Young Dracula
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Young Dracula | |
|---|---|
 Young Dracula Title Card |
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| Genre | Children's Television |
| Created by | Danny Robins Dan Tetsell |
| Starring | Keith-Lee Castle Gerran Howell Clare Thomas |
| Composer(s) | Series 1 - John Rea Series 2 - Nick Lloyd |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 27 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Josephine Ward |
| Producer(s) | Mia Jupp |
| Editor(s) | Pedr James Bleddyn Rhys |
| Camera setup | Benjamin Coles Clive Baldwin Joseph Marsden Lewis Bolwell |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBBC |
| Original run | September 21, 2006 – 2008 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Young Dracula was a British children's television series on CBBC, loosely based on the children's book by Michael Lawrence. Directed by Joss Agnew, the first series was broadcast in 2006, and the second series, which started in late 2007, concluded in early 2008.
The series follows the Dracula family: Vlad, his father Count Dracula, and older sister Ingrid. Having lived in Transylvania, they move to a small town in Britain after various incidents involving angry peasant mobs.
The programme is set in the UK, and is filmed in various locations around Wales, including Glantaf High School, Caerphilly Castle, Tretower Court and parts of Llantrisant.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
[edit] The Draculas
[edit] Count Dracula
- Played by Keith-Lee Castle
Count Dracula is a 600-year-old vampire, who has emigrated to Britain to escape his problems with the local villagers in Transylvania. He sleeps in a coffin, can ignite or put out candles with a wave of his fingers, and has the ability to move from room to room at great speed, bordering on teleportation. In the second series he was seen to turn into a bat or a cloud of smoke at will, and even move his soul from his own body into another's, and so possess them. He likes the taste of blood from "breathers", as he calls humans, but has had to resort to drinking the blood of sheep to stay out of trouble. He also, due to misunderstanding, answers to the name "Mr Count" and this similarly prevents any worry on the part of humans by concealing his real name, Dracula.
He favours his young son Vlad and is constantly ignoring or otherwise brushing off his daughter Ingrid, making both their lives difficult in different ways. His thoughtless treatment of Ingrid is surprising, considering she has the characteristics he expects of his "perfect child" (at one point he tries to marry her off to a vampire kulak, to get her out from underfoot). In the second series the Count seems to notice Ingrid a bit more by her cruel ways, but has never shown her favouritism, even after she transforms herself into a full vampire, and has only ever been "nice" to her in one episode during the first series when Vlad accidentally hypnotises him into forgetting he is a vampire himself. His constant favourism towards Vlad is just as illogical as his disregard for Ingrid, considering that Vlad does not in any way wish to become a vampire. In the first and second series, the Count is often mistaken for a rock star because of the somewhat Gothic style of clothing he wears on the occasions he leaves the castle - most notably in an episode where he goes to parents' evening at Ingrid and Vlad's school, and ends up being chased by screaming fans while trying to protect himself from the sun with an umbrella. For the most part, however, he stays indoors during the day, and during the end of the second series comes under criticism (and near execution) from the Grand High Vampire for his tolerant relationship with "breathers".
[edit] Vladimir "Vlad" Dracula
- Played by Gerran Howell
Vladimir "Vlad" Dracula is the Count's "son and heir" and it is around him, mainly, that the series revolves. Unlike his sister Ingrid, Vlad would much prefer to be a normal child than a vampire, although he does occasionally show elements of his father's wit and ability to manipulate people. He finds friendship with outcasts Robin and Chloe Branaugh as well as his sarcastic stuffed wolf, Zoltan. He is very exasperated by his father's complete ignorance of human life.
Vlad's life is repetitively confusing. His suffering from his identity crisis is consistent (but even more apparent in the second series) because he wants to please his father, but also to be a "normal" child, and he suffers from the pressure on both sides. Vlad continues to "discover" his abilities throughout the second series. In one episode he enters the "Dreamworld", in another he manages to do the "fire-thing", namely producing flames at will, and in a few he uses hypnosis for various reasons. Also during his time in the dreamworld it is discovered he is in fact "the Chosen One", heir to the title of "Grand High Vampire" and one who is going to lead the race out of hiding.
In order to attain their full powers, teenage vampires have to pass exams called 'blood tests'. Although Vlad wanted to fail these so he could almost pass for human, the Count instructed that if he did not pass, he would not be permitted to see his "breather" (human) friends again, and even threatened to "deny all knowledge of his existence". He appears to deny the chance to be the Chosen One, but when the existing Grand High Vampire dies in the penultimate episode, nobody but the true heir can put on his crown through pain of death, and so he eventually consents to do it and is granted certain temporary powers. However, the series ends before it is revealed whether he fully recovers from this ordeal or not, and purposefully ends on a cliff-hanger.
