1 00:00:02,280 --> 00:00:03,320 MAN SCREAMS 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:04,760 Dracula. 3 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:07,160 The very name is synonymous with terror. 4 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:09,760 You feel you know that there's menace coming 5 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:11,440 and he's never going to die. 6 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,720 The creation of Irish author Bram Stoker, this iconic tale 7 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,360 of a medieval vampire stalking the streets of London has scared 8 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,440 and inspired millions around the world for over 120 years. 9 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,920 Dracula is the first time that evil gets to be attractive, 10 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:27,960 and evil gets his name on the cover. 11 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:34,200 Since its first publication in 1897, Bram Stoker's novel has never been out of print. 12 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,080 It's partly an adventure story involving good, strong men. 13 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,080 They take on the forces of the undead. 14 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:42,280 I've been dying to meet you. 15 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:43,600 WOMAN GASPS 16 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:45,080 SCREAMS: NO! 17 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,160 I'll be travelling the world in search of the vampire's origins 18 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:54,320 and speaking to some of the people who have, over the years, given Dracula fresh blood. 19 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,680 I just wanted the surprise of seeing him as Dracula. 20 00:00:57,680 --> 00:00:59,960 And, boy, did I get a surprise. 21 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,480 Dracula is not only an icon of horror, but of our culture. 22 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:08,760 A stake through the heart. 23 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,320 You see, sometimes the legends are right. 24 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:15,480 Dracula is so iconic, he's got his own emoji. 25 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,040 Appropriately enough, he just won't stay dead. 26 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,560 But what is it about the character that has so permeated the popular imagination? 27 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,200 Why does Dracula keep on rising from the grave? 28 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:31,840 I am Dracula. 29 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:33,920 Cut, lovely. Right... 30 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,360 As myself and Steven Moffat present our new version of the story, 31 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,360 I want to discover what is at the heart of the legend 32 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,960 in all his guises from book, to stage, to film. 33 00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:48,360 This is the story of Dracula's creation and his immortal afterlife. 34 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,360 There's some versions one's seen, and pictures certainly I've seen, 35 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,720 you're just sucked in. 36 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,560 Why do we keep on returning to the Count? 37 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:01,560 To what extent has public taste changed our perception of the vampire? 38 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,160 And what is the secret of his hypnotic hold over us all? 39 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,840 This is my search for Dracula. 40 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,120 Bram Stoker's novel begins with an English solicitor, 41 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,560 Jonathan Harker, heading across Europe for an appointment 42 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,520 with his mysterious client, Count Dracula. 43 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:51,520 Like Harker, I'm travelling east, but to Oravsky in Slovakia. 44 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,400 When I was a child, I was obsessed with horror films. 45 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,640 They were on TV on a Friday night after the sports report 46 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:02,320 or on occasional Saturday night double bills. 47 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:07,600 A black and white Universal chiller followed by the Eastmancolor glories of a Hammer movie. 48 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:10,640 I couldn't get enough of them. And actors like Vincent Price, 49 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:13,680 Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee were my heroes. 50 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,200 And although I ate, slept, and drank zombies, 51 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,760 werewolves and Frankensteins, I always had a soft spot for Dracula. 52 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,680 We used to have a big, red, velvet curtain tucked away in the ottoman, 53 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,120 and I would get it out, pretend it was my cloak, and restage 54 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,160 Christopher Lee's death agonies from Dracula Has Risen From The Grave. 55 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:38,840 HE CHOKES 56 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:47,120 Jutting like a fang above the village of Oravsky looms Castle Orava. 57 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,600 We've chosen this as the location for our new version of Dracula. 58 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:55,400 But its ancient walls have played host to the undead Count before. 59 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,520 This location holds a special place in the hearts of Dracula fans. 60 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,960 It was here in 1921 that FW Murnau made Nosferatu, 61 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:09,720 a symphony of terror. 62 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,480 It was probably the first Dracula adaptation, albeit an unofficial one, 63 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:22,320 and introduced the world to the unforgettable Max Schreck 64 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:26,400 as Count Orlok, a grotesque bald-headed taloned nightmare 65 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:30,080 whose image became indelibly associated with the vampire. 66 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:37,240 The look of Nosferatu was the fevered brainchild 67 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:42,400 of Albin Grau, a very strange man, who oversaw the film's entire design 68 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:44,840 from sets to makeup. 69 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:45,880 DOOR CREAKS 70 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:55,200 Nosferatu is packed with genuine occult imagery and even calligraphy. 71 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,520 Everything about this film is wonderfully weird. 72 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,200 This rodent-fanged monstrosity is one of the most familiar 73 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,800 representations of Dracula on screen, 74 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,320 and its talons have extended far beyond its origins. 75 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,640 Count Orlok's shocking visage has lost none of its impact 76 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,680 and has been resurrected with startling effect ever since. 77 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:39,280 But how was actor Max Schreck transformed into the gruesome Count Orlok nearly 100 years ago? 78 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:42,400 And there is nothing... 79 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,800 I'm joining prosthetics team Dave and Lou Elsey, who created the look for our Dracula, 80 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:51,080 to find out why this image has left such a lasting impression. 81 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:55,760 This make-up, for some reason, it's just perfection. 82 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:57,080 You know, it's... 83 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,040 You can tell it's perfection because people can't get over it. 84 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,520 They can't... People are still doing it today. 85 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:11,320 Nosferatu is just a terrifying, nightmare creature. He's... 86 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,440 There's nothing human about him at all. 87 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:15,840 You know, and the make-up is very broad as well. 88 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:20,040 And it's very theatrical - it's like something that you would do for a stage play. 89 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:28,840 That's it. 90 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:33,160 Yeah. 91 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:36,960 Suddenly, the weekend's, er... 92 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:42,560 Although clearly meant to be Bram Stoker's Count, 93 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,360 Max Schreck's walking corpse bears little resemblance 94 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:50,520 to the sophisticated, suave aristocrat that we today identify as Dracula. 95 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:57,000 But the film did introduce some aspects of vampire lore which became fixed. 96 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,040 Although his powers are slightly weakened by its rays, in the novel, 97 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:05,120 Dracula is perfectly capable of walking around in daylight. 98 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,480 It was Nosferatu and its famous climax which created the idea 99 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,920 that the vampire could be destroyed by sunlight. 100 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:21,920 Nosferatu is quite rightly regarded today as one of the classics of silent cinema. 101 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,560 But it only survived by the skin of its strangely sharp teeth. 102 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:31,440 An entirely illegitimate production, it was ordered to be destroyed by Bram Stoker's widow, Florence, 103 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,800 after she sued the producers over breach of copyright. 104 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:39,720 Thankfully, a few prints survived so we can still enjoy Nosferatu today 105 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,160 in all its weird glory. 106 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,280 As many were to discover over the subsequent years, 107 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,560 the Count proved very difficult to kill. 108 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,000 But where did this imperishable icon come from? 109 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,640 Whose morbid imagination actually conceived Dracula? 110 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:27,320 Born, raised, and educated in Dublin, Abraham "Bram" Stoker 111 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,360 began his career in the Irish Civil Service. 112 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,200 But it was his passionate interest in the dramatic arts that led 113 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,160 to unpaid work as a theatre critic for the Dublin Evening Mail. 114 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,680 In December 1876, following a performance of Hamlet he attended, 115 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:47,680 Stoker began a 28-year association with the most dominant, 116 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:51,000 in every sense of the word, personality of his life - 117 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,920 the legendary actor Sir Henry Irving. 