The Reluctant Vampire brings Lenny Rush to BBC One
The Reluctant Vampire starts on BBC One on 4 October. Meet Lenny Rush’s human hero and a comedy cast including Tom Davis, Sian Clifford and Bill Bailey.
Lenny Rush leads a cast packed with familiar comedy faces in The Reluctant Vampire, which begins on BBC One tomorrow, Sunday 4 October, at 6.40pm. The six-part series brings Eric Morecambe’s vampire stories to television, with Tom Davis, Sian Clifford, Bill Bailey and Ross Noble among the stars joining him.
At its centre is Val, a young heir growing up in a vampire family and struggling to meet his father’s expectations. There is a fairly significant reason why the bloodthirsty life does not come naturally to him: he is actually human.
What is The Reluctant Vampire about?
Val has been raised to follow the traditions of his father Victor, who expects his son to embrace his place in the vampire world. In the opening episode, preparations for Val’s official initiation into adulthood are complicated when his mother reveals the truth about who he is.
That discovery leaves him trying to understand his human identity while keeping his family life intact. His mother Valeeta knows his secret, but her advice is not always helpful, and his suspicious brother Vernon makes maintaining appearances more difficult.
Beyond the castle, Val develops a friendship with village girl Gertie, opening up a different world for him to explore. However, getting closer to the humans brings its own problems when his family’s true nature is something the villagers must not discover.
The premise makes this a comedy about growing up, belonging and family expectations, with supernatural characters adding to Val’s everyday difficulties. He has to work out where he fits while protecting people who have very different ideas about who he should be.
Watch the official trailer:
Who is in the cast?
Rush, familiar to viewers of Am I Being Unreasonable?, plays Val, with King Gary star Tom Davis as Victor. Fleabag’s Sian Clifford plays Valeeta, while Gabriel Nagy takes the role of Vernon.
Bill Bailey and Ross Noble appear as the castle’s resident gargoyles, Guy and Gary, watching events from above. Joe Wilkinson plays Wilf the Werewolf, and Asim Chaudhry is Igon, the assistant who has to contend with life inside the vampire household.
The human side of the story includes This Country star Charlie Cooper as John and Trying’s Esther Smith as Susan. Ellie-May Sheridan plays their daughter Gertie, whose friendship with Val connects the two worlds.
Eric Morecambe’s stories come to television
The series is based on books by Eric Morecambe, best known as one half of the comedy partnership Morecambe and Wise. Rob and Neil Gibbons, whose television work includes Alan Partridge, have adapted the stories for the screen.
Filmed in Gloucestershire, the comedy is directed by Emily McDonald and produced by Boffola Pictures. Its six half-hour episodes follow Val’s attempts to navigate his unusual household and his newly discovered human life.
When can you watch The Reluctant Vampire?
The Reluctant Vampire begins on BBC One at 6.40pm on Sunday 4 October, with the series also available on BBC iPlayer. The opening episode introduces Val’s family and the revelation that leaves their heir facing a future very different from the one his father has planned.
