Eric Morecambe's The Reluctant Vampire gets first look exclusive trailer for new adaptation with Slow Horses favourite

BBC has dropped a first-look trailer for its new comedy series The Reluctant Vampire and it proves the show is definitely one to watch.

The Reluctant Vampire is an adaptation of the book series of the same name by comedy legend Eric Morecambe, and stars BAFTA winner Lenny Rush as its lead.

The series follows Val, played by Rush, a young vampire who finds out that he is not, in fact, a vampire at all, and starts living a double life.

As Val grapples with his newly discovered human side, revealed to him by his mother (Sian Clifford), he has to contend with high expectations from his tradition-obsessed vampire father Victor, played by Tom Davis.

The 34-second trailer gives viewers a first look at the starry cast in character, including Rush wearing a high collared black cape evocative of a child's halloween costume as he tries to blend in with his vampire family.

Alongside Sian Clifford and Tom Davis, who play Val's vampire parents, the trailer also shows the other comedy legends who make up the cast, including Ross Noble and Bill Bailey as Gargoyles, Charlie Cooper as villager John, and Joe Wilkinson as Wilf the Werewolf, who demonstrates a rather pathetic howl at the moon.

Lenny Rush rose to fame starring in the Daisy May Cooper comedy drama series Am I Being Unreasonable? for which he won a BAFTA for best male comedy performance, but most recently has acted in the award-winning spy drama Slow Horses.

The new show, penned by brothers Rob and Neil Gibbons, will air on Sunday 4 October at 6:40pm on BBC One, with a full boxset release on BBC iPlayer.

Author of the original book series, Eric Morecambe was best known as part of the double act Morecambe and Wise, alongside his comedy partner Ernie Wise, a partnership that lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984.

Gary Morecambe, Eric’s son, recently told Radio Times that the new series stays true to its source material.

Speaking about the show, he said: "We’ve got the wonderful Lenny Rush starring in it, and the Gibbons brothers, Neil and Rob, who’ve done a lot of Alan Partridge, came in and wrote their own scripts but they did it without ‘losing Eric’ – which is a fantastic achievement."

The Reluctant Vampire will begin at 6:40pm on Sunday 4 October on BBC One. The full boxset will be released on the same day on BBC iPlayer.

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Authors

Phoebe Kowhai Barnes is a Freelance Writer who covers pop culture and entertainment programmes for the Radio Times. She previously worked as the Senior Assistant Editor at The Tab where she managed its local department. She obtained a BA (Hons) in English Literature from University of Nottingham.