Hadn't thought of that Susi, but you're right.  There hasn't been much hype.  Like you, I believe in Mark and Steven enough to give it a chance but I am still very curious about what they're twist on the mythology will be.

That's kind of true. There haven't been a lot of "historical" or "period" vampires in a while.

Yes, I saw the story!  Funny that Sherlock was the inspiration ... although I believe they have always had an interest in the story, especially Mark.  I'm really looking forward to it. 

I didn't see that story. But that's interesting that the influence on their work continues outside Sherlock.

Ha! Interesting, even though I'm sure things might not have been quite as simple as that!

True, but I'm sure there were other conversations following that one.

It seems Van Helsing will be female in this new adaptation.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/8958842/bbc-female-van-helsing-dracula/

Interesting - how will they pull it off, if it´s supposed to take place in Victorian Era proper? Will Van Hellsing be one of those super skillful ninja types Steven Moffatt seems to like?

Mark and Steven have to bring females intot their shows, otherwise they get accused of sexism.....
Then when they do try and create strong, female characters, people criticise them anyway!
(Sorrry, I speak from bitter experience!)

I always think there should be strong female characters (whether that's physically strong, emotionally strong, interesting in any way)! No reason for there not to be women in a story in some way (unless it's a true story where the main players were men, but there's usually a woman somewhere!).
But yes, there were occasional pioneers, as you put it Liberty, in real life! I have been meaning to watch Gentleman Jack, and I actually had it in mind when I was writing my post. And of course, there's Irene Adler, who' something of a strong female character in the original Doyle story. If Doyle could conceive of it at the time, then it wouldn't have been impossible for someone to be at least sort of like that.

This actually reminds me of a brief exchange I had with someone on a page about the show Murdoch Mysteries, which takes place in Toronto at the turn of the 20th Century (it's in the early 1900s at this point in its run). There was discussion of this one character, Detective Watts, who's a younger detective than Detective Murdoch and who is single. Someone thought it would be nice if Watts got a girlfriend in the next season. I said I didn't really see the character needing a partner, mentioning that it could be a man or a woman who he could end up with, but that I didn't really care if he ended up with anyome. Someone replied with "Wasn't it illegal back then?" (referring to homosexuality) I had to laugh! Just because it was illegal doesn't mean it didn't happen! (In fact, in earlier seasons, there was a female character who developed a romantic relationship with another woman! And there have been cases with gay characters in them as one-off characters). So, all that to say, women and minorities have been finding ways to exist the way they want to in some way even in times when it wasn't accepted. Just because it would have been more difficult doesn't mean it was impossible or unrealistic to have a character do that.

Last edited by Yitzock (June 13, 2019 5:03 pm)

Actually , it would be more interesting if they made both Dracula and Van Helsing female...
(The first literary vampire, Carmilla, was a female, so it´s not like it never occured before.)
Female Dracula could continue to suck up blood of other young females, just like it happened in the book - it could be huge fun, if the traditional roles are subverted that way.

With male Dracula it could end with a PC cliche "depraved man is punished by righteous strong woman", I´m afraid.

But we will see. Maybe they´ll surprise us?