[edit] Ingrid Dracula
- Played by Clare Thomas
Ingrid Dracula is the elder child and daughter of Count Dracula. She is, after her father and currently absent mother, the most self-assured and cruel character in the series. Nevertheless, she is very attractive and spends most of her time taunting people or arguing with her sexist father, whom she wishes to impress, to get her rights in the house, usually to no avail. As she says to her father in the first series: "You're a heartless, spiteful, self-centred bully... and so am I but you just can't see it!"
Ingrid alternately avoids and encourages the wooing of two schoolboys, Ian and Paul Branaugh (the older brothers of Vlad's best friend Robin), who follow her around persistently. She has no problem controlling them, as they are completely infatuated with her. In their case, she does not need to employ her powers of hypnosis, which are nearly as good as the Count's. She is not entirely heartless, however. In the final episode of the first series at her father's hunt ball, when Mr and Mrs Branaugh give her a present, she becomes quite emotional (never having received much in the way of kindness before). Although the Branaughs do not realise it at the time, she saves their lives by insulting them enough for them to want to leave the castle when the other vampires come dangerously close to biting them.
Ingrid claims to have obtained top marks in her "blood tests", and by her own admission plans to become an "all-powerful vampire goddess" when she grows up. Later in the second series, Ingrid- whilst at first repulsed by the idea of starting a relationship with a "breather"- falls in love with a boy named Will who immediately becomes her boyfriend, and it is only then, when her vampire powers start coming into being and she comes dangerously close to biting him, that she wavers at the idea of transforming into a Princess of Darkness for the first time. As the series goes on, she invites him on a date to the cinema during an eclipse when she is able to go outside and not be affected by the sun. She reveals that she is a vampire, and afterwards bites him. In the next episode, it appears that Will has turned into a vampire, and is called a "Half-Fang", which is someone who is not directly related to a vampire, but was simply bitten by one, and so receives some of their powers and abilities.
In the last episode of the second season, Ingrid is shown to be much crueller than before. She shows much more dislike towards her father after gaining some of the power (if not the love) that she longed for, and is even willing to watch her father's execution with Will. She is so deeply in love with Will that she had grown angered enough to want revenge after he is slain by a rival of Van Helsing's, and defiantly sits in her father's throne while both her brother and father are unable to stop her.
[edit] Renfield
- Played by Simon Ludders
The Draculas' servant and dogsbody, Renfield is a disgusting specimen who likes nothing more than eating maggots and nothing less than "breathers". He does all that he can to help the Count, but tends to get things wrong. He is fairly skilled at alchemy, although not, as is discovered in one episode, as good as his father. He also appears to enjoy cross-dressing: he apparently stole a dress from Ingrid, and claims that he looks "absolutely stunning in sequins", to the bemusement of all. He once accidentally fell in love with Van Helsing while he was dressed as a woman despite the fact that Van Helsing had not shaved his beard before putting on the disguise. This says a great deal about the level of both characters' intelligence.
He is not, however, particularly "mad" like the original Renfield from the story of Dracula, but is perhaps comparable with Igor from various Frankenstein films. It is not known whether he will continue to serve the Draculas, as at the end of the second series, with the help of the Grand High Vampire's crown, Vlad causes him, along with the slayers and the Branaughs, to forget that there are any such things as vampires.
[edit] Zoltan
- Voiced by Andy Bradshaw, animatronics by Colin Newman and puppeteer (series two) Garry Rutter
Vlad's stuffed wolf, Zoltan is annoyingly sarcastic and flippant and is always against Vlad's ridiculous plans to act more like a "breather". Although he frequently gives advice, sometimes good, to both Robin and Vlad, his advice is not always heeded. Despite his status as a taxidermy victim, Zoltan gets around the castle very well on his wheels. However, he has been forbidden to use the words stake, sunlight and garlic by the Count, which prohibition has placed both Robin and the Count in danger more than once.
