Though Sherlock‘s fate is still hanging in the balance, showrunners Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are now hard at work on another TV series. Intended to be a “stablemate” of the hit detective drama, the duo are piecing together a reinvention of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire novel Dracula, and Variety brings word today that the BBC and Netflix will be teaming up to deliver the project.
The show will apparently be modeled in the same format as Sherlock, taking the shape of a miniseries run of feature-length 90 minute episodes. No casting has been announced just yet, but it’ll be produced by Sue Vertue and her company Harstwood Films, who were also behind the aforementioned Sherlock. Furthermore, BBC will carry the program in the UK while Netflix will be responsible for most of the other territories.
Plot details have been hard to come by for Dracula, but we’re told it’s set in 1897 and revolves around “the blood-drinking count from Transylvania who sets his sights on Victorian London.”
“There have always been stories about great evil. What’s special about Dracula is that Bram Stoker gave evil its own hero,” Moffat and Gatiss said.
“There’s nothing like fresh blood,” Vertue added.
“Genius duo Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss turn their attentions to Dracula for unmissable event television on BBC One,” said Charlotte Moore, BBC director of content.
While it’s still early days for the project, it’s clear that Moffat and Gatiss are hoping to recapture something of the success of their previous work by tackling another piece of Victorian fiction, and we’re fairly confident that they’ll be able to. After all, this will be the third time that Steven Moffat has adapted a classic 19th century novel, after Sherlock and 2007’s Jekyll.
Mark Gatiss, meanwhile, is a self-confessed horror movie fan, and in particular, loves vampire stories. He’s hosted The History of Horror documentary series which covered, among other films, the Dracula movies of Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. Not to mention he also portrayed the Dracula-like king vampire Mr. Snow in the BBC’s cult supernatural drama Being Human.
As such, it seems like the pair are the perfect writers to bring the oft-filmed Prince of Darkness to the screen once again, and if Moffat and Gatiss can hit it big with Dracula, we could be in for our next juicy TV obsession.
