What’s not to love about period dramas? The beautiful outfits, the historical details and above all, the escapism. The Doll Factory is the latest star-studded TV series to bring us all that and more.
Filmed in and around Dublin, the six-part series is set during London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, am international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park. The Doll Factory is set to explore way more than art though – from what we know so far, it covers female sexuality, empowerment through art and looking at the patriarchy through an 1800s lens. Compelling stuff.
Here’s a guide to the series, including cast, plot and release date.
What is The Doll Factory about?
Based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Macneal, the series follows Iris, who paints dolls for a living with her twin sister. But what she really wants is to be an artist in her own right, as she spends her nights painting herself naked on her own canvases.
When she meets a pre-Raphaelite artist named Louis Frost, they make a deal that he will teach her how to paint professionally and she will model for him. What follows is an internal battle, as Iris knows that if she agrees to this deal she will be abandoning her sister and taking a leap into the unknown. She also reckons with the partriarchy (of course) and questions her own sexuality. Alongside these conundrums, she meets a taxidermist named Silas who develops a rather sinister obsession with her.
All kinds of drama.
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Who has been cast in The Doll Factory?
Hanna actor Esme Creed-Miles will play protagonist Iris, while Sex Education star Mirren Mack will play twin sister Rose. Silas is played by Irish actor Éanna Hardwicke, who is perhaps best known for his role as Rob Hegarty in the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People.