Penny Dreadful (TV Series)

Night Work (2014)

Simon Russell Beale: Ferdinand Lyle

Quotes 

• [Vanessa Ives enters Ferdinand Lyle's office when seeing his glass case of beetles] 

  Vanessa Ives : What are these?

  Ferdinand Lyle : Oh, Carrion beetles. We employ them when the usual solvents are deemed too abrasive. They eat the flesh, don't you know. Sorry, my dear, it's a bit ghoulish to the lay-person.

  Vanessa Ives : Very exotic. Where do they come from?

  Ferdinand Lyle : Actually, Waveney, in Suffolk.

  Vanessa Ives : Not exotic at all.

• [Ferdinand Lyle tells Sir Malcolm and Vanessa Ives about the non-urgency of the Egyptians] 

  Sir Malcolm : This is a matter of some urgency.

  Ferdinand Lyle : Good heavens, Sir Malcolm, there hasn't been anything urgent about the Egyptians for 2,000 years. And I'm dreadfully busy now, you understand. Ever so many papyri to translate. Isn't that a delicious word? Papyri. Sounds like something being eaten by little Persian boys, doesn't it? So, I shall see you Friday next.

• [Ferdinand Lyle asks Sir Malcolm if he knows the source of the Egyptian hieroglyphics he carries] 

  Ferdinand Lyle : I do assume you know the source of the writing?

  Sir Malcolm : No.

  Ferdinand Lyle : It's from the Egyptian 'Book of the Dead.'