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If you haven’t had your vampire fill, BBC America has one more show to satisfy your appetite for blood! It’s a modern spin on the classic Dracula legend and it’s called Demons.
Here’s how BBC America describes it:
On the surface Luke Rutherford (Christian Cooke, Doctor Who) is every bit the average teenager, but with the arrival of his dead father’s best friend Rupert Galvin (Philip Glenister), Luke’s life is about to change. Galvin has come to inform Luke that his father’s death fifteen years ago wasn’t an accident and he holds a secret destiny as the real-life great-great grandson of Abraham Van Helsing, the vampire hunter in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Now Luke must lift the family mantle as a warrior against the supernatural entities behind every myth and legend from vampires to werewolves while maintaining an ordinary life of school exams, parties, driving tests and keeping it all from his mother.
To train Luke in his quest, Galvin calls on the beautiful but icy cold Mina Harker (Zoe Tapper, Survivors, Affinity), a blind concert pianist with a history – who is also the foremost authority on the undesirable entities preying on humanity. The sinister and mouldering Father Simeon (Richard Wilson, Merlin, One Foot In The Grave) is Luke’s other counsellor on the lore and myth behind the creatures he faces.
Luke’s first opponent is the villainous Gladiolus Thrip (Mackenzie Crook, The Office, Pirates of the Caribbean), a “type 12” sinister vampire with a burning hatred for the Van Helsing line. The list of terrifying adversaries grow with the cockroach-munching “type 5” called Redlip (Martin Hancock, Kingdom of Heaven, Chasing Liberty), a “type 9” child-snatching demon-in-angel’s clothing called Gilgamel (Rick English, Merlin, stunt performer in Sherlock Holmes), and the half-man half-rat Mr. Tibbs (Kevin McNally, Valkyrie, Pirates of the Caribbean), who bears a deep and personal grudge against a member of the team.
Quite something, huh? Be aware that the series has already aired in the UK, so spoilers abound on the Internet and I’ve avoided them all. If you have seen the series, I’d love to know your thoughts if you can do it without being too spoilery. I’ve heard some people say it’s too silly – and that certainly can break a show of this type.
Want to give Demons a try?
Demons premieres Saturday, January 2, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on BBC AMERICA. The following episodes will premiere Saturdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Photo: BBC America
268 days ago
I’m from the UK and saw the original series. I can honestly say it’s a fun romp, but Galvin is almost too similar to Gene Hunt (From the UK “Life on Mars” and “Ashes to Ashes”) that you almost want to see him call on the boys from his PD and lay down the law.
However. The CGI is great, the acting is pretty good and it’s a very good story! I love Mina Harker in this incarnation, her story really works.
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268 days ago
I saw the entire series in its original run. As a romp, it provides some fun, and I, too, liked its take on Mina Harker. Unfortunately, the series never seemed to come to terms with who was supposed to be the lead character, Luke or Galvin.
Consequently, the pacing of the show felt uneven. If you were a Luke fan you wondered why you didn’t see his character developed more deeply. If you liked Galvin, you wondered why that Luke kid kept getting so much screen time. Ultimately, I think this ended up diluting the show’s audience, leading to its cancellation in the UK. Still, it’s worth a watch (it was a very short run of six episodes).
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