General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

The Doll Factory

The Doll Factory is a six-part British period thriller television series, first broadcast on Paramount+ in 2023, adapted from Elizabeth Macneal's 2019 debut novel of the same name. Created by Charley Miles, it stars Esmé Creed-Miles as Iris, a doll painter in 1850s London who dreams of becoming an artist, with Éanna Hardwicke as the obsessive taxidermist Silas and George Webster as the Pre-Raphaelite painter Louis Frost.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Six-part scripted thriller, episodes of about 49 minutes, age rating 18¹^•³
Source	Adaptation of Elizabeth Macneal's 2019 debut novel The Doll Factory (Atria, 368 pages)⁴
Setting	London in 1850, around the construction of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park⁵
Lead cast	Esmé Creed-Miles (Iris), Éanna Hardwicke (Silas), Mirren Mack (Rose), George Webster (Louis Frost)²
Creator and directors	Created by Charley Miles; directed by Sacha Polak and Cathy Brady; Julie Harkin was the casting director¹^•⁶^•¹⁴
Production	Buccaneer Media, Shinawill Productions, and Cineflix Rights; shot in Ireland from September 2022⁷
Release	United States premiere November 27, 2023 on Paramount+; Australia from December 7, 2023 on SBS²^•⁵

Spoilers

Premise

The story is set in London in 1850, with the Great Exhibition being erected in Hyde Park. Iris paints the faces of dolls for a living alongside her twin sister Rose, working for Mrs. Salter, and by night secretly paints herself naked in the cellar. Silas is a taxidermist who owns a shop filled with his creations and dreams of finding an item so unique it will make him famous. Louis is a painter and member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood searching for his next muse. When Iris meets Silas, and then Louis, she is offered a chance to escape and start a new life, but to take it she must abandon her sister and sacrifice her reputation. As her world expands, a story of dark obsession begins to unfold.¹^•⁵

In the series, Iris spends her days creating mourning dolls, painted for people who want to remember a deceased child, under the watchful eyes of Mrs. Salter, played by Pippa Haywood.⁵^•⁸ When Louis asks her to model for him, she agrees on the condition that he also teaches her to paint.⁴

The source novel

Macneal's novel was published in August 2019 by Atria at $27 for 368 pages, and Publishers Weekly described it as a fresh dramatization of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, pairing the real painters William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti with the fictitious brotherhood member Louis Frost.⁴ In the novel, Silas Reed is a taxidermist who sells stuffed animals to artists as props, and he stalks Iris with the intention of possessing her like an object; only Albie, a street urchin befriended by Iris, understands how much danger she is in.⁴ The book was slated for publication in twenty-eight languages, and TV rights were sold to Buccaneer Media.⁹ On Goodreads it holds a rating of 3.77 from more than 27,000 ratings.⁹

Cast and production

Esmé Creed-Miles leads as Iris, with Mirren Mack as her twin Rose, Éanna Hardwicke as Silas, and George Webster as Louis Frost; Laurie Kynaston plays Millais and Akshay Khanna plays Rossetti.²^•¹ The wider cast includes Sharlene Whyte, Freddy Carter, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Jim Caesar, Aysha Kala, and Nell Hudson.⁵

The series was produced by Buccaneer Media, Shinawill Productions, and Cineflix Rights, with principal photography in Ireland beginning in September 2022; Dublin is listed as a filming location.⁷^•² Elizabeth Macneal served as an executive producer alongside Anna Burns, Charley Miles, and Richard Tulk-Hart.¹⁰ Lele Marchitelli composed the music and Tibor Dingelstad was director of photography.⁶

Release and reception

The series premiered on Paramount+ in the United States on November 27, 2023, with two episodes available at launch and daily episodes thereafter.²^•⁸ In Australia it arrived on SBS and SBS On Demand on December 7, 2023, streaming free in full with double episodes weekly at 9:30pm on the SBS channel.⁵ TVmaze lists the show's status as ended after its single 2023 season on Paramount+.¹

Reception was mixed. On Metacritic's season page, The Guardian scored it 60, praising the performances of Esme Creed-Miles and Éanna Hardwicke and noting that the final episode abandons steady period-drama conventions for theatrics; The Telegraph scored it 40, calling the show pretty but lacking heart and soul.¹¹ The Observer gave 3/5, finding it full-on in its dancing candlelight, carnal reveries, and encroaching menace, and The Upcoming also gave 3/5, calling the slow-burn atmosphere the real star of the gothic romance.¹² Audience ratings on IMDb stand at 5.8.³

Availability

The series is no longer widely available. JustWatch reports it is not available for streaming in the United Kingdom, though it remains available in Ireland and a small number of other countries on Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Canal+, and other services.³ TV Insider likewise lists the show as currently unavailable on any streaming platform.¹³ In Australia it can still be watched free on SBS On Demand.⁵

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Adapted and franchise screen series › Literary and classic serial adaptations › Thriller and crime adaptations

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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