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Created by: Georgia Cook & Fio Trethewey
Aired: 2024-2025
Episodes: 7
A modern day sequel to the gothic novel Dracula, we follow Maddie Townsend (Rebecca Root) and Jeremy Larkin (Seán Carlsen), two co-workers at the Holmwood Foundation: a secret organisation that has been maintaining and studying the remains of Count Dracula over the last 130 years, as they are possessed by the ghosts of Jonathan and Mina Harker, and embark on a road trip across the country in an effort to achieve their ghost's wishes: stop Dracula once and for all.
This is a story about identity and self discovery, family loyalty and devotion, all wrapped around a nightmare of a road trip with a rejuvenating severed head, incredibly sincere Victorian ghosts and an analogue recorder.
In the spirit (HA!) of the original Dracula, The Holmwood Foundation is told in a semi-epistolary fashion: a mix of audio recordings that the characters leave for each other, along with other found audio like news reports, security cameras etc. It's a fun and effective way of juggling what are essentially four protagonists, where only two can be active at a time. Each of the combinations interacting offer their own unique dynamics, even more so when more characters are added in. There's a lot going on as the group stumbles through their attempts to safeguard the world from vampires, but the characters really shine and keep everything grounded and affecting. By ep 3 I was fully sold on all of them.
If you haven't read Dracula, I recommend checking it out before listening, since you'll get a lot more out of Jonathan and Mina's story if you're familiar. The recent Re: Dracula podcast is a good place to start for that!
EDIT: No word yet on when/if we'll get season 2, but the team says they still want to do it!
Perfect if you're a Dracula fan, 1000%, or if you're interested in a deftly-paced, found-audio adventure with heartfelt character work. It's only 7 eps so far, so now's a good time to get caught up and see if you're interested in supporting the Kickstarter for season 2.