The Alienist: 'Grisly' crime chiller gets UK release date on Netflix

Its cast includes Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning

New 19th-century crime chiller The Alienist will be released on Netflix in the UK.

The eerie-looking series - based on the novels by Caleb Carr - comes from the mind of Cary Fukunaga, and follows a criminal psychologist who joins forces with a journalist and a police detective to investigate the serial murders of young boys in the 1890s.

Its cast includes Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans and former child star Dakota Fanning.

Fukunaga, the director who oversaw the entire first season of Nic Pizzolatto's HBO series True Detective, wrote the series alongside Hossein Amini who was the screenwriter of Nicolas Winding Refn film Drive.

If these credentials weren't enough, the series' directors include Jakob Verbruggen and James Hawes who have both directed episodes of Black Mirror, Game of Thrones and Jessica Jones.

The eight-episode series is essentially a mystery crime series featuring characters who - much like those in recent Netflix series Mindhunter - shaped the area of psychology concerned with investigating criminal activity.

“What compels a man to do evil?” the series asks with a confidence that suggests it will undoubtedly delve into that answer, much in the same way that Fukunaga's True Detective episodes did.

The Alienist - which has been deemed the "grisliest period drama yet" by The Atlantic - airs on TNT in the US with all 10 episodes available to view on Netflix from 19 April.

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