| Young Dracula | |
|---|---|
Young Dracula title card |
|
| Genre | Children's Television |
| Created by | Danny Robins Dan Tetsell |
| Starring | Keith-Lee Castle Gerran Howell Clare Thomas |
| Composer(s) | John Rea (series 1) Nick Lloyd (series 2 & 3) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 40 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Josephine Ward |
| Producer(s) | Mia Jupp (series 1 & 2) Lis Steele (series 3) |
| Editor(s) | Pedr James Bleddyn Rhys William Oswald |
| Location(s) | Wales (series 1 & 2) Liverpool (series 3) |
| Camera setup | Benjamin Coles Clive Baldwin Joseph Marsden Lewis Bolwell |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBBC |
| Picture format | HD: 1080i/720p SDTV |
| Original run | 21 September 2006 – present |
Young Dracula is a British children's fantasy television series airing on CBBC, loosely based on Young Dracula AND Young Monsters, a 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. A third series was commissioned three years later and began airing on 31 October 2011.
The first two series follow the Dracula family, a family of vampires: Vladimir (Vlad), his father Count Dracula, and older sister Ingrid. Having lived in Transylvania, they move to Stokely, a small town in Wales after various incidents involving angry peasant mobs. It was filmed in various locations around Wales, including Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, Caerphilly Castle, Tretower Court and parts of Llantrisant. The third series, commissioned three years after the second, sees Vlad and the Count on the run from slayers and vampires alike, while the Count is determined that Vlad should fulfil his destiny to become "the Chosen One". This series was filmed in Liverpool during 2011.[1][2]
Young Dracula was nominated for Best Children's Drama in the 2008 BAFTA Awards. A fourth series has now been commissioned.[3]
Contents |
Main article: List of Young Dracula Characters
| The Draculas | The Westenras | The Branaghs | The Van-Helsings | The Nobles | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count Dracula | Magda Westenra | Graham Branagh | Eric Van-Helsing | Erin Noble | Will Clarke |
| Vladimir "Vlad" Dracula | Krone Westenra | Elizabeth Branagh | Jonathan Van-Helsing | Ryan Noble | Renfield |
| Ingrid Dracula | Atilla Westenra | Robin Branagh | Mina Van-Helsing | Zoltan | |
| Ivan Dracula | Chloe Branagh | Wolfie | |||
| Boris Dracula | Ian Branagh | Bertrand De Fortunessa | |||
| Olga Dracula | Paul Branagh | Miss Alex McCauley |
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series premiere | Series finale | |||
| 1 | 14 | 21 September 2006 | 21 December 2006 | |
| 2 | 13 | 2 November 2007 | 8 February 2008 | |
| 3 | 13 | 31 October 2011 | 12 December 2011 | |
| 4 | TBA | October 2012 | TBA | |
| Episode No. | Airdate | Total Viewers | CBBC Weekly Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 September 2006 | Below 127,000 | not in top 10 |
| 2 | 28 September 2006 | Below 174,000 | not in top 10 |
| 3 | 5 October 2006 | Below 185,000 | not in top 10 |
| 4 | 12 October 2006 | Below 164,000 | not in top 10 |
| 5 | 19 October 2006 | Below 178,000 | not in top 10 |
| 6 | 26 October 2006 | Below 172,000 | not in top 10 |
| 7 | 2 November 2006 | Below 186,000 | not in top 10 |
| 8 | 9 November 2006 | Below 162,000 | not in top 10 |
| 9 | 16 November 2006 | Below 171,000 | not in top 10 |
| 10 | 23 November 2006 | Below 169,000 | not in top 10 |
| 11 | 30 November 2006 | Below 185,000 | not in top 10 |
| 12 | 7 December 2006 | Below 185,000 | not in top 10 |
| 13 | 14 December 2006 | 195,000 | 2 |
| 14 | 21 December 2006 | 194,000 | 6 |
| Episode No. | Airdate | Total Viewers | CBBC Weekly Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 November 2007 | 313,000 | 2 |
| 2 | 9 November 2007 | Below 280,000 | not in top 10 |
| 3 | 16 November 2007 | 269,000 | 6 |
| 4 | 23 November 2007 | 312,000 | 5 |
| 5 | 30 November 2007 | 270,000 | 6 |
| 6 | 7 December 2007 | 274,000 | 3 |
| 7 | 14 December 2007 | 335,000 | 2 |
| 8 | 21 December 2007 | 242,000 | 9 |
| 9 | 11 January 2008 | 307,000 | 4 |
| 10 | 18 January 2008 | 270,000 | 4 |
| 11 | 25 January 2008 | Below 230,000 | not in top 10 |
| 12 | 1 February 2008 | Below 230,000 | not in top 10 |
| 13 | 8 February 2008 | 291,000 | 8 |
| Episode No. | Airdate | Total Viewers | CBBC Weekly Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 October 2011 | 454,000 | 2 |
| 2 | 1 November 2011 | 551,000 | 1 |
| 3 | 7 November 2011 | 532,000 | 1 |
| 4 | 8 November 2011 | 438,000 | 3 |
| 5 | 14 November 2011 | 580,000 | 1 |
| 6 | 15 November 2011 | 521,000 | 2 |
| 7 | 21 November 2011 | 566,000 | 2 |
| 8 | 22 November 2011 | 599,000 | 1 |
| 9 | 28 November 2011 | 601,000 | 1 |
| 10 | 29 November 2011 | 538,000 | 3 |
| 11 | 5 December 2011 | 497,000 | 1 |
| 12 | 6 December 2011 | 389,000 | 5 |
| 13 | 12 December 2011 | 457,000 | 4 |
The series encompasses a lot of things that many school children 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 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. The third series takes place four years later as Vlad tries to make both his father and his sister forgive each other and try to be a family, deal with the responsibility of being the Chosen One and develop a friendship with a female slayer who is bent on slaying the Draculas to cure her half fang brother.