London, 1827. After a successful operation by the Thames River Police to apprehend a gang of opium smugglers, a child's corpse is discovered. Inspector John Marlott (Sean Bean) is horrified to discover that it's not actually a child, but a grotesque assembly of human body parts.

In Season One, we follow Marlott on the hunt for the killer behind this abomination, taking him into the dark corners of Georgian London, an underworld of prostitution, drug smuggling, bodysnatching, murder for profit and other vices. As Marlott investigates, it brings him up against the medical establishment and powerful political forces wrestling with the march of scientific progress. One thing is certain - a demonic power is at work in the city, apparently attempting to reanimate the dead in a curious parody of the celebrated novel FRANKENSTEIN.

Unable to shake the memory of what happened on the banks of the Thames but reluctant to admit the impossible, Marlott brings his enquiry to a dramatic conclusion. But in his moment of triumph, another horror is revealed which will change Marlott's life forever.