The BBC has released a new trailer for ‘The Reluctant Vampire’ and confirmed that the six-part comedy will arrive on BBC One and iPlayer in October. Lenny Rush (‘Am I Being Unreasonable?’, ‘Doctor Who’) plays Val, whose biggest problem with being a vampire is that he isn’t one.
Val has grown up in a vampire family, doing his best to meet his father’s expectations despite being rather hopeless at the whole bloodthirsty business. Then an unexpected encounter with his own reflection reveals the truth: he is alive. That leaves Val exploring what it means to be human while trying to keep the discovery from a family with very firm ideas about how a young vampire should behave.
His father Victor, played by Tom Davis (‘King Gary’), is particularly attached to vampire tradition. Val’s suspicious brother Vernon, played by Gabriel Nagy (‘Extra Geography’), is another potential problem. Fortunately, mum Valeeta, played by Sian Clifford (‘Fleabag’), already knows the truth, although her advice is not always quite as helpful as Val might hope.
The secret gets harder to protect when Val starts spending time with the humans in the village below the family’s castle. Among them is Gertie, played by Ellie-May Sheridan (‘Dodger’), who strikes up a friendship with him. Her father John, played by Charlie Cooper (‘This Country’), is considerably less keen on the vampires living up the hill. Esther Smith (‘Trying’) plays John’s wife Susan.
There are plenty more odd residents on the castle side of things. Joe Wilkinson (‘After Life’) plays Wilf the Werewolf, Asim Chaudhry (‘People Just Do Nothing’) plays the vampire family’s put-upon assistant Igon, and Bill Bailey (‘Black Books’) and Ross Noble voice a pair of watchful gargoyles. Keeping a secret in that household sounds difficult enough. Keeping it while making friends with the villagers might require a miracle.
The comedy is based on books by Eric Morecambe and adapted by Rob and Neil Gibbons (‘Alan Partridge’). Boffola Pictures produces the series in co-production with ZDFneo, with Morecambe’s son Gary Morecambe serving as script consultant. At its heart, it is a story about Val finding out who he is while the people around him remain convinced they already know.
‘The Reluctant Vampire’ premieres Sunday, 4th October 2026 at 6:40pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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