Appearing from left field, this UK series was produced for ITV – not known for being a bastion of quality entertainment. This station-heritage is probably why it came from left field, ITV is well and truly off my radar. But… it has vampires and had to be seen, and so what I got was a short series (it’s a typical UK 6-episode season, with the episodes fairly short as they fit into a 30-minute slot with adverts), which mixed humour and vampires, some adult themes and a lens that used a British-Muslim focus.
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| Kathy hunting |
In the opening of the episode, we see two young Muslim men attacked by Kathy (Jaime Winstone,
Daddy’s Girl) a vampire who likes the taste of virgin blood but extracts the blood by hypodermic to avoid the chance of turning them. The use of hypodermic extraction also means an assumption, when in hospital subsequently, of drug use; handily obfuscating the real cause and undermining their story.
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| mother and son |
Abdulla (Arian Nik) is a doctor of Pakistani heritage who isn’t the best Muslim; he avoids going to Mosque for instance. He lives with his mother (Nina Wadia) and whilst there is a definite loving relationship she is trying to push him along traditional Muslim lines (despite the fact that her true outlook is a little less rigid) in order to get back in with the Aunties. They have been on the fringe of the community after Abdulla’s father vanished off.
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| costume |
Now that Abdulla has qualified as a doctor it seems the perfect time to show him off and she is given an Eid celebration invitation from members of the local Mosque. However, the new moon coincides with Halloween and he has arranged to go to a Halloween party being thrown by fellow Doctor, Amrita (Manpreet Bambra). Amrita is Abdulla’s unrequited love, but she seems to be going through a phase of dating white guys (and later we discover she presents as traditionally Sikh to her parents, hiding from them that she is dating outside her community). Nevertheless, Abdulla shows face at the Eid celebration and then dons a vampire costume and sneaks off to the party.
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| biting Abdulla |
There is a moment in the Halloween party where Amrita’s boyfriend (Robert Eades) pitches up in a colonial soldier’s uniform and it is taken by the mostly minority ethnic guests as offensive (as it celebrates colonialism). I have seen an online complain about this, claiming it is a racist joke (against white British), which is a complaint born from the blindness of privilege but also misses the point that it sets up the further joke (and main plot point) where Abdulla meets Kathy at a bus stop, afterwards, and she levels the same costume complaint at him as he is appropriating a vampire look (with plastic fangs and lightened face). Their argument leads Kathy to lose control and bite him.
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| drinking from a blood bag |
Turning only happens about 1% of the time, but of course it happens here and the jokes through the series do surround Abdulla’s new craving – drinking blood is not halal. Kathy is looked down on by many local (elitist) vampires due to her socio-economic status and they also code as racist (and Kathy has always had a thing for Asian men). Abdulla is in danger because a vampire may only make one progeny (and Kathy has already done so) and if he does not die by her hand then the coven will kill both of them. She works as a dominatrix and this then leads to bedroom farce threads stemming from people assuming they are in a relationship (with an assumption of her being his fiancé as boyfriend/girlfriend relationships are haram).
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| biting Shafi |
There is also a queer aspect that centres around Abdulla’s cousin Shafi (Sia Alipour) – a bit of a wide boy who thinks of himself as an Iman, relationship councillor, exorcist (he assumes Abdulla is possessed by a Djinn at one point) and later a vampire slayer, he is drawn as a manly man. Abdulla starts to notice his neck, however, and eventually does bite him. Whilst this queer aspect is understated, and directly fed from a Freudian reading of the vampire bite, it was an interesting undercurrent to add into the series.
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| Jaime Winstone as Kathy |
And I really did like the series. Arian Nik was perfectly cast as Abdulla with just the right amount of wide-eyed innocence to carry the role. Nina Wadia is always a pleasure to watch and Sia Alipour was genuinely funny. Jaime Winstone made for an excellent vampire and juxtaposed perfectly against the (not too often seen) snobbish vampires of the coven. The use of the Muslim lens was really well done but the drawing in of Abdulla’s lackadaisical approach to his religion and the Sikh aspect through Amrit’s family, along with Kathy of course, showed multicultural Britain generally but especially honed in on younger generations becoming genuinely multicultural in outlook and looking to balance the desire to both honour tradition and embrace a wider societal outlook.
7 out of 10.
The imdb page is
here.
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