[edit] Magda Westenra
- Played by Donna Grant
Apparently Dracula's ex-wife (though she may be merely estranged; in episode three of series one she states, "We never got married, I couldn't see what was in it for me"), Magda "ran off with a werewolf", named Patrick, some time ago, apparently recently enough that the Count still smarts over her betrayal. Later, during the second series, it is revealed that Patrick and Magda had a son, which the Count mistakes for his son. (Although Magda is never seen with her son afterwards). Upon discovering that the Count was considering remarriage in episode 14 of series one (the final), she travels to the castle to try and stop him, claiming to love him when she thought he was dying from a crossbow bolt Van Helsing fired at him. However, she later claims not to have meant it when it is clear the Count is unharmed. Magda is known to toy around with the Count every visit she makes to the castle, never fully saying her good-byes. The Count seems to love her precisely because she is so heartless.
[edit] Ivan Dracula
- Played by Phillip Brodie
The Count's younger brother, Ivan, and his two children are from America, and stay at the castle in episodes two to four of series two. When first seen during the series, Ivan is not a typical vampire, drinking 'soya blood' ("blood-free since '93"), using fake tan, making his living from real estate, and using the name 'Harvey'. However, after encountering Van Helsing, he returns to his old habits, as he cannot resist slayer blood. He then become (and, presumably, still is) as bloodthirsty as ever, which causes Vlad to lose any hope that he might be able to avoid life as a vampire. He has now moved back to America with his children, and so causes no further trouble for the family though he does plan to return in another two or three hundred years.
[edit] Boris Dracula
- Played by Ciaran Joyce
Ivan's son, much like Vlad, did not wish to be a vampire. A physically weak asthmatic, this seemed more out of cowardice than a desire to fit in. He nonetheless develops a friendship with Vlad, sharing his room, and early on confides his fears of being a vampire. However, unlike Vlad, he is only days away from his transformation, and is beginning to show signs of vampirism when viewers first see him. He flies in his sleep, and sometimes succumbs to bloodlust. He has involuntary moments when he uses his powers in the third episode of the serious he accidentally "flames" a book that was supposed to contain "A painless cure for vampirism" when he is frustrated by not being able to find a clear definition early on. Thankfully his use of powers before his transformation is brief. He is a very shy, nervous boy, until he transforms, after looking into the magic "Blood Mirror" in the Count's castle, into a handsome blood-sucking, power-crazy maniac who has completely lost all sanity, even to the point of draining power from his father and his uncle, the Count.
Although the "new" Boris is now insane and evil he still maintains certain elements of the old Boris. He seems to continue to regard Vlad as a friend and even after Vlad "betrays" him by giving his father and uncle their powers back, and does not seem overly angry. He tells Vlad that when it's his turn he'll become just as evil as him.
In the episode "When Vampires Go Bad", Boris makes one final appearance, disguising himself as the vampiric community's "judge, jury and executioner", slaying the Grand High Vampire in order to frame and so execute the Count. He tries, before doing this, to wear the Grand High Vampire's crown, but then gets himself turned into dust by it, as it is revealed that only one who is worthy of the title may wear it.
[edit] Olga Dracula
- Played by Maddie Rakic-Platt
Olga is Ivan's daughter. She acts like a nice little girl in front of her father and uncle, but is fiercely and competitively evil when not in the company of adults, and is obviously spoilt. She is often engaged in verbal warfare with Ingrid, and despite always being very confident, tends to lose.
[edit] The Branaughs
[edit] Mr Graham and Mrs Elizabeth Branaugh
- Played by Aneirin Hughes and Beth Roberts respectively
Plumber and housewife, the cheery Mr and Mrs Branaugh are a constant annoyance to the Count. Where Dracula does his best to make Vlad a "normal vampire", they constantly do their best to make Robin a "normal boy", finding his fixation with vampires somewhat unhealthy. In episode 11 of series two, Mr Branaugh- who was always less keen than his wife to embrace his new neighbours as friends- finally realises that the Draculas are vampires. His wife is not convinced until the very last episode of the second series, after which their memories are modified along with the rest of the "breathers".
[edit] Ian and Paul Branaugh
- Played by Ben McGregor and Luke Bridgeman respectively
A couple of not overly-bright school rugby union players, the twins both have huge crushes on Ingrid, and alternately rival and assist one another in getting near her. Though originally annoyed by their presence, Ingrid eventually learns to manipulate them to her advantage. During the second series, they are seen to have a small amount of rivalry with Will, and even at one point, when Ingrid's evil side emerges from the "blood mirror" and hypnotises them, shut him up inside the school's kitchen freezer.
The Branaugh twins are among the few recurring characters who are unaware of the Draculas' secret, being aware of it only for a few minutes in the final episode of the second series, before Vlad modifies their memories. As previously noted, they aren't all that intelligent.