118 00:08:53,920 --> 00:09:00,800 Bram Stoker was invited by Henry Irving to come over as his business manager and assistant. 119 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,080 And dropping everything in Dublin, that's exactly what he does. 120 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,720 He moves over and works for Irving for 28 years. 121 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,320 Stoker hero-worshipped Irving, Irving exploited that. 122 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:13,800 And Irving would say, "Bram, Bram, I say, come here!" 123 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:18,400 You know, he utterly depended on his servitor to do things for him. 124 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:21,960 One of his obituaries says, "I have never known in my life 125 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,520 "the absorption of one man in another man's life as much 126 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,040 "as Stoker was absorbed in Irving's life." 127 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:32,320 There was something almost umbilical about their relationship. 128 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:35,920 I think Dracula is partly based on Irving's performances. 129 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,000 Irving loved big supernatural parts where he could really... 130 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,840 You know, with a strong slice of jambon attached. 131 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:44,560 But there are other theories as to the Count's origin. 132 00:09:44,560 --> 00:09:47,960 It was later claimed that it was a nightmare endured by Stoker 133 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,800 after a meal of dressed crab that first inspired his creation. 134 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:57,240 A ghastly vision that included three female vampire brides descending on their victim 135 00:09:57,240 --> 00:09:59,520 and their Satanic master intoning... 136 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,280 I believe it to have been the nightmare 137 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:06,400 that kick-started the whole of Dracula, 138 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,320 where you have the three vampire brides coming up 139 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,520 and he doesn't know whether he's asleep or not, 140 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,360 and it's interrupted by the Count. The Count comes in and says, 141 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,200 "This man belongs to me. I want him." 142 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,200 And Stoker writes that down in March 1890. 143 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:22,480 He writes it down again in 1892. 144 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:24,440 He writes it down again and again and again. 145 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:26,120 And everything else changes in Dracula, 146 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:28,440 but the one thing that remains consistent is, 147 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:30,840 "This man belongs to me. I want him." 148 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,320 What do you think Dracula is about? 149 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:36,880 It's partly about dominance and dependence, sexual relationships. 150 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:41,320 It's partly an adventure story involving good, strong men, 151 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:42,840 the forces of light. 152 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,240 Using folklore, religion and science, 153 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:47,480 they take on the forces of the undead. 154 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,680 But it's turned into myth, so you can pour into it what you like. 155 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:55,800 Stoker had already written several books, 156 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,240 frantically scrambled together during his punishing work hours, 157 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,520 and spent six years making notes for his next. 158 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:06,280 This book would be of an altogether different order. 159 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,760 Whilst vampires had existed in folklore for centuries, 160 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:12,240 it was Stoker who pulled these references together 161 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,160 to create an immortal myth. 162 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:18,680 In 2018, the London Library's director of development, 163 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:21,400 Philip Spedding, concluded a treasure hunt 164 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:24,640 that sheds a fascinating light on the wider inspirations 165 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:26,480 behind Stoker's novel. 166 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,560 In these dusty volumes lie the facts and figures, 167 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:33,360 the myths and legends, which gave birth to Dracula. 168 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:39,000 How did this treasure hunt of yours begin? 169 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,600 I was intrigued by how Bram Stoker might have used the library. 170 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:45,960 We knew he had joined the library in 1890 171 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,440 and we know that that's when he started his research on Dracula. 172 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:52,880 And I went into the shelves and the first book I pulled out was this, 173 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,320 The Book Of Were-Wolves by a man called Sabine Baring-Gould. 174 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,960 I started to go through this book and compare it to the notes 175 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,800 that Stoker had taken and saw there was a remarkable correlation 176 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,200 between some of the marks in this book 177 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:07,640 and some of the notes that Stoker had taken. 178 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:10,640 And in the end, it turned out we had almost all the books 179 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:13,360 that Stoker said that he had been interested in 180 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,240 when undertaking his research. 181 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,600 Round About The Carpathians by Andrew Cross, 1878, 182 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:19,840 borrowed by Stoker. 183 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:21,640 In here, um... 184 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:25,760 ..Cross is talking about a journey through Hungarian towns 185 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,720 and says the houses are mostly of one storey, standing each one alone 186 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,760 with the gable end blank and windowless towards the road. 187 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:35,960 And then if you look at the story of Dracula, 188 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,760 when Harker is going towards Castle Dracula, 189 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:42,560 he describes the villages he is going through 190 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:45,480 with a blank gable end towards the road. 191 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,920 So there's an exact line that Stoker picked up from a book 192 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:51,360 and put into the final novel. And then, of course, 193 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,400 there's one other book that Stoker looked at. 194 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:55,800 Now, his record suggests that he borrowed this in Whitby, 195 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:57,200 but this is the book, 196 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:02,320 An Account Of The Principalities Of Wallachia And Moldavia, 1820. 197 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,600 And in his notes, he talks about seeing the word Dracula 198 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,200 in this book, and our copy, entertainingly, 199 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,280 has the page on which the word Dracula appears, 200 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:12,920 the corner has been turned down, tantalisingly. 201 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:14,760 But what you really want, of course, 202 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,680 is a big sort of three exclamation marks, 203 00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:19,360 maybe a smiley face. Yes. Yes. 204 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:21,640 "Must use this in my novel. This is marvellous stuff." 205 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:24,040 Smiley face with fangs. Yes. Yes, yes. 206 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:30,920 So that's the first part of the paper trail, 207 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:32,960 the trail that leads to Dracula. 208 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,200 But the next stop in our treasure hunt is, 209 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:36,920 somewhat unexpectedly, 210 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:38,440 Philadelphia. 211 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,120 My travels have brought me here to the Rosenbach Museum 212 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,680 and Library in Philadelphia, USA, which since 1970, 213 00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:02,680 has been the home to a collection 214 00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:07,520 which provides a fascinating insight into Bram Stoker's working methods. 215 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,000 Housed here is a precious first edition 216 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,960 of the completed novel from 1897. 217 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,200 But most excitingly, I've been given permission 218 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,280 to explore the handwritten research notes and workings 219 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:32,120 which together show the novel coming to life in Stoker's mind. 220 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:37,200 Well, here we are. 221 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,240 It's a privilege and a thrill to be here 222 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,040 amongst these sacred relics, as it were. 223 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,520 These scribbled fragments, which begin in 1890 224 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,720 and stretch, I think, over a six-year period, 225 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:53,640 represent the unused characters, blind alleys and eureka moments 226 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,520 which together constitute Dracula. 227 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:03,040 So on this page, which is dated March 14th 1890, 228 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:08,280 Stoker has divided his proposed novel into four books. 229 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:13,120 The first one is Book One, headed Styria, 230 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:16,000 which is the original location. 231 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,080 And then it's been crossed out, as you can see here, 232 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:20,040 and replaced with Transylvania. 