Repeatedly the culprit to blame for systematically destroying our social lives (not that we're complaining), Sky Atlantic has brought us the likes of , and Mad Men. Their most recent offering, a horror TV series masterminded by Sam Mendes and John Logan, Penny Dreadful looks to do exactly the same. ELLE flags up 5 things to know about your next TV obsession...

1) Set in Victorian London, the show draws upon and brings together figureheads in 19th-century gothic lit such as Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Can we expect appearances from Dorian Gray or Jekyll and Hyde later on? We certainly can’t wait to see.

2) Josh Hartnett is back. That’s right, after what seems like an excessively long (we reiterate, too long) hiatus, Josh Hartnett is back on our screens as Ethan Chandler, a womanizing, sharpshooting American.

3) The show has coincidental James Bond ties. The cast includes ex-Bond alumni such as Timothy Dalton and former Bond-girl Eva Green, and the screenplay of the show was written and co-produced by John Logan (who wrote the screenplay for Skyfall).

4) If you’re not a fan of gore, look away now. Penny Dreadful is not a show that shies away from the gruesome aspects of gothic horror. Underground chambers doused in blood, dismembered body parts, explorative dissections, and spiders…lots of spiders. Shudder.

5) Don’t be expecting sparkly skin Twilight-tributes; the vampires in Penny Dreadful mean business. We’re talking Egyptian hieroglyph-tattooed skin, exorcist-like flexibility, and teeth that aren’t exactly Robert Pattinson exemplars of Hollywood.

See the trailer below:

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Penny Dreadful airs on Sky Atlantic on May 20.

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