Cosy horror for dark nights

Same nightmares. Different stories.

TV series · 2020

Dracula

The BBC's own three-part go at Dracula, with Claes Bang as the Count.

Dracula, an After Dark title card
Year
2020
Created by
Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss
Starring
John Heffernan, Morfydd Clark, Mark Gatiss, Dolly Wells, Matthew Beard, Lydia West
Seasons
1
Episodes
3
Network
BBC One
Country
United Kingdom
Original language
English
Kind of horror
Vampire, Gothic, Period

This is the BBC's own go at Dracula, loosely based on Stoker's novel but taking real liberties with it while keeping its bones. It runs across three parts rather than a full season, first on BBC One before it moved to Netflix. Claes Bang plays the Count with a nasty sort of charm, the kind you'd be furious with yourself for falling for.

There's real menace in it, not just jump scares, the sort that creeps in through conversation rather than the shadows. It doesn't sit still either, taking the familiar shape of the story somewhere you don't expect it to go.

It's a gothic vampire tale through and through, moody and more than a little theatrical, made for an evening when you want something that looks beautiful and still gets under your skin. Save it for when you can watch all three parts close together, since it's built to be swallowed whole rather than picked at over separate nights.

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