alsmess

I'm a diehard fan of the original Bram Stoker novel so approach Dracula on tv or in the movies with trepidation.Not because I'm scared but because they are all (apart from the BBC 1977 Count Dracula with Louis Jourdan) bloody awful.This is by far the best version since then.It doesn't slavishly follow the book this is not an adaptation but it borrows characters, settings and details,even some dialogue,from the classic. But what Moffat and Gatiss have done is take that framework and expand on it to a monstrous degree creating a joyous, fantastic looking ,bloody, nightmarish, Dracula in the same way they took Sherlock Holmes and put their spin on it.They have added their own little touches to the vampire myth that I won't spoil here but are gruesome.Claes Bang delivers a superb performance as Dracula as do all the cast Dolly Wells being a highlight for me.Thoroughlly enjoyable and I can't wait for episode 2.

As predicted in my review of the first episode of this series the man in charge and head writer brought back his utterly lame villain from that episode.If Chris Chibnail was in charge of biscuit manufacture they would all be Rich Tea,or a dry cracker, bland and boring.The title sounds like the sort of tripe a spotty youth would scribble in his homework book, amateurish,daydreaming fantasy.He probably drew his monster beside it and coloured it in using his blue biro.Years later when approached by the BBC and given the huge responsibility of running one of their top shows Mr Chibnail decided to dig out his old homework books and get his adolescent drivel made.There is a wealth of fantastic genre writers out there and this is what we got stuck with. Brave? Bold? Ha, I think not.Get someone like Alan Moore to write a story I bet he could give you something that was brave,bold and new.You might not like it but it probably wouldn't bore you to death.