233 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,720 Transylvania to London. 234 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:28,360 And this section contains reference to lawyer's letters, 235 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:30,080 wolves, 236 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,400 arrive at the castle, 237 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:34,360 loneliness, 238 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:35,880 the kiss, 239 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:37,440 and in quotes. 240 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:39,320 "This man belongs to me," 241 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,480 which appears to have been one of Stoker's first thoughts about this, 242 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,600 possibly from that nightmare. 243 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:49,080 This is where Stoker delineates the rules of the beast. 244 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:50,800 And here on the first page, 245 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:55,200 we have, "No looking glass in Count's house. 246 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,320 "Never can see him reflected in one. 247 00:15:57,320 --> 00:15:59,480 "No shadow?" 248 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,280 "Lights arranged to give no shadow. 249 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,080 "Never eats nor drinks." 250 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,120 He certainly went with that one. 251 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,640 "Enormous strength. See in the dark. 252 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:11,920 "Power of getting small or large." 253 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:13,560 That's intriguing. 254 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:16,920 This is a delightful detail. 255 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:18,840 "Painters cannot paint him. 256 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:21,600 "Their likenesses always look like someone else." 257 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,360 I think that's a beautiful idea. 258 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,520 It's a shame that's not followed up, actually, 259 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:31,160 and there is a wonderful section later where 260 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,560 an unused idea that the Count can't be photographed 261 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:39,080 or kodaked, to actually coin a verb, 262 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:44,040 because of the same reason - that he is not really properly corporeal. 263 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:48,320 But most fantastically, Count Wampyr, as he is called, 264 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,680 this is the moment, it seems, where Stoker has the revelation, 265 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:56,920 seemingly inspired by the book he took out of the Whitby library 266 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:58,960 to call him Dracula. 267 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,960 And here we can see... You can almost see the working process 268 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,080 of Stoker's mind here. 269 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:09,480 He writes down the top left - "Dracula". 270 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:11,560 Top right - "Dracula". 271 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,800 And then in the top left hand corner, 272 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:17,480 definitively and underlined - "Count Dracula." 273 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:19,640 Maybe this is the moment where it actually happened. 274 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:21,480 I mean, obviously, he had no conception 275 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:25,000 it was going to be a name that lived throughout history. 276 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:30,680 So here it is, the culmination of seven years of musing and scribbling 277 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,240 and stewing and thinking. 278 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:36,520 This is the first edition of Dracula, 279 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:41,320 bound in this very distinctive fin de siecle yellow cloth, 280 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:43,720 which must have given it a certain frisson 281 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:45,800 to people of the late-19th century 282 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:49,720 who associated anything yellow with things slightly... 283 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:54,040 ..outre and diabolical and naughty, 284 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,400 which, indeed, is what this very weird book actually is. 285 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:00,680 Amazing to actually see it here. 286 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,440 And, of course, Stoker had no idea 287 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:07,240 of the legacy which this novel was going to have. 288 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,560 And the absolutely imperishable brand 289 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:12,960 which the name of Dracula was going to become. 290 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,600 The book was finally published on May 26th, 1897, 291 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,240 and quickly gained critical success. 292 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,680 Much was made of Stoker's clever trick 293 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,240 of bringing a medieval monster into modern London. 294 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,600 But Stoker had been keen to extend the reach of his story, 295 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:32,880 and eight days prior to the novel's release, 296 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,640 the Count had already taken on another form. 297 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,120 On the morning of May 18th, 1897, 298 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:43,320 the first theatrical performance of Dracula, Or The Undead, 299 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,040 took place at London's Lyceum Theatre 300 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:48,880 to a paying audience of just two people. 301 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:53,360 Performed by the Lyceum's Company of actors, minus Sir Henry Irving, 302 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:56,000 the reading had been arranged specifically by Stoker 303 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,960 to protect the dramatic rights to his new novel. 304 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,440 He had hastily cut and pasted together a script 305 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,000 from the galley proofs of the book. 306 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,640 The result was not a success. 307 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:12,640 Dracula, Or The Undead. 308 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:13,960 Prologue. 309 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,680 Scene one, outside Castle Dracula. 310 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:22,320 Hi. Hi. Where are you off to? 311 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:23,800 Gone already. 312 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,720 Well, this is a pretty nice state of things. 313 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:30,640 After a drive through solid darkness 314 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:32,760 with an unknown man whose face I've not seen, 315 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:34,920 and who has in his hand the strength of 20 men 316 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:38,200 and who could drive back a pack of wolves by holding up his hand... 317 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:42,520 It took four interminable hours. 318 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,920 Henry Irving had only one devastating comment. 319 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:47,600 "Dreadful." 320 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,440 It was to be the only official stage version of Dracula 321 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:52,640 during Bram Stoker's lifetime. 322 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:57,680 In 1924, 12 years after Stoker's death 323 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:01,080 and two years after the first screening of Nosferatu, 324 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:05,040 impresario Hamilton Deane secured the theatrical rights to the story. 325 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:07,760 His much reimagined stage adaptation 326 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,280 would come to define the image of Count Dracula. 327 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,840 Deane had one major problem with adapting it... 328 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:18,600 ..and that was Dracula himself. 329 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:22,480 What do you do with a character who's off stage the whole time? 330 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,760 He had to be completely... 331 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,800 ..we'd use the word "revamped", you know, as the kind of character 332 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:31,640 that you could bring into polite society, 333 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,360 you could entertain in a drawing room. 334 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:39,200 And it meant dumping most of the book, you know, 335 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,400 which has this great geographical sweep and scope. 336 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,560 But of course, the character of Dracula was completely transformed. 337 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:51,480 He was now a suave, sinister, ingratiating character 338 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:55,720 who burrowed his way into your life and wouldn't let go. 339 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,280 So, really, the popular image of Dracula is much more from the play 340 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:01,200 than from the novel. 341 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,400 Oh, absolutely. You can ask anybody, "What... 342 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,400 "Who is Dracula? What does Dracula look like? 343 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,440 "How does Dracula talk? How does Dracula dress?" 344 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:12,800 It's all from the stage play. 345 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,520 The popularity of the play caught the eye of American producers 346 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,680 and a revised version successfully ran on Broadway. 347 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:22,840 Crucially, this new vision of Dracula, 348 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,600 complete with stand-up collar, white tie and cape, 349 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:30,120 was embodied by the little known Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi. 350 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:32,640 He was considered to be... 351 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:38,320 ..perfect for the role of Dracula 352 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:41,160 And Horace Liveright, the producer 353 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:46,600 and John Balderston, who adapted Deane's play for Broadway, 354 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:50,280 all saw this strange magnetic quality about him, 355 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,960 and it had to do with the fact that he didn't speak English very well. 356 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:59,000 AS LUGOSI: That very deliberate manner of speaking. 