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In 1808 Bavaria, two struggling gravediggers dream of seeing more of the world than from six feet under it.

 

But when a well-paying benefactor in the form of Viktor Frankenstein offers them a side hustle digging up the bodies they bury, their friendship and ambitions are tested. They say crime doesn’t pay. But it’s amazing what you can get for an arm and a leg…

Willi & Max is a dark, existential comedy-drama tinged with moments of human tragedy. It’s a fresh take on a story that has global appeal, with ample opportunity for non-traditional and diverse casting throughout – challenging the norms and expectations of period drama and the typical Frankenstein mythology.

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Through the very different outlooks of our central protagonists - Willi, Max and Willi's fiercely independent girlfriend, Lotte - the show explores themes of religion, existence, class and gender, the search and struggle for self-identity and acceptance. Willi and Max may live in the early 19th century, but their views, experiences, and ideas resonate with the lives we lead now, over two hundred years later.

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And while Mary Shelley's overly-ambitious scientist looms large, this is not the Baron’s tale. He remains hovering on the periphery, even though his narrative informs and intersects with the actions of our central characters.

 

But this is a Frankenstein most unlike the tragic hero his name tends to conjure. A little pretentious, undeniably self-centred and tediously grandiose, he’s actually not much of a scientist. He knows a bit about anatomy, sure – but fuck all about physics..He blunders into scientific discovery in a field where many have failed, as much through luck as persistence.

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As the story unfolds and their friendship begins to grow, the two gravediggers help Frankenstein obtain equipment for his laboratory, evade the authorities, divert his fiancée, and harness electricity. And as Willi and Max begin to line their pockets with Florins from their illicit dealings with the Baron, they begin to hatch a plan to finally escape the clutches of Ingolstadt.

But by the end of the first season they’ll discover that through embroiling themselves with their patron, they may just have unleashed something no one was expecting: a ‘monster’ shunned by society and struggling with its own existence and identity…

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Willi & Max is a kind of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern & Frankenstein sprinkled with a touch of Withnail & I, a gothic comedy more interested in ideas than internal organs.

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The first episode is called Kopflos:

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A headless man and a mysterious arrival in Ingolstadt dramatically improve the fortunes of two struggling gravediggers.