The BBC aired a single tele-film version of Bram Stoker's Dracula in December 2006, the latest in a long line of Draculas to haunt out screens. This adaptation - like most Draculas - strayed from the original Bram Stoker novel.
The threat of syphilis was at the heart of this particular interpretation - a fatal illness residing in the victim's blood, the corollary of sexual deviance and/or promiscuity, which could be passed from generation to generation. Syphilis was topical to its time, but there was a sense that syphilis was acting here as a metaphor for AIDS too.
The protagonist of this version was Lord Holmwood, played here by Dan Stevens (The Line of Beauty, who turns to a sinister, Satan-worshipping underground cult, to help cure him of the syphilis he has inherited from his father. He is desperate for a cure as he longs to bed his luscious, newly-wed wife, Lucy Westenra, enthusiastically played by Sophia Myles. Jonathan Harker - a criminally under-used Rafe Spall in this version - is dispatched to his doom in Transylvania, running an errand for Dracula, who is using Holmwood's cult to his own fiendish ends ... which soon leads to Dracula's sneaking into Britain via Whitby, seducing poor frustrated Lucy, who then becomes a vampire herself, while developing the hots for Mina, Harker's fiancee (Stephanie Leonidas).
Marc Warren took on the iconoclastic role of Dracula. Warren is a favourite actor of mine, but there was something a little lacking here. Similarly, David Suchet as a hoary-headed, melodramatic Van Helsing, failed to impress - strange really, in view of his fine acting credentials.
Sets, locations and costumes were suitably dark and gothic. But the screenplay from Stewart Harcourt was lacklustre and direction (Bill Eagles) was dull and predictable.
Overall, this Dracula lacks bite.
Showing posts with label Dracula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dracula. Show all posts
Monday, February 19, 2007
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Coming soon ...
My computer has been dead for the last few weeks hence I have been suffering Mac Deprivation Sickness ... and been unable to update this blog, sadly. All being well, business can now resume as usual.
Reviews to come, based on material watched in the last two weeks, include the BBC's Dracula (screened December 2006), Our Mutual Friend (BBC, 1998), Vanity Fair (Focus/Granada 2004) and Nicholas Nickleby (2002).
On the non-adaptation front, I have also been enjoying the BBC's new drama series Lilies, charting the experiences of three young women, growing up in 1920s Liverpool. It's great stuff so far - fine acting and a great script from Heidi Thomas. I hope a second series is commissioned.
And like many others no doubt, I am eagerly looking forward to the return of Lost to Sky One on the 11th February.
I also caught up (finally) with the political BBC mini-seres, State of Play, which first aired in 2003. Magnificent! John Simms was fantastic, Bill Nighy was sublime, Kelly MacDonald was brilliant, James MacAvoy was his best chirpy self, and David Morissey proved to me yet again that he was one of our finest actors. In fact all the cast, including Philip Glenister and Polly Walker, were simply outstanding - not a dud performance in sight. The drama, penned by Paul Abbott, was superbly paced, truly riveting.
Reviews to come, based on material watched in the last two weeks, include the BBC's Dracula (screened December 2006), Our Mutual Friend (BBC, 1998), Vanity Fair (Focus/Granada 2004) and Nicholas Nickleby (2002).
On the non-adaptation front, I have also been enjoying the BBC's new drama series Lilies, charting the experiences of three young women, growing up in 1920s Liverpool. It's great stuff so far - fine acting and a great script from Heidi Thomas. I hope a second series is commissioned.
And like many others no doubt, I am eagerly looking forward to the return of Lost to Sky One on the 11th February.
I also caught up (finally) with the political BBC mini-seres, State of Play, which first aired in 2003. Magnificent! John Simms was fantastic, Bill Nighy was sublime, Kelly MacDonald was brilliant, James MacAvoy was his best chirpy self, and David Morissey proved to me yet again that he was one of our finest actors. In fact all the cast, including Philip Glenister and Polly Walker, were simply outstanding - not a dud performance in sight. The drama, penned by Paul Abbott, was superbly paced, truly riveting.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Adaptations on the BBC over Christmas (NEWS)
Confirmed BBC TV Christmas schedules state that the adaptation of Phillip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, starring Billie Piper, is due to air on the 27th December at 8.30pm on BBC 1. A new version of children's favourite The Wind in the Willows is also due to air on BBC 1 on New Year's Day. A remake of Bram Stoker's Dracula starring Marc Warren and Sophie Myles is also set to appear on our TV screens during the holiday period, but a definitive time and date is yet to emerge.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
More BBC remakes being readied
The BBC's new series of Robin Hood is still set to grace our screens this Autumn, in spite of a robbery of some of the show's footage from location in Hungary. Some scenes are being reshot as a result of the incident.
The BBC has given the green light to film a new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula with Marc Warren, Rafe Spall (son of the glorious Timothy, and soon to be seen in Wide Sargasso Sea) and Sophia Myles. Location shooting is due to take place at Tyntesfield, a Gothic extravaganza of a mansion close to Bristol, UK.
The BBC has given the green light to film a new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula with Marc Warren, Rafe Spall (son of the glorious Timothy, and soon to be seen in Wide Sargasso Sea) and Sophia Myles. Location shooting is due to take place at Tyntesfield, a Gothic extravaganza of a mansion close to Bristol, UK.
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