THE UNQUENCHABLE THIRST OF DRACULA

released Out nOW! 87 minutes | available on iplayer Broadcaster radio Four

Before Christopher Lee’s Dracula was revived in the modern-day for Dracula AD 1972, there was a plan to send him to India. It got as far as a screenplay, originally titled Dracula, High Priest Of The Vampires. Only after the studio’s script archive was donated to De Montfort University did selected members of the public get to experience it, via a reading. Now anyone can, thanks to this full-cast dramatisation.

Set in 1934, it’s a fascinating curio, albeit one which only really breaks new ground when it comes to the settings (a decaying palace; caves full of erotic carvings) and the cast of characters (the protagonist is a young woman, and Dracula’s the only Old White Guy to be found). Beneath the “exotic” trappings of saris, sitar music and hissing cobras lies a pretty traditional tale of vampiric seduction and ritual sacrifice.

It’s a shame Dracula doesn’t have much to do. Someone who most certainly does is Michael Sheen, who dominates proceedings as narrator of the stage directions, declaiming them with urgency and relish. The Hammer archive contains another 70 unmade scripts, including the likes of Kali, Devil-Bride Of Dracula and Nessie. Here’s hoping we’ll hear more of them. Ian Berriman