357 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,560 There is a scene where Dracula disappears down through a trap door, 358 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:06,080 and then the... A vampire trap. Yes, it was called a vampire trap, 359 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:09,680 and the other actors were left holding his empty cape 360 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:11,600 and a flash bomb went off. 361 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:17,280 And to accomplish this, the cape had to have a collar 362 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,120 that could almost completely hide his head. 363 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:23,120 In fact, it was a little hood on a frame 364 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:25,280 that represented the top of his head 365 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:30,240 because the actor was actually going down through a trap door... 366 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:32,520 ..at this climactic moment. 367 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,560 So it serves no real function other than that. 368 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,600 But it became a signature feature of vampire costuming. 369 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,080 I love that. It's like a sort of little fossil 370 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,480 which has now lost all its original meaning, 371 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:47,160 but it has to be... Somehow it's part of the look. 372 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,800 Two years after the successful Broadway play, 373 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:52,720 Universal Pictures produced the first official version 374 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,520 of Dracula on film, with sound. 375 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:04,840 But it was by no means a foregone conclusion that Bela Lugosi 376 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,920 would repeat his Broadway performance on the big screen. 377 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,720 Many other actors, including Conrad Veidt and Paul Muni, 378 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,360 were considered as far more of a box office draw 379 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:17,440 than the unknown Hungarian. 380 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:20,400 DOOR CREAKS 381 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:29,000 Bela Lugosi had been lobbying for it 382 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,880 and lobbying for it and making it known 383 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,560 that he would work for very small money, in Hollywood terms, 384 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,920 to have the part. 385 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:47,160 And in the end, he made such an indelible impression... 386 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:48,440 ..with that part. 387 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:57,080 The strange voice, the magnetic presence. 388 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:01,360 He had one of the most intense stares 389 00:24:01,360 --> 00:24:04,960 that anybody ever had on-screen. 390 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,160 I am Dracula. 391 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:18,520 I bid you welcome. 392 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,400 Universal's film was a smash hit 393 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,880 and its legacy is undeniable, 394 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:28,880 but it's hard to see from this distance why it made such an impact. 395 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:30,800 The pace is funereal, 396 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:32,360 the direction leaden, 397 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,680 Lugosi is hard to take seriously. 398 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,640 It's one of the great what ifs of cinema history. 399 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,520 If only somebody else with real drive and vision 400 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,960 had been shooting Dracula on those spectacular sets. 401 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:50,200 Well, as a matter of fact, they were. 402 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:54,720 In the early days of the talkies, 403 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,320 hearing actors speaking in their natural voices 404 00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,400 was a profitable novelty. 405 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,360 As a result, and to serve overseas markets, 406 00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:05,880 many studios began simultaneously producing foreign language versions 407 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:07,720 of the same films. 408 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:11,920 In the Spanish language version of Dracula, 409 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,000 Carlos Villarias wore the cape 410 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,640 and reputedly even the same toupee as Bela Lugosi 411 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,240 and the film used the same sets and costumes 412 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,160 as its English counterpart. 413 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,000 Working like vampires through the night, the second team succeeded 414 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,360 in creating a strikingly different version. 415 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:30,880 Soy Dracula. 416 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,680 Although some of the long shots were of Bela Lugosi himself, 417 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,560 taken from unused rushes, 418 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:39,400 the Spanish Dracula is a wonderful work in its own right. 419 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,040 Stylish, creepy and bold, it's that rare thing, 420 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,320 not just a "what if?" but a "there it is." 421 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,320 And my opinion - infinitely superior to the Lugosi version. 422 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:58,040 Compare this scene, where the vampire brides attempt to feed 423 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,000 on their unwilling victim. 424 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,840 In the Lugosi film, a slow, stately entrance 425 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:08,280 seen from behind and foiled by a stagey Dracula. 426 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:12,240 In the Spanish version, a lustrous, alarming close-up 427 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,080 and the brides move in for their feast. 428 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:21,240 Despite the film's appeal, 429 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,080 there was to be no direct sequel for Bela Lugosi's Count. 430 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,920 Gloria Holden appeared as Dracula's daughter, 431 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,000 a curious film now best remembered 432 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,040 for its startlingly frank lesbian seduction scene. 433 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,640 And Lon Chaney Jr, as a rather solid vampire, 434 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:38,960 brought a certain doughy menace 435 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,920 to the steamy, deep south-set Son Of Dracula. 436 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,240 John Carradine then made two brief appearances as Dracula, 437 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:51,680 complete with jaunty top hat. 438 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,480 Bela Lugosi was a far more versatile actor 439 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,560 than he's ever given credit for. 440 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:08,560 He's absolutely wonderful, for instance, 441 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:12,600 in Son Of Frankenstein as the broken-necked Igor. 442 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,880 But it was Dracula who forever stalked him. 443 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:18,960 His last appearance in the familiar white tie and tails 444 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,760 was in Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein, 445 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,960 a fate that not even the Prince Of Darkness himself could survive. 446 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,200 Although I absolutely love it. 447 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,800 Forever typecast, Lugosi returned as the vampire, 448 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:37,440 but his new version of the Count 449 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,200 was now sharing the screen with the Wolfman, Frankenstein's monster 450 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,040 and the Invisible Man, 451 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,640 like some Gothic Avengers Assemble. 452 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,840 After this, the Count languished somewhat, barring such curios 453 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:58,120 as this 1953 Turkish adaptation, Dracula In Istanbul. 454 00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:01,560 The film is most notable today for introducing, for the first time, 455 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,160 the fangs we have come to associate with those of the vampire. 456 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,160 By the late-1950s, in the shadow of the atom bomb, 457 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:16,360 Gothic horror was somewhat in abeyance, 458 00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:19,400 but thanks to the efforts of one small British film studio 459 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,480 here near Windsor, 460 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,320 Count Dracula was about to return home 461 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,720 and stage a magnificent resurrection. 462 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:38,720 Established in 1951, Bray Studios became the home of Hammer Films. 463 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,200 World-famous for their Gothic chillers, 464 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:45,480 they redefined the horror genre for a new generation. 465 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,360 Although closed for a short period, 466 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:51,520 65 years on, Bray Studios is alive again, 467 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:53,200 and by a wonderful coincidence, 468 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:57,040 is playing home to the studio filming of our new Dracula series. 469 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:02,320 It was here in 1958 that Christopher Lee made the first of seven 470 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,560 Hammer appearances in the role, 471 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,520 giving his Dracula an unforgettable entrance. 472 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,280 Mr Harker, I'm glad that you've arrived safely. 473 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:14,120 Count Dracula. 474 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,120 I am Dracula and I welcome you to my house. 475 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:18,520 So here we are, Jonathan. 476 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:20,440 Bray Studios on the lovely Thames. 477 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:24,000 I'm meeting up with film historian Jonathan Rigby, who can tell me more 478 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,760 about this marvellous building's gruesome legacy. 