This ten-part series also stars Thomas Kretschmann (The River) as Professor Abraham Van Helsing and Nonso Anozie (Game of Thrones) as Grayson’s fiercely loyal confidante RM Renfield, while Victoria Smurfit (Trial & Retribution) and Ben Miles (Coupling) take on the roles of vampire hunters Lady Jayne and Mr Browning.
> Order Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.
Episode 1
Thursday 31 October 2013, 9pm
The mysterious Dracula arrives in late 19th-century London posing as Alexander Grayson, an American entrepreneur who wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. Claiming an interest in the new technology of electricity, he throws a lavish party to win over the city’s rich and powerful, but the real reasons for his travels prove to be rather different.
Dracula is out to wreak revenge on those who ruined his life centuries earlier. However, his plans look set to be thwarted once he encounters Mina (Jessica De Gouw), a medical student baring an uncanny resemblance to his dead wife. His infatuation is instant, putting him on bad terms with Mina’s beau Jonathan Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and entwining her best friend Lucy (Katie McGrath) into his web of lust, lies and temptation.
Episode 2
Thursday 7 November 2013, 9pm
Dracula’s ultimate aim is to destroy The Order – an ancient group that burned his wife at the stake – but ally Van Helsing scolds his partner in crime for killing a vampire hunter, thus confirming Lady Jayne’s suspicions that an unnatural predator is indeed prowling the city’s streets.
Luckily, Dracula’s alter-ego Grayson has most of London charmed and unsuspecting, aside from the men of the British Imperial Coolant Company, that is, who are becoming increasingly hostile. The businessman’s attempt to buy out the cochairman, Lord Laurent, proves futile, until he stumbles upon a sordid secret.
Harker, meanwhile, entertains an enticing job opportunity at Grayson’s company, an offer that could help the struggling journalist wed Mina. Taking the bait, however, will play right into Dracula’s hands.
Episode 3
Thursday 14 November 2013, 9pm
The story of how the legend was born is revealed through flashbacks, peeling away a layer of mystery to expose a new dimension to his vendetta. Before his next manoeuvre, the vampire waits for Van Helsing to develop a vaccine to shield him from the sun. However, the Professor’s attention is diverted by Lady Jayne’s threatening request for a serum to strengthen the powers of her psychics.
Lucy and Mina also take advantage of the cloak of night and let their hair down at London’s wildest parties. Mina is hurting after learning of Harker’s plan to end her career once they’re married, and with Grayson ensuring he’s never far from her side, the magnetism between the vampire and young