Frankenstein: birth of a monster.

Dramatised documentary examining the life of Mary Shelley and how her circumstances prepared her to write 'Frankenstein'. The programme is presented by Professor Robert Winston who examines Shelley's early life: her relationship with her father, William Godwin, and the life of Mary's mother Mary Wollstonecraft, founder of feminism, who died soon after giving birth to her daughter. Mary's romance with and marriage to Percy Shelley is explored in depth, and their friendship with Byron and idea of free love is covered. Mary gained much of the inspiration for 'Frankenstein' during a trip to Byron's Swiss villa in 1816, but the programme also describes the worldwide interest in the experiments of Luigi Galvani which involved the animation of dead frog limbs through electric currents. The documentary presents the view that the creature in Mary's famous novel was her own misery made flesh and that the story was a nightmarish reflection of her own turbulent life.