Big Finish Productions Releases New Audio Play ‘Dracula’s Guests’

Adrienne
5 Min Read
Courtesy of Big Finish Productions

Exciting news Dracula fans! If you’ve always wanted a backstory on one of the most classic horror movie characters, you’re in luck! Big Finish Productions just released their new audio play titled Dracula’s Guests! We broke the news in January that it was coming, and it’s finally here!

Dracula’s Guests is set as a prequel to Big Finish Productions’ 2016 take on Bram Stoker’s classic novel-turned-film Dracula. Mark Gatiss voices the lead character of Count Dracula in this newest audio that will be a trilogy ending with Dracula’s War in September 2020.

Dracula’s Guests chilling synopsis reads:

Transylvania, 1888.

Sitting in his castle like a spider in its web, Count Dracula is setting his plans in motion.

Soon he will travel to England, there to cut a bloody swathe through polite society and pit himself against a dedicated crew of vampire-slayers.

Yet before then there is much to be done. A certain artist must be brought to him and a certain portrait painted. An old tale must be told, drawn from the darkest recesses of Transylvanian history. And in faraway London an honest police detective must be corrupted and set to work in the service of the Count.

The vampire king is making preparations. And his survival will be assured – no matter the cost.

Writer and producer Scott Handcock states the idea came from Mark Gatiss himself:

The idea for more came about entirely because of Mark Gatiss. I was working on the final block of Sherlock up in Cardiff, when he clocked me on set and took me aside for a bit of a gossip! 

This was in 2016 and Big Finish’s first Dracula release was still quite recent, and obviously Mark posed the question: ‘When are we doing more?’ Of course everyone asks that but, when I realised he was serious, I spoke with the powers-that-be and Jonathan Barnes, and very quickly got a green light to develop two new storylines.

The lead actor, Mark Gatiss, was excited about reprising his role after staring in the Big Finish Productions rendition of Dracula in 2016:

It was delightful to finally play the old boy. I had a very croaky voice at the time which suited it hugely. It was great to record it so close to the mic – whispery and sinister. A dream come true! I thought the scripts were really inventive and spooky. As we know, Dracula has a habit of coming back (especially in the Hammer films).”When he comes back, people often struggle to know what to do with the Count but these new stories really rise to the challenge! An unexpected bonus! Bram Stoker’s great gift was to synthesise vampire myths into this one, totemic character. Then many generations of talented people have added to the legend to create the irresistible, aristocratic uber-vampire that we love today.
Mark Gatiss will be joined by fellow actors Hannah Arterton as Sabine, David Bamber as Jeremiah Hart, and Ian Hallard will be voicing the role of RM Renfield.  
The newest audio production is approximately 180 minutes long and is directed and produced by Scott Handcock. It is adapted by Jonathan Barnes, who published the novel Dracula’s Child with Titon Books. Producers David Richardson, Jason Haigh-Ellery, and Nicolas Briggs lend their talents to bring this audio production to life.
You can purchase Dracula’s Guests for  £19.99 as a three-disc collector’s edition CD or £16.99 for a downloadable version on their website. It will also be available as a bundle once the sequel Dracula’s War  is released in September.

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Adrienne is a Certified Medical Assistant, as well as a new writer that joined the team in 2019. She is a lover of all things true crime, Supernatural, Sherlock, spoken word poetry, among others. You can find her on all her social media platforms under adri_lynn.
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