She-Wolf of London (1990-1991)

She-Wolf of London was a British-American co-production from the very early ‘90s. Reportedly, it was part of yet another attempt by Universal to create a profitable TV business, with the genre shows They Came from Outer Space and Shades of L. A. being the other two titles in that project. They all ended after 20 episodes.

 

The production history of She-Wolf of London is more complicated though. The British side of the funding ran out after 14 episodes, so the show changed directions after that and shrunk its supporting cast. These final 6 episodes then ran originally under a different title, Love & Curses. That has led to different ways of counting the shows episodes, with some regarding these 6 episodes as a second season, while others count the show’s entire run as one season (the order of episodes on Wikipedia is also not 100% identical to the order of episodes on imdb). Subsequent broadcasts in later years could naturally not be bothered with two different titles for the same show, so those re-runs usually happened under the original title She-Wolf of London.

 

 

The premise is rather simple, but the selected cast of supporting characters is not.

Randy Wallace (Kate Hodge), an American student, arrives in London to continue her studies of mythology under specialist professor Dr Ian Matheson (Neil Dickson). Matheson has published many an essay researching various mythologies around the world and explaining their mundane origins, their cultural function, and the deeply-seated psychological needs that made all this grow into tales of the supernatural. In other words: Matheson provides rational explanations for any monster tale out there.

Matheson’s parents run a B&B close to the university, and since Randy’s original accommodation arrangements fall through, she ends up renting a room from them. Other people in the household include Matheson’s aunt Elsa and his (inexplicably American) teenage nephew Julian. Julian’s father, apparently Ian Matheson’s twin brother, is in prison; but we never learn why and the show never uses that entire scenario for anything.

While researching and writing her thesis, Randy is attacked by some creature; and from that moment onwards she changes into a werewolf at every full moon. That does not only throw her life into chaos, but also that of Dr Matheson, who tries to help her and keep her safe but who at the same time has to face the fact that everything he has been teaching and writing in his career might have been nonsense and that all supernatural tales might in fact be true. Nevertheless, his experience in the field of mythology and his knowledge of (and access to) most source material comes in handy when researching Randy’s condition and the many other mysteries they will encounter.

 

I know that werewolf-lore differs from film to film and from show to show. Randy’s transformation happens only on the night of the fullest moon, not on the night before or after; so only on one night per month, not three, four, or five. Later in the show, however, we will see that this transformation can be triggered off-schedule by other events, and there are indications that the full-moon transformation could be suppressed by magic.

 

She-Wolf of London is an episodic show that mostly works on a monster-of-the-week basis, just like Buffy or Supernatural. While Randy’s search for a cure runs as a thin backbone through the season, in each episode Matheson and Randy encounter a new monster to deal with or a new mystery to solve. They encounter curses, ghosts, demon worshippers, crazy scientists, voodoo practitioners, trolls, wizards, zombies, and even succubi. Not to mention human culprits as well.

As one might expect, one of these episodes features vampires – but more on that later.

 

 

The show’s first episode must be one of the worst pilots I have ever seen. There are plot holes and problems with understanding how much time has passed between scenes. It also looks cheap. The actors, naturally, have not found their footing yet either.

She-Wolf of London has a large number of problems, many of which persist throughout but become less noticeable as soon as the show begins to find its grove.

The main problem is that Randy and Matheson begin to flirt with each other almost instantaneously the very second they meet. The fact that he is her professor does not seem to greatly bother either of them. One of the very first jokes in this show is made with regard to Randy’s name, and that sets the tone as her flirting is more than a little unsubtle. Apart from that there is no big problem with Hodge’s performance.

But I do have a big problem with the casting of the male lead, as Dr Matheson is just not the type you’d imagine women fall for the second they meet him. Today, Neil Dickson looks like a very attractive, distinguished man; but back in 1990 that was not necessarily the case: with too much make-up, a constantly shiny face, and an obvious, excessive use of either a solarium or tanning agents, his Ian Matheson character looks like vain fop. And his behaviour and his manner of speaking make him appear silly and pompous. I was baffled by those choices until I remembered some of the roles Hugh Grant would play in the early ‘90s – apparently this was the type of stereotypical Englishman that Hollywood deemed alluring at the time. But Matheson’s foppishness is also an element in the show’s attempts at setting a humorous tone for the show.

 

So there are huge writing problems when it comes to the two leads, and also when it comes to their interactions and the development of their relationship. Initially they have little chemistry. And Dickson’s acting choices are not helping, as they make everything his character says seem insincere. So the attempt to indicate a possible love interest between Randy and Matheson is a very rocky ride for the first few episodes until you reach the end of the episode “Moonlight Becomes You” (no. 3 or 4, depending on who you believe). Only then do you finally buy into the fact that they care for each other. For the audience, this relationship may not be earned, but at least it now is believable. The ending of that episode is competently written and acted, and Ian Sharrock’s brief but very good performance as a one-off side-character in that episode provides the necessary context to the premise’s drama aspects.

