Penny Dreadful has many characters from 19th-century British and Irish fiction.
 The Guardian described penny dreadfuls as "Britain's first taste of mass-produced popular culture for the young", and "the Victorian equivalent of video games"
 In 1838, Robin Hood featured in a series of penny dreadfuls titled Robin Hood and Little John: or, The Merry Men of Sherwood Forest, which sparked the beginning of the mass circulation of Robin Hood stories

