norton, who plays him.
The fast-moving first episode sees Inspector Frank Mundi (Ben Chaplin) hunting serial killer Maladie, a bad apple among The Touched. She turns up at the opera, kills one of the performers and takes another, Mary Brighton, hostage.
‘Mary is terrified for her life,’ says former Poldark star Eleanor Tomlinson, who is cast as the singer. ‘But maybe her special talent for soothing people with her voice will stop Maladie in her tracks.’
n The Nevers begins on Monday at 10.10pm on Sky Atlantic.