Dracula (2020 TV series)

Dracula is a television series developed by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, based on the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker. The series was broadcast and released on BBC One and Netflix and consists of three episodes. Claes Bang stars as the title character. Dracula premiered on 1 January 2020 and was broadcast over three consecutive days.

Premise
This series follows Dracula from his origins in Eastern Europe to his battles with Van Helsing's descendants and beyond. Netflix's description reads: "The Count Dracula legend transforms with new tales that flesh out the vampire's gory crimes—and bring his vulnerability into the light."

Cast

Episodes

Production

Development
Development on Dracula began in June 2017, with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat reuniting to write the episodes. In October 2018, the series was officially commissioned by the BBC, to air on BBC One and Netflix. Claes Bang was set to star as the eponymous Dracula in November 2018. According to the writers, Dracula in their version is "the hero of his own story" – the central focus of the narrative and main character, rather than a shadowy villain for more traditional heroes to overcome. As with their TV series Sherlock, they aimed to make their version of Dracula both faithful and faithless at the same time, taking details from the original novel, adding "a lot of new stuff" [that wasn't in the novel] and ignoring some passages from it.

Moffat made a point about Dracula's sexuality in their show (since it is insinuated that Dracula has sex with Jonathan Harker, the solicitor sent to his lair in Transylvania), saying that it is not correct to describe Dracula as bisexual: "He's bi-homicidal, it's not the same thing. He's killing them, not dating them." He also added: "He's not actually having sex with anyone. He's drinking their blood."

Casting
In February 2019, John Heffernan, Dolly Wells, Joanna Scanlan, Morfydd Clark and Lujza Richter joined the cast, with Gatiss also set to appear in the series. In April, Jonathan Aris, Sacha Dhawan, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Catherine Schell, Youssef Kerkour and Clive Russell joined the cast with Jonny Campbell, Damon Thomas and Paul McGuigan announced as directors.

Filming
Moffat revealed filming on the series had begun on 4 March 2019. Filming took place at Orava Castle, Banská Štiavnica and Zuberec in Slovakia and at Bray Studios in Berkshire. Filming was completed on 1 August 2019.

Release

Broadcast
Dracula premiered on BBC One on 1 January 2020, and was broadcast over three consecutive days. The three episodes were released on Netflix on 4 January 2020. The documentary In Search of Dracula, with Mark Gatiss exploring the legacy of the famous Count, aired alongside the series on BBC Two on 3 January. The overnight ratings for the three episodes were 3.60 million, 2.85 million, and 2.70 million respectively.

Marketing
The first teaser trailer for the series premiered on 27 October 2019. The official trailer was released by the BBC on 13 December 2019, while Netflix showed the second teaser on the same day. The second trailer was released on 3 January 2020. To mark the series premiere, BBC Creative constructed billboards in London and Birmingham stabbed with wooden stakes that would cast a shadow of the Count after sunset.

Critical reception

The series was met with positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series garnered a 71% approval and an average rating of 7.49/10 from 48 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "A delicious blend of horror and humour that more-or-less balances modern sensibilities and the character's beloved legacy, Dracula is a frighteningly fun — if not always faithful — time." Metacritic assigned the series a score of 75 out of 100, based on 8 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links
 
 
 

Category:2020 British television series debuts
Category:2020s British drama television series
Category:BBC Television programmes
Category:British horror fiction television series
Category:Dracula television programmes
Category:English-language television programs
Category:Netflix original programming
Category:Television series set in the 1890s
Category:Television shows set in London