 

The show’s supporting characters are neither here nor there. Matheson’s parents are two-dimensional stock characters that have barely any function in the show. Aunt Elsa, on the other hand, is a feisty character who is put to good use, and Dorothea Phillips revels in that role. The odd one out is Julian. Scott Fults does a very good job in the role, but the character seems like an afterthought. The fact that Julian is American (unexplained) as well as his gender and his age make me believe that this character was introduced into the show’s concept rather late, possibly at the behest of the studio. As a horror-mystery show with some naughty jokes and a tiny bit of bare skin, She-Wolf of London probably regarded male teenagers as one of its prime target audiences. And so it seems very likely that Julian was intended as an identification figure for that audience, as none of the other characters (and certainly not Dr Matheson) could have fulfilled that role. Although they try to involve Julian in the early episodes and even wrote one entire episode with him at the centre of the story, in the end there is very little for him to do in this show and little use for him within this character constellation.

One side-effect of the choice to create this American teen-identification figure for American teen-audiences is that it inadvertently hurts the fish-out-of-water element since Randy is not the only American in the house.

 

As the show progresses, it often employs a pre-X-Files back-and-forth between its leads, in which Randy suspects supernatural causes for whatever they are researching, while Matheson categorically denies the possibility. It does not work at all, because he can see Randy change into a werewolf every month, so the certainty with which he excludes supernatural causes is silly.

Other, minor problems include the fact that the show seems to have a somewhat weak grasp of British geography, and absolutely no clue how universities operate or how the academic world works. The latter aspect also contributes in small part to the unconvincing nature of the main characters, especially Matheson. The show is further marred by the frequent use of 1980s synth as background score, which is rather insufferable.

 

 

Tone is a big issue as well. The show tries to be part horror-mystery, part comedy, and part soppy drama. While comedy and horror generally blend well, trying to blend the comedy and the drama is something the show frequently fails at. The humour itself is a mixed bag, with 1/3 of the jokes being good, 1/3 bad, and 1/3 mediocre. That being said, the quality of the humour does improve over the course of the show, as does the tonal balance between horror, comedy, and drama. There is also the occasional joke referencing films or TV-shows of the time, such as Bonfire of the Vanities for example, which is nice.

 

With older shows it is always interesting to spot recognisable faces in one-off roles. Peter Cellier, for example, or Christopher Benjamin, but also Jason Carter (Demon under Glass; Babylon 5). Trivia-fans might be interested to know that voice artist Dan Gilvezan will become a semi-regular in the show’s later episodes; or that Bruce Seth Green, who directed a number of Buffy episodes, was the director of two of the later episodes of She-Wolf of London.

 

Considering the episodes and their plots, many are making good use of common horror-mystery tropes, but there are also some that chose a specific folk-horror angle while others chose an exotic, non-European context. Both angles allow Matheson and Randy to employ their academic training. Not that this is in any way prominent in the episodes, but it gives the characters a more natural feel in these situations.

While the plot and the visual aspects of some episodes are rather bland, in others the horror is quite gruesome and graphic. This is a TV-show, shot on a limited budget, but the sets and make-up in some episodes are impressive in an old-school sort of way – as is the creation of atmosphere. Certain episodes reminded me of the “ghouls” segment of The Monster Club in this respect.

 

If you want to check out only a limited number of episodes, the early ones titled “The Bogman of Letchmoor Heath” and “The Juggler” are impressive examples of such creepy folk-horror. Other interesting episodes include “Little Bookshop of Horrors”, which reminds me of an early Buffy episode, and the circus-themed “Big Top She-Wolf”. The two-parter “Can’t Keep a Dead Man Down” is well-made and intended as a heavy-weight mid-season story.

 

Episode 14, “Beyond the Beyond”, is a bit of an odd one out, but impressive in its own right. It takes place at a convention for fans of a SciFi show of the same name (most aspects of which are Star Trek spoofs). Even more “meta” is the later episode “Bride of the Wolfman”, which spoofs Universal’s own monster film legacy and which stars Tracey Walter (Midnight Son) as a creepy butler, as well as the great Tony Amendola (Stargate SG-1).

 

Which brings us to episode 16 (“Habeas Corpses”), the show’s only vampire episode:

Matheson is just showing Randy a new house he has bought (complete with a cage in case of full moon) when an anaemic man with fang marks on his neck drops dead on the door step. Their investigation leads them towards a hot trail very quickly, but with their suspect not bothered by sunlight, can this really be a vampire?

With the entire episode circling around the world of the legal profession, there are plenty of jokes offered here about the similarities between vampires and lawyers. There are also a couple of nice ideas thrown in to garnish the plot that is otherwise somewhat free of twists and surprises.

 

I enjoyed this episode a lot, in part because of its simple plot, but also because of the acting in the lawyer roles, including by Barry Van Dyke, David Sage, and Marta DuBois (Magnum, P. I.). But it is not an outstanding episode, even by the somewhat lower standards of this show, and there are one or two smallish plot-holes.

 

 

She-Wolf of London is a not a show that has aged well. There is a lot of ‘90s cheesiness, not to mention the ‘80s synth music. The problems with the tonal mix are also jarring at times since we are today used to shows that commonly manage to keep the balance on a regular basis.

Still, the show is interesting, and certain episodes are absolutely worth watching. I’d rate the show at 5.5 to 6.0 out of 10. But, as I said, a number of the episodes I have pointed out in my review are better than that.