[edit] Robin Branaugh
- Played by Craig Roberts
Vlad's best friend, and self-confessed "vampire geek" (even to the extent of wearing a black cape to school in the first series), Robin is one of the more interesting "breathers" of the series. Though by no means the most intelligent character present, Robin is the first person outside of the Dracula household to discover that his new friend is in fact a vampire.
In the first series especially, Robin occasionally comes close to becoming dinner for the Count, particularly when the latter feels the need to prompt Vlad into concentrating on his vampiric responsibilities more than he does. Otherwise, he is grudgingly accepted into the Dracula household. He is a loyal friend to Vlad, if only because he is so obsessed with vampires, even if he wants Vlad to be as much of a vampire as possible despite the fact Vlad has no interest in his preordained fate whatever. In spite of being slightly strange and a bit of a loner without Vlad, he is shown during the first series to be a respectable (if morbid) artist and a chess grandmaster, beating "the greatest chess player ever".
Robin is a very relaxed character and often does not care for the "danger" or "significance" of a given situation. Instead, he cares for the "coolness" of vampirism and offers light hearted advice. This is often comes to great annoyance of Vlad, but the Count quite enjoys the attention. Throughout a large part of Vlad's "dream sequence" in episode seven of series two, Vlad visions Robin as a "Wise Man" figure who helps him to avoid the dream slayers (Robin's family), and helps Vlad discover his vampiric powers, which perhaps shows that in his sub-conscious, Vlad admires Robin more than he lets on. Vlad makes the Brannaughs forget that vampires exist in the final episode of series two, but whether this means Robin also forgets the existence of his friend is not known.
[edit] Chloe Branaugh
- Played by Lucy Borja-Edwards
A year younger than Robin, Chloe is the voice of reason in the Robin-Vlad-Chloe trio and is the sometime enemy of Ingrid. She is very knowledgeable; in one episode she translates Egyptian hieroglyphs. It seems throughout the first series that she has a crush on Vlad, though she hides it well from him.
She is also the voice of reason within the Branaugh family. At the Count's aforementioned hunt ball, it was Chloe who tried to extricate her family from the almost hypnotic fascination of the vampires in attendance.
She often attempts to analyse people and help them improve themselves. This is often Robin and occasionally Vlad who often ignore her logic despite a respect for her. Chloe is the only character to give any real thought to Renfield. She has more that once encouraged him to stand up for himself and not let the Count push him around. She also meets Olga briefly and tries to make her nicer through therapy. Most of her efforts fail however due to a lack of interest or in Renfields case a lack of intelligence
Chloe shies away from the trio at the beginning of the second series. She tells Vlad at the early part of the first episode that she will not be going back to the castle, and warns Robin not to either. She also temporarily avoids Vlad and Robin at school - perhaps out of guilt, or to avoid temptation. Although during the events of "Bodyswap" she rejoins them briefly when they visit the town's museum to search for the staff of Carpathia (which would have cured Vlad of vampirism) She seems friendly enough towards Vlad here and seems more relaxed about the idea of vampires. But after witnessing the events of the day she again leaves their company saying "Now I remember why I don't hang out wth you guys any more." In the final episode of the second series, she is seen to knock out a bloodthirsty vampire with a frying-pan before smiling sweetly. She, along with the rest of her family and the Van Helsings, forgets the existence of vampires after Vlad modifies her memory.
[edit] The van Helsings
[edit] Mr Eric van Helsing
- Played by Terence Maynard
An incompetent vampire slayer, Mr Van Helsing originally believed Robin (due to his unruly dark hair and constant wearing of a black cape) to be one of the Undead, but soon turned his attentions towards Vlad. His daytime or "cover" identity is as a woodwork teacher at Stokely Grammar School, which the Dracula children attend. While not a real threat to the much stronger, smarter and cleverer Count Dracula, he is a constant annoyance to the family who under no circumstances can afford to have their secret revealed to the world.
Van Helsing has been inside the ruined castle where the Draculas live on numerous occasions. He has inveigled his way in, disguised as an itinerant woodworker, as an exterminator, and as a hit man hired by Magda. He has even attempted to get in dressed as a female vampire, and the fact that he forgot to shave away his short beard in advance perhaps makes Reinfield's attraction to him on that occasion all the more worrying.
He only once has come close to slaying Dracula at the hunt ball in the final episode of series one. Even that was accidental, when he fired a wooden crossbow bolt straight into a flask of poisoned blood in the Count's waistcoat pocket, which he had also been responsible for putting there (while disguised - badly - as the aforementioned female vampire).