479 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,760 It was within these walls that Victor Frankenstein 480 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,760 carried out his horrific experiments, 481 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:33,600 and the Mummy wreaked havoc, 482 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,720 after making his escape from his Egyptian sarcophagus. 483 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,680 Inside the tomb. It's a very tomb-like atmosphere at the moment. 484 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:43,120 So what was done in here, Jonathan? 485 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:44,600 Well, this particular space 486 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,360 was colloquially known as the ballroom stage, 487 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:49,240 properly known as stage three. 488 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:51,200 And because of its rectangular formation, 489 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,520 it was where they tended to put their pubs and inns. 490 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,760 So this space was used for the inn in Dracula, 491 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,040 where Cushing's Van Helsing gets a very frosty reception 492 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:05,080 from the landlord, who, of course, was... George Woodbridge. Who else? 493 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,320 Good day, sir. Good day. 494 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,880 It was in this studio that Peter Cushing made his on-screen debut 495 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,520 as Dracula's implacable enemy, Dr Van Helsing. 496 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,880 May I have a brandy, please? Certainly, sir. 497 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:23,160 Audiences proved more receptive than these Transylvanian locals, 498 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,560 and Hammer's horror formula became box office gold. 499 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,360 Dracula was made by essentially the same team 500 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:32,720 that had just made The Curse Of Frankenstein 501 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,760 and The Curse Of Frankenstein had been out for maybe five months or so 502 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:39,800 when they got round to Dracula and, of course, it had been a huge hit, 503 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:41,480 so they were on a head of steam. 504 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:43,960 You know, they were on the crest of a wave. They were infused 505 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,720 with massive confidence, you know - "We're onto something here." 506 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,560 James Carreras, who ran Hammer Films said, you know, 507 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,600 they've got this great formula for horror, 508 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:53,040 what you do with your monster is, 509 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,080 you make him the handsome guy or the pretty girl 510 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,320 that you might see on the underground any day, you know, 511 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,560 and you think you'd be safe with them, whatever happened 512 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,000 but, you know, when you get home with him, blam! 513 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:05,760 I think that's what Carreras said, 514 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,000 "Blam! He does terrible, ghastly, awful things." 515 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,400 They made him a rather chilly... 516 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,400 ..but very sexy post-war man. 517 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:23,920 They made him much younger. 518 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:27,480 Lee was 35 at the time that he first played Dracula. 519 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:29,800 I think he was very conscious, as were Hammer, 520 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,360 of the fact that they could step up the sexual contact. 521 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:36,240 The Byronically handsome Lee 522 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:39,760 completely reinvented the popular perception of Dracula. 523 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,600 Gone were the stagey theatrics of Lugosi, 524 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:47,480 in their place, a sexy, unstoppable, upright shark, 525 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,080 the terrible lover who died, yet lived. 526 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,840 And all in Hammer's glorious colour. 527 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:58,040 SCREAMING 528 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,680 Lee was aware that this was a huge opportunity 529 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:02,920 and that he should grab it with both hands 530 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,960 and he certainly, certainly did. 531 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:11,400 And, then, in an odd echo of Lugosi, then he's not asked back. 532 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:16,120 There is a quick sequel, The Brides Of Dracula. 533 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,960 First horror film I ever saw and one of my absolute favourites. Oh, yes. 534 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,360 And Peter Cushing returns, it's a Van Helsing sequel. 535 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,240 In The Brides Of Dracula, Van Helsing's enemy 536 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:41,160 is the distinct defait, but oddly disturbing, Baron Meinster. 537 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,760 But the absence of Christopher Lee is felt. 538 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,520 I want to find out what it was he brought to the part of Dracula, 539 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,840 and I know just the people who can tell me. 540 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,080 This is Oakley Court. 541 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,680 Now a hotel, once the exterior of Castle Meinster 542 00:32:57,680 --> 00:32:59,360 from The Brides Of Dracula. 543 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,600 What better place to be reunited with some old friends? 544 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,200 CAFE CHATTER 545 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:10,320 No, that's a cucumber. Now, stop talking about cucumbers. 546 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,360 Tell me about Dracula. 547 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:14,880 THEY GASP 548 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:16,680 OK. Everyone talk at once. 549 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:18,480 OK. 550 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:22,240 Were you thrilled to be asked to do it? I was thrilled. 551 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,160 I was delighted. So long as we could have fangs, 552 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:29,240 I'd sometimes leave the studio with the bite marks on my neck. 553 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,680 And a few people in the cast were sort of... 554 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,720 Christopher did say, "This is the most difficult acting 555 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,960 "that you could ever do." 556 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,000 He used to sing. Do you remember he sang? Yes. Oh, yes. 557 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:42,400 He used to sing under my door... 558 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,040 MIMICS HIS SINGING 559 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:45,600 And I'd go, "What a lovely sound", 560 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,920 and he'd go, "Oh, my dear, can you hear that?" 561 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:51,600 I got bored with the opera, cos he was in the dressing room next door, 562 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,840 and was obviously feeling in one of my naughtier moods, 563 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:57,880 knocked on the door and said, "Do you know any Gilbert and Sullivan?" 564 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,480 And blow me down, he knew the whole thing. 565 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,320 A command of mime 566 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,400 and doing those big, bold things, 567 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,680 it's really amazing. I mean, it's quite... 568 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,440 You know, to actually put yourself out there, to sort of go... 569 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,880 Yes. And without it looking sort of Victorian... Yeah. 570 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:15,600 ..it's really very striking. 571 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,000 And there are moments where he's really animalistic. 572 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:20,920 It's properly frightening. Oh, yeah. 573 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:24,280 A girl that you love is mine already, 574 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:28,920 and through her, you will yet do my bidding. 575 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:36,600 I liked the glamour of Dracula films. 576 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,520 I think there's something terribly glamorous about Dracula. 577 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,640 And as he was played by Christopher Lee, who I'd fallen in love with, 578 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,800 when I'd been at school and I thought he was... 579 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:48,920 ..and still think he is one of the finest screen faces there is, 580 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,320 and I've tried to work it out, Mark, and I think it's this, 581 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:55,120 that people who still last into the future looking darn good, 582 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,240 it's their eyebrows. 583 00:34:57,240 --> 00:35:00,120 Gregory Peck - black eyebrows. Christopher Lee - black eyebrows. 584 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,280 Right until the very end. Right up to his 90s, black eyebrows. 585 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,840 I'd just always say that to actors... I'm doomed. 586 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:07,320 Well, no, just paint them on. 587 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:08,720 Mine disappear in the summer! 588 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:10,360 Suddenly draw them in! 589 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:19,920 They say that eyebrows that meet in the middle 590 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,200 means you've got homicidal tendencies, so... 591 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,200 He was always being rigged up in more heavy robes, 592 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:27,600 or having his eyes put in. 593 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,040 He carried around the book of Dracula in his pocket. 594 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:34,360 He was very meticulous. 595 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,360 He treated it, as I'm sure all the other actresses would have said, 596 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:38,920 terribly seriously. 597 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:47,520 He was very serious and he wanted us 598 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,200 to take everything very seriously 599 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,680 and with a plastic bat on wires coming in 600 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:56,560 and bumping into your chest and going out backwards. 