<Tr> <Th> Production website </Th> <Td> blog.penny-dreadful.com </Td> </Tr> <P> Penny Dreadful is a British - American horror drama television series created for Showtime and Sky by John Logan, who also acts as executive producer alongside Sam Mendes . The show was originally pitched to several US and UK channels, and eventually landed with Showtime, with Sky Atlantic as co-producer . It premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 9 and began airing on television on April 28, 2014, on Showtime on Demand . The series premiered on Showtime on May 11, 2014, the first in an eight - episode season . After the third - season finale on June 19, 2016, series creator John Logan announced that Penny Dreadful had ended as the main story had reached its conclusion . </P> <P> The title refers to the penny dreadfuls, a type of 19th - century British fiction publication with lurid and sensational subject matter . The series draws upon many public domain characters from 19th - century British and Irish fiction, including Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray; Mina Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Renfield, and Count Dracula from Bram Stoker's Dracula; Victor Frankenstein and his monster from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; and Dr. Henry Jekyll from Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Season </Th> <Th_colspan="2"> Episodes </Th> <Th_colspan="2"> Originally aired </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> First aired </Th> <Th> Last aired </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td_colspan="1"> </Td> <Td_colspan="2"> 8 </Td> <Td_colspan="1"> May 11, 2014 (2014 - 05 - 11) </Td> <Td> June 29, 2014 (2014 - 06 - 29) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td_colspan="1"> </Td> <Td_colspan="2"> 10 </Td> <Td_colspan="1"> May 3, 2015 (2015 - 05 - 03) </Td> <Td> July 5, 2015 (2015 - 07 - 05) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td_colspan="1"> </Td> <Td_colspan="2"> 9 </Td> <Td_colspan="1"> May 1, 2016 (2016 - 05 - 01) </Td> <Td> June 19, 2016 (2016 - 06 - 19) </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Who are the characters in penny dreadful supposed to be