The series follows Dracula from his origins in Eastern Europe to his battles with Van Helsing's descendants and beyond.[1] 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."[2][3]
Jonathan Harker travels to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania to assist with a property purchase in England. During Harker's stay, Dracula feeds on his blood and becomes youthful, while Jonathan becomes increasingly weak. Harker searches the castle, and discovers various undead, all of whom were bitten by Dracula. Some retain some of their humanity and Dracula describes them as his brides. Dracula kills Harker, who immediately revives and throws himself into the river. Some time later Harker is found in the sea and taken to a convent, but his memories are impaired. He is questioned by Sister Agatha Van Helsing, accompanied by his fiancée, Mina. After almost attacking Mina, Harker tries to kill himself with a stake. Dracula, drawn by Harker's presence, arrives at the convent but is unable to enter without an invitation. After a verbal confrontation with Van Helsing, Dracula finds Harker, who is still undead, and addresses him through an open window. Explaining that the undead cannot kill themselves, he promises to end Harker's existence in return for an invitation inside. Harker agrees and Dracula enters, killing all the nuns ("I'm undead, not unreasonable.") except Van Helsing and Mina, whom he corners in a basement.
Dracula is a passenger on the Demeter, which has been chartered to sail to England by a mysterious figure named Balaur. It carries other passengers, all of whom have a connection to Balaur, and cargo which includes boxes of soil from Transylvania. Dracula begins to kill passengers and crew, acquiring their memories and traits. It transpires that Dracula was Balaur and carefully selected his fellow passengers to prepare for his entrance into English society. The surviving passengers and crew search for the killer and discover an emaciated Agatha Van Helsing in one of the cabins. Dracula, who has been slowly draining her during the voyage, attempts to blame Agatha for the killings, but she convinces the others that Dracula is a vampire. After the surviving humans manage to set him on fire, Dracula throws himself into the sea. As the ship approaches Whitby, Dracula, who had been hiding on the ship, miraculously re-emerges. Agatha distracts him while the captain uses gunpowder to blow up the ship and prevent the vampire from reaching the shore. Dracula, however, manages to seal himself inside a coffin filled with his native soil as the ship sinks.
Dracula emerges from his coffin and surfaces on Whitby beach. He is met by Dr. Zoe Van Helsing, who tells him that 123 years have passed. He tries to feed on her, but her blood makes him vomit. He is imprisoned in a laboratory for study, and his blood is sampled. However, he contacts a lawyer who threatens to expose their illegal operations, and he is released. Zoe drinks Dracula's blood and begins to experience Sister Agatha's memories. Dracula becomes infatuated by Lucy Westenra, a young socialite who does not fear him, and plans to make her his bride. Zoe, dying of cancer, begins to merge with Agatha's personality. Zoe travels to Dracula's London home. Lucy, now undead, also arrives but is horrified at what she has become, and is killed at her own request. Zoe exposes Dracula to the sunlight, who is unaffected. Zoe explains that Dracula fears death above all and is greatly ashamed of this. He has conditioned himself to believe the legends as they allowed him to hide himself from the society that he feels unworthy of. Zoe dies and Dracula drinks her poisoned blood. The two share an epiphany in the sunlight.
Production
Development
Development on Dracula began in June 2017, with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat reuniting to write the episodes.[7] In October 2018, the series was officially commissioned by the BBC, to air on BBC One and Netflix.[8]Claes Bang was set to star as the eponymous Dracula in November 2018.[9] 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.[10] 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 was not in the novel] and ignoring some passages from it.[11]
While the series includes a scene in which it is implied that Dracula and Harker have sex, Moffat has said that it is not correct to describe their interpretation of Dracula as bisexual: "He's bi-homicidal, it's not the same thing. He's killing them, not dating them."[12] He also added: "He's not actually having sex with anyone. He's drinking their blood."[13]
The title sequence was made by Peter Anderson Studio.[20][21][22] In 2021 it was nominated for a BAFTA at the British Academy Television Craft Awards in the category "Television Craft – Titles & Graphic Identity".[22]
Release
Broadcast
Dracula premiered on BBC One on 1 January 2020, and was broadcast over three consecutive days.[23] The three episodes were released on Netflix on 4 January 2020.[24] 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.[25][26] The overnight ratings for the three episodes were 3.60 million, 2.85 million, and 2.70 million respectively.[27][28][29]
Marketing
To mark the series premiere, BBC Creative and Talon Outdoor constructed billboards stabbed with wooden stakes that would cast a shadow of the Count after sunset, and below the billboards was a stake inside a case with the label "In case of vampires - break glass". These billboards were put up on Brixton Road in London and Upper Dean Street in Birmingham.[30] The billboards won a number of awards and £100,000 worth of media space for the creators at the 2020 Outdoor Media Awards organised by Clear Channel UK in partnership with Campaign.[31]
Reception
Critical reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2020)
The series was met with positive reviews.[32] On Rotten Tomatoes, the series garnered a 71% approval and an average rating of 7.2/10 from 55 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "A delicious blend of horror and humor that more-or-less balances modern sensibilities and the character's beloved legacy, Dracula is a frighteningly fun — if not always faithful — time."[33]Metacritic assigned the series a score of 75 out of 100, based on 8 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[34]
Accolades
Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
Ref(s)
2020
Outdoor Media Awards
Visual Craft Award
Talon Outdoor/Havas Media BBC Media Planning/BBC Creative
In February 2020, Bang expressed his interest in a second series. Gatiss said "Apparently if you pour blood onto Dracula's ashes he comes back. Who knows? Dracula tends to come back, that's what vampires do – but we have no idea [if the show will return]."[38]