601 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:59,120 Impossible! You laugh. Of course, you laugh, 602 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,160 and then you hear this sonorous voice saying, 603 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:04,640 "This is true." 604 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:08,080 And he then started talking about Vlad the Impaler 605 00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:12,520 and all sorts of things that he believed were entirely historic, 606 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:14,800 and we all had to behave. 607 00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:17,200 It's also true about something, if you're doing farce, 608 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:19,880 I always remember Ray Cooney saying, "You have to do it seriously." 609 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,280 Absolutely. If you don't do it seriously, it doesn't work. 610 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:23,400 No, it doesn't. No. 611 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,320 I had to say to Martin Jarvis, who was playing my lover in it, 612 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,160 "Kiss me, kiss me..." 613 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,160 Kiss me, my darling, kiss me. 614 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:34,560 Oh, God! 615 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,280 I laughed and so did Martin, and Christopher came marching across 616 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,760 and heavily wagged his finger and told us off. 617 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:46,720 Quite right - smack on the wrist. 618 00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:48,720 Whatever he had to do, 619 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:51,720 he didn't do it camply or anything. 620 00:36:51,720 --> 00:36:55,160 He did it absolutely with belief, 621 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,240 so it didn't look like overacting, 622 00:36:57,240 --> 00:37:00,160 which it could have looked like 623 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,200 in some other cases. 624 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,120 Does that make sense? Completely, yes. 625 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:10,160 Whilst Christopher Lee regarded Stoker's original story 626 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:13,240 as sacrosanct, Hammer's producers were keen to move 627 00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:14,720 in a groovy new direction. 628 00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:16,320 Give yourself up... 629 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:18,920 At the beginning of the '70s, they produced the charmingly daft 630 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,440 Dracula AD 1972, 631 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,040 in which Stephanie Beacham took on the role of Van Helsing's 632 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:26,880 hippie granddaughter Jessica. 633 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:28,800 That's it, that's it! 634 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:30,840 I mean, we were still saying "man" 635 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,320 and "yeah" and "too cool." 636 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:36,560 Did you feel Christopher Lee was slightly disenchanted 637 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,480 by this stage of doing so many Draculas? 638 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,400 No, I didn't feel he was at all disenchanted. 639 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,520 I felt he was rather disenchanted by the modern setting. 640 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:57,120 He grew big and quite, I mean, 641 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,000 enormously theatrical... 642 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:03,840 ..but every inch of him was real, 643 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,800 so there was... 644 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,120 That was impressive and he needed 645 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,120 to be able to swish that cloak. 646 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:15,400 SCREAMING 647 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,080 But for one bride 648 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:20,280 meeting Christopher Lee almost proved too much. 649 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:21,520 No, I didn't want to see him. 650 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:25,480 I thought it better for me as a young actress... 651 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:28,720 I'd worked in a few films before now... 652 00:38:28,720 --> 00:38:32,080 I just wanted the surprise of seeing him as Dracula, 653 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:33,920 and, boy, did I get a surprise. 654 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:39,840 He suddenly came through the door 655 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:42,600 and I caught sight of him, I remember, 656 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:44,880 and there's six foot four of him, 657 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:46,480 white faced... 658 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:49,880 ..dark, dark eyes... 659 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:51,680 And then he came forward, 660 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,640 so my reactions, I think, 661 00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:57,320 felt, to me, totally real. 662 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,640 Increasingly disillusioned with how far Hammer Films 663 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,880 were straying from the source material, 664 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,760 Christopher Lee nevertheless proved to embody Dracula 665 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:41,080 for an entire generation. 666 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:44,360 Er, Jeremy, what are you wearing? Oh, my pink... 667 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:48,000 1970's Taste The Blood Of Dracula was partly filmed here 668 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:51,320 at Tykes Water Bridge in Hertfordshire. 669 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,760 I've brought back one of its stars to ask him how did it feel 670 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:58,080 to come face-to-face with the Prince of Darkness himself? 671 00:39:58,080 --> 00:39:59,840 I became involved 672 00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:03,520 and thrilled to be part of something 673 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,320 that was already legendary in the sense there had been 674 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:11,240 two or three or four Hammer Horror Draculas, 675 00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:14,840 apart from all the other tradition of Dracula going back 676 00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:17,320 to Bela Lugosi and so on. 677 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:21,520 In fact, somebody said to me afterwards, 678 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:24,600 "So what did you learn about working with Christopher Lee?" 679 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,880 and I'm pretty certain I replied, 680 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,280 "Economy." 681 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,160 If you look at it on the page, 682 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:38,320 he doesn't have a lot to say. 683 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,760 Every appearance is hugely telling. 684 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:45,960 Six foot four with this great demeanour. 685 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,760 I think that that's what Christopher was very good at, 686 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,840 filling up with Dracula 687 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:54,440 and being ready, and his cloak ready, 688 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:57,320 to just watch and react. 689 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,560 And then the camera would come round on him for his looks. 690 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:02,000 He was a master actor. 691 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:05,840 Up until now, Dracula had been mostly terrorising us 692 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:07,760 from the big screen, 693 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,160 but increasingly he was being invited into our homes. 694 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:15,000 In 1968, Denholm Elliot gave an underrated performance 695 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:16,600 as the Count for ITV. 696 00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,720 In 1974, 697 00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:24,760 Jack Palance brought a steely menace to the role 698 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:26,760 in Bram Stoker's Dracula. 699 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:39,360 In 1977, the BBC made what is perhaps the most faithful adaptation 700 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:41,600 of Stoker's novel. 701 00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:43,720 Using many locations from the book 702 00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:46,080 for the very first time 703 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,920 and with French actor Louis Jourdan in the lead role. 704 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:56,400 In the summer of 1890, Bram Stoker visited the small harbour town 705 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,480 of Whitby here on the northeast coast of England. 706 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:01,920 Before being joined by his wife Florence, 707 00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:06,200 he spent a week here alone visiting the library, chatting to locals 708 00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:09,000 and generally mulling his new story. 709 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,480 This, he thought, might be the perfect place for his vampire 710 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:14,600 to make landfall in England. 711 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:34,800 Impressed by its striking scenery and the gaunt ruins 712 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:36,120 of the Gothic abbey, 713 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,280 Whitby became the backdrop to many of the most 714 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:40,320 memorable scenes in the novel, 715 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:43,640 as the Count finally makes his appearance in the new world. 716 00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:51,040 The BBC's Count Dracula used the abbey, church 717 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,880 and even the famous 199 steps 718 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:55,520 to tremendous effect. 719 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:03,880 Actor Susan Penhaligon memorably played the doomed Lucy Westenra 720 00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:06,920 sleepwalking through Whitby's desolate streets 721 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:09,160 for a fatal appointment with the Count. 722 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:14,760 Did you feel sort of a sense of 723 00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:18,000 rightness about actually being here? 724 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:21,000 Yes, I think I did feel a connection. 