After the hunt ball, Eric continues as before, but in partnership with his son Jonathan, though he is seemingly less eager now that Jonathan believes, perhaps realising the irregular relationship and the danger of his situation; he even tries to send Jonathan to live with his divorced wife in one episode. In another episode he starts packing away the equipment in his "Secret Slayer Hideout" (which is revealed in series two); but when Vlad accidentally hurts Jonathan, Eric feels insulted and regains his enthusiasm for slaying. He only slays one vampire during the series when rescuing his ex-wife from the clutches of the Count, and afterwards engages in a fierce battle with other vampires who are guests at the castle, before forgetting their existence thanks to Vlad.
[edit] Jonathan 'Jonno' van Helsing
- Played by Terry Haywood
Son of Eric and reluctant heir to the traditional vampire-slaying vocation of the Van Helsings, throughout series one Jonathan is often exasperated by his father's tendency to see vampires everywhere. He himself is rather slow in the uptake, having failed to spot that Vlad, Ingrid (on whom he has a huge crush, but by whom he is completely ignored) and Count Dracula are vampires until the final episode of the first series. He is frequently hypnotised by Ingrid in the first series, for example into performing ballet in his father's classroom. During the first series he fails to believe vampires exists until episode 14 when he start to doubt what he believe.
His father continuously ignores his needs because of his obsession with vampire-slaying. Jonathan occasionally tries to tell his father that his vampire-hunter obsession is the reason Jonathan's mother left him for an estate agent.
In series two, when Jonathan (after the hunt ball) is convinced of the existence of vampires, he develops a hatred for Vlad and all the members of the Dracula family. His moralities are tested in episode three when Vlad tries to smash the blood mirror, which Van Helsing had told him about in the first place. If he had succeeded, the Count would have become human, but at 600 years of age, this would have meant death. Jonathan seems to believe in a "fair fight". He is very hostile towards the whole vampiric family. In the first episode he attacks Vlad in school, something his father hasn't done (or has had the sense not to). In the meeting with the headteacher which follows, Jonathan boldly proclaims his belief in Vlad's being a vampire, and his hatred of vampirism. In the final episode of series two, Vlad causes him to forget the existence of vampires again.
[edit] Mina van Helsing
- Played by Jo-Anne Knowles
Having become sick of her husband's obsession with vampires, Mina left him and Jonathan before the timeline of this series "[running] away with an estate agent". However, after conversing with Jonathan via letter, Mina returns partway through series two. When she discovers that Jonathan is now equally obsessed with vampires, she decides to temporarily remain with the pair, in the hope of knocking some sense into them. She creates a mantrum to help them running: "as sure as boy scouts sing round camp fires, there is no such thing as vampires. Sucking blood, the living dead, they are not real they're in our heads". After being taunted by Ingrid for not biting any "breathers" (after she bites Will) the Count captures Mina her, and what he has done with her does not become immediately clear. He uses his imprisonment of her to temporarily blackmail her son and ex-husband into staying away from his castle. Later Mina is shown in chains somewhere in the castle alive, and the Count is found as a cruel "monster" in front of her each time she struggles to escape. She is saved by Eric Van Helsing and her son Jonathan, and afterwards, thanks to Vlad, forgets that she was ever a prisoner. It is implied that she and Eric are back together.
[edit] Incorporated themes
The series encompasses a lot of things that many schoolchildren find difficult. On the series' own webpage there is information on moving house, which can be stressful for young people. One of Vlad's early concerns is having to adjust to living away from his native country and speaking a new language in order to pass as a "normal" human, which of course is all he wants to be. There is divorce and adultery in both the Dracula and Van Helsing households and in each, the children despair at how out of touch their respective fathers are on realistic, modern-day life - a complaint of many young teenagers. Vlad, Jonathan and Robin feel isolated not only from outsiders but from the rest of their families, where by contrast Ingrid, who really wants to be a vampire, rages at the preferential treatment her brother receives from their father despite her greater skills and better grades at "vampirism", so that she feels even less at home within the culture she should be flourishing in. Above all, difficult, irregular and complicated family relationships (a trait that Vlad, Ingrid, Robin, Chloe and Jonathan all share, despite being otherwise quite different characters) is an ongoing theme that makes it in yet another way more familiar to modern young viewers, whilst at the same time being unafraid, in the second series, to have an element of darkness in it and so make it different from quite a lot of other children's series of the time.
