Rupert Galvin is a larger-than-life American with a tragic past and a zero tolerance policy to the rabble of ‘half-life’ entities that exist all around us. When he explodes into the life of his teenage godson Luke, little does the boy know what will be thrust upon him. Luke soon learns that he is the last descendent of Abraham Van Helsing, the fearless vampire killer who originally took on the deadly Count Dracula, and that it is his destiny to smite the half-lives who stalk our streets. With this news, Luke and his best friend Ruby are catapulted into a world filled with vampires, demons and zombies. At the same time they must struggle to balance a normal life with hardcore training led by the beautiful but frosty Mina Harker...

Demons puts a contemporary spin on Bram Stoker’s legendary story, taking place above and beneath the streets of modern-day London. Some bits of the series are interesting, like the slight spin on the original Dracula tale, but most of the series is a little too below par to appeal to those that have grown up on a diet of Buffy.

Boiled down, the basic set up for Demons is a far inferior, barely disguised, version of Buffy. The female vampire hunter (Buffy) becomes a male demon hunter (Luke); the English watcher (Rupert Giles) becomes an American trainer (Rupert Galvin); and the male vampire whose fighting on the side of good (Angel) becomes a female vampire (Mina Harker).

It's a sad state of affairs these days that UK productions are being packaged for the eventual selling off to the US networks. So here we have a UK show that features a British actor who for no apparent reason has to affect an American accent. UK shows have a "series" each year, not a "season" like in America, so again, it was a little sad to see Demons being neatly targetted at the US market with "Season One" plastered across the front of the Blu-ray packaging.

The show is of the "monster of the week" variety. Each episode sees a new demon appear - an almost impossible foe to defeat - but by the end of the episode they're either toast or have just managed to escape in order to come back and fight another day.

The one thing that stands out about this series is the excellent guest stars that are included each week. In Season One we get Mackenzie Crook as Gladiolus Thrip; Richard Wilson as Father Simeon; Kevin McNally as Mr Tibbs; and Pauline McLynn as Karen Speedwell.

I wasn't overly struck on the show's theme tune - it really doesn't fit in with the mood of the show. Each episode opens with a dark, moody set piece that ends on a cliffhanger, only to be interrupted by the quirky, upbeat start of the rather kitsch theme song.

There are no extras at all on this collection - which makes the RRP of £30 almost laughable and I'm surprised as there must have been more than enough publicity material produced in the run up to the show being broadcast.

While, as a series, this is fairly enjoyable, unless you have the world's largest HDTV then I'd recommend buying this on DVD, if you're a fan of the show, and skipping the Blu-ray edition altogether. Slightly above average show, well below par presentation.

6

Nick Smithson