725 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,600 It does make the script real. 726 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:26,680 when you're in the actual place, there's no doubt about it. 727 00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:29,240 It was very, very true to the book. 728 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,600 What he created was the journeys of the characters, 729 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:35,320 that's what was so good, 730 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:37,760 particularly Mina and Lucy 731 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:39,600 and also particularly Lucy, 732 00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,760 because I did go from rather a sweet 733 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,760 sort of kind sister 734 00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:48,280 to this growling vampire. 735 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:51,200 Come to me, Quincey. 736 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:53,840 Come, my love. 737 00:43:57,080 --> 00:43:58,680 Leave these others... 738 00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:02,360 ..and we can rest together for eternity. 739 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:08,840 No! 740 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:10,080 This scene, 741 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:12,960 as Susan faces down Frank Finlay's marvellous Van Helsing 742 00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:17,200 is seared into my brain like a crucifix into a vampire's flesh. 743 00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:19,800 Was Louis Jourdan part of the package 744 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,480 when you were asked to do it, 745 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,920 did you know he was going to be Dracula? 746 00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:27,040 Yes, I did know that he was going to be Dracula and, erm... 747 00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:31,240 ..meeting him for the first time was slightly overwhelming for me. 748 00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:37,840 Hollywood star Louis Jourdan was cast as the vampire Count, 749 00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:40,280 bringing with him a touch of the exotic, 750 00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:42,560 just like Bela Lugosi back in 1931. 751 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:48,400 He was quite Hollywood. 752 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:51,480 A little bit old Hollywood, a little bit starry. 753 00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:53,560 Very French - Parisian French, 754 00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,960 so he had a kind of aloofness about him, 755 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,480 which you can see in his Dracula. 756 00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:03,120 But then, of course, I'm partial. 757 00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:05,760 I have a passion for the English language. 758 00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:08,960 I would wish to speak it faultlessly, perfectly. 759 00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:12,080 But you almost do, Count. 760 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:15,520 This "almost" is disheartening. 761 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:19,520 You shall remain here for a while so that I may learn from you 762 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:23,040 and shatter this "almost" irrevocably. 763 00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,680 He's kind of perfect for the part, though, I think. 764 00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:29,040 Perfect for the part. He did take it very seriously, I remember, 765 00:45:29,040 --> 00:45:31,320 of course, as anyone playing Dracula would. 766 00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:39,640 I think he's a very, very canny piece of casting. 767 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:41,280 You look at it now - 768 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,920 he must have been about 55. 769 00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:46,400 He's a very beautiful man, 770 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:50,160 but his matinee idol looks are sliding, 771 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,680 and somehow that's kind of perfect for Dracula. 772 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:56,720 There's something off about him. 773 00:45:56,720 --> 00:45:58,520 It's just a clever idea. 774 00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:07,880 This wonderfully queasy, unsettling Dracula remains one of my favourite 775 00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:10,160 versions to this day. 776 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:13,360 Its fidelity to the story is never over reverential 777 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:15,000 but clever and nimble. 778 00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:19,920 The casting of Louis Jourdan and its use of the imposing locations 779 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,840 of the book's original setting make it one of the most memorable 780 00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:24,760 adaptations of Stoker's novel. 781 00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:28,640 Then, two years later, in 1979, 782 00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:32,120 Dracula made, perhaps, his sexiest entrance to date. 783 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:35,520 Count Dracula... 784 00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:43,240 Good evening. 785 00:46:43,240 --> 00:46:45,040 Starring actor Frank Langella, 786 00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:47,760 a new version of the old play had become an unexpected hit 787 00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,960 on Broadway, and Universal Films, once again, 788 00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:52,800 saw its cinematic potential. 789 00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,880 Ms Van Helsing... 790 00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:57,840 My saviour. 791 00:46:57,840 --> 00:46:59,640 I trust you're feeling improved? 792 00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:03,480 Oh, yes. Thank you. 793 00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:06,040 The great joy of this film is that that interpretation 794 00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:09,080 is very, very interesting - 795 00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:12,120 that he is an incredibly romantic figure. 796 00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:15,320 Our version was originally a stage play. 797 00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:18,160 Frank Langella, who played Dracula, 798 00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:20,080 had starred in that, 799 00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:23,040 and it was a different version 800 00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:25,880 in as much as it was far more romantic. 801 00:47:28,560 --> 00:47:32,360 I think fans of horror were quite upset 802 00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:36,280 that there wasn't more blood and gore and horror in it. 803 00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:38,680 I was relieved that it wasn't 804 00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:40,720 what I would have termed 805 00:47:40,720 --> 00:47:42,760 a heavy Hammer Horror version. 806 00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:51,200 Frank brought... 807 00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:53,560 ..an incredible sexiness. 808 00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:56,480 His performance was a very sensual performance. 809 00:47:56,480 --> 00:47:59,200 He was mesmeric to work with. 810 00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:04,520 I always got the feeling with Frank that his Dracula, 811 00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:07,360 if it hadn't been for the fact that he needed blood to survive 812 00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:10,000 and therefore had to kill his victims, 813 00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:12,200 would probably liked to have fallen in love. 814 00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:22,800 So, it was a very romantic piece. 815 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:26,160 It was lush, it was Gothic in style, 816 00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,120 with this central character 817 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:30,160 who you had a lot of sympathy for 818 00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:32,720 and were very attracted to. 819 00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:34,360 I need your blood. 820 00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:37,400 I need it. 821 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:44,120 But he had a dignity about him, an innate dignity about him, 822 00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:46,560 and he was a very serious actor. 823 00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:48,160 I mean, somebody said to me 824 00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:51,240 he was America's leading stage actor at the time. 825 00:48:51,240 --> 00:48:56,040 When he finished the film, I think he says he hangs up the cloak 826 00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:57,520 in his dressing room and he thinks, 827 00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:00,160 "I must never put that on again, otherwise it will define me." 828 00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:01,960 I think he famously said, 829 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:05,600 "I spent two years of my life playing Dracula 830 00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:08,280 "and it took Hollywood 15 years to forget it." 831 00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:11,320 There's an afterlife, isn't there? 832 00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:12,760 Ironically, for Dracula! 833 00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:16,240 He was probably very sensible to do that, I think. 834 00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:19,840 The thing that really comes through is Frank's hair. 835 00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:21,680 It's so incredibly 1979. 836 00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:23,480 Oh, it's so bouffed! Yes! 837 00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:24,520 So bouffed... 838 00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:26,520 Oh, my God, he's a beautiful man. 839 00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:29,880 Absolutely. Absolutely gorgeous. 840 00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:33,080 Sometimes with some of the versions one's seen 841 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:35,280 and pictures that certainly I've seen 842 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:38,320 you think, "Well, why would these women actually bother?" 843 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,960 I think I'd have been off... 844 00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:44,240 But you're just sucked in... 845 00:49:44,240 --> 00:49:46,040 ..to Frank. 846 00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:53,600 The 1970s had been the busiest time the Count had ever known. 847 00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:56,400 He now entered one of his occasional rest periods, 848 00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:59,040 returning to his chilly tomb until 1992, 849 00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:02,200 when Gary Oldman took on the role in the sumptuous, 850 00:50:02,200 --> 00:50:07,080 bizarre and somewhat inaccurately titled Bram Stoker's Dracula. 851 00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:16,720 Welcome to my home. 852 00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:20,520 Enter freely of your own will 853 00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:23,840 and leave some of the happiness you bring. 854 00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:25,280 Count Dracula? 855 00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:28,320 I am Dracula. 856 00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:30,920 Despite being the definition of a curate's egg, 857 00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:34,680 the Coppola Dracula still has legions of fans and casts its own 858 00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:36,160 very particular shadow. 859 00:50:36,160 --> 00:50:37,480 Come in. 860 00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:40,520 Perhaps it goes to show how robust Stoker's character is. 861 00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:44,600 I think it's a fascinating film, 862 00:50:44,600 --> 00:50:48,760 full of, you know, visual, coup de cinema, if you like, 863 00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:51,480 and it was very much Coppola collecting together 864 00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:55,960 all his favourite horror imagery from the history of cinema 865 00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:58,960 and throwing it all at the wall and seeing what would stick, 866 00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:00,400 and a great deal of it does, 867 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:04,200 but as a purist, I feel, you know... 868 00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:07,920 ..the film is perfectly... 869 00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:13,840 ..valid as a rather free adaptation of Dracula. 870 00:51:13,840 --> 00:51:17,920 But the fact that it was advertised so relentlessly, 871 00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:22,120 even in its title, as being absolutely faithful to the novel, 872 00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:24,560 is, frankly, absurd. 873 00:51:26,640 --> 00:51:30,080 The Count has worn many faces and is continually reinvented 874 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:31,720 for a new generation, 875 00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:36,160 ensuring that the immortal vampire always has the last laugh. 876 00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:56,520 And, action... 877 00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:02,800 Over 120 years after Stoker's novel was first published, 878 00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:07,200 production on a new Dracula series is drawing to an end. 879 00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:11,520 I bid you welcome, Mr Harker. 880 00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:13,520 So, what has allowed this story to live on 881 00:52:13,520 --> 00:52:15,760 and be retold countless times? 882 00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:17,880 I am Dracula. 883 00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:22,280 Cut. Lovely. Right, brilliant. 884 00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:23,840 Dracula, 885 00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:27,320 whether this was quite his intent or not, is the first time that evil 886 00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:30,680 gets to be attractive and evil gets its name on the cover, 887 00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:32,880 and evil is, you know... 888 00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:35,280 You're not supposed to be attracted to evil. 889 00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:37,920 You're really not. We're supposed to be repelled by evil 890 00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:41,560 and attracted by good, and this is a fairly straightforward statement 891 00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:43,080 that that is not the case. 892 00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:46,400 Frank Langella is clearly a very attractive man, 893 00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:49,080 and Louis Jourdan, famously, a very handsome man. 894 00:52:49,080 --> 00:52:50,920 Christopher Lee, good looking man... 895 00:52:50,920 --> 00:52:53,360 It's just that thing - 896 00:52:53,360 --> 00:52:56,600 being attracted to what you should not be attracted to. 897 00:52:56,600 --> 00:53:00,040 What do you think our Dracula has brought to the role? 898 00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:02,120 I think his particular gift, 899 00:53:02,120 --> 00:53:04,880 his particular approach, right from the very first edition 900 00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:06,760 to the last episode we filmed, 901 00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:11,240 is an ability to be quite flip, quite lightweight, 902 00:53:11,240 --> 00:53:13,800 but make that sinister, 903 00:53:13,800 --> 00:53:18,520 cos he's never more frightening than when he chooses to smile 904 00:53:18,520 --> 00:53:21,160 and to make an offhand, slightly glib remark. 905 00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:22,760 Can I not recognise her face? 906 00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:25,560 Well, you do look rather... 907 00:53:26,560 --> 00:53:27,760 ..drained. 908 00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:30,520 You look young. 909 00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:34,960 And I owe it all to you. 910 00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:38,440 Thanks. 911 00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:41,680 I was very struck through the whole filming process 912 00:53:41,680 --> 00:53:43,880 that the times that I thought... 913 00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:48,200 I was surprised by how scary and disturbing it was, 914 00:53:48,200 --> 00:53:51,480 when he was being at his most sort of urbane. 915 00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:56,320 When he's lightweight and funny in the horrific situation, 916 00:53:56,320 --> 00:53:59,120 what it instantly tells you, in a chilling way, 917 00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:01,520 he's terribly used to this. 918 00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:04,640 Killing someone, destroying someone utterly, 919 00:54:04,640 --> 00:54:07,120 isn't an unusual event for him. 920 00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:09,720 It's something that he's acclimatised to, 921 00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:13,120 and there's something deeply chilling about that. 922 00:54:13,120 --> 00:54:15,040 There's something very frightening 923 00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:17,600 about someone who is unmoved by their own evil. 924 00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:20,080 If you let me live... 925 00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:22,400 ..then I... 926 00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:26,960 ..I will do everything in my power to stop you. 927 00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:32,360 Quite right. 928 00:54:34,080 --> 00:54:35,800 That's my Johnny. 929 00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:38,760 Welcome to the mountain top. 930 00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:39,800 BONES CRACK 931 00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:43,840 Do you have a standard sort of process in terms of 932 00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:45,320 approaching a part? 933 00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:48,240 I started watching all the old movies just to sort of see 934 00:54:48,240 --> 00:54:51,800 what do they do, and can I steal a bit of something here and there? 935 00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:54,520 I've never done a character that has been... 936 00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:57,280 ..where there is so much material out there, 937 00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:00,120 so I just thought it would be great for inspiration. 938 00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:02,720 The one thing that I can sort of try and make something of 939 00:55:02,720 --> 00:55:06,360 is to have that basic need that he has. 940 00:55:06,360 --> 00:55:09,400 He has a basic need for food, like we do, 941 00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:10,880 or sleep or sex or... 942 00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:14,760 I actually don't sort of see him as, 943 00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:18,920 you know, just wanting to destroy everything. 944 00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:21,760 It's just something that happens as a by-product 945 00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:23,840 of what he does. 946 00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:36,680 Johnny, this is interesting. 947 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:39,080 I've never seen it work with a baby before. 948 00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:40,960 Never. 949 00:55:40,960 --> 00:55:43,360 I think I might keep it on for a while. 950 00:55:43,360 --> 00:55:46,520 I hope this doesn't mean I'm getting sentimental. 951 00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:49,160 Did you know Dracula beforehand? 952 00:55:49,160 --> 00:55:52,920 Obviously, I mean, what everybody sort of knows, 953 00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:54,760 Dracula is so iconic. 954 00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:56,720 He's got his own emoji. 955 00:55:56,720 --> 00:56:01,280 On your phone there's the snowman, Santa Claus and Dracula, I think. 956 00:56:01,280 --> 00:56:04,320 So, the weird thing is that you realise 957 00:56:04,320 --> 00:56:07,200 this is something that children of three, 958 00:56:07,200 --> 00:56:09,000 they know this character, 959 00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:13,040 cos they dress up as him when they go for Halloween or something. 960 00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,360 Johnny, you're like me... 961 00:56:15,360 --> 00:56:18,600 I am not like you! 962 00:56:18,600 --> 00:56:19,720 HE SCREAMS 963 00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:39,600 Bram Stoker's iconic work is celebrated to this day 964 00:56:39,600 --> 00:56:42,120 and once a year in his hometown of Dublin 965 00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:45,120 a weekend of cultural festivities is held in his name. 966 00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:49,560 What is it about Dracula that still resonates? 967 00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:52,000 I think Dracula is still so popular 968 00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:54,680 because he's an amazing character. 969 00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:58,080 There's absolutely no-one else like him, back then, 970 00:56:58,080 --> 00:56:59,480 and still even today. 971 00:56:59,480 --> 00:57:01,400 Classic, everlasting. 972 00:57:01,400 --> 00:57:04,080 It doesn't age. No. It's timeless. 973 00:57:04,080 --> 00:57:06,600 There's just something about the aesthetic, the look. 974 00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:08,680 It's so creepy, but there's something human about it 975 00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:10,000 at the same time. 976 00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:12,400 I think he's so popular because he's talking 977 00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:14,360 about our hidden, 978 00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:17,440 maybe dark side, of a human being. 979 00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:20,640 I think in the book he's more like a monster... He is, yeah. 980 00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:22,520 ..but when we put him on screen... 981 00:57:22,520 --> 00:57:25,680 People still interpret him as beautiful and suave. 982 00:57:25,680 --> 00:57:27,760 From Gary Oldman that did it, 983 00:57:27,760 --> 00:57:30,360 going back to Christopher Lee - 984 00:57:30,360 --> 00:57:31,640 they were all gorgeous. 985 00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:46,440 120 years after the Count first landed on our shores, 986 00:57:46,440 --> 00:57:50,320 it's clear his hold over us is as strong as ever, 987 00:57:50,320 --> 00:57:52,280 but why? 988 00:57:52,280 --> 00:57:55,440 For me, the key lies in the Count's multiplicity of faces, 989 00:57:55,440 --> 00:57:59,520 worked on by a whole raft of talented people since 1897. 990 00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:02,080 From the novel, to the stage to the screen, 991 00:58:02,080 --> 00:58:04,320 Dracula has been a medieval warrior, 992 00:58:04,320 --> 00:58:06,080 a feral beast, a lounge lizard, 993 00:58:06,080 --> 00:58:07,560 a demon lover. 994 00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:09,680 He's all these things and more, 995 00:58:09,680 --> 00:58:12,840 and by becoming mythic, he's open to endless reinvention. 996 00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:17,120 Dracula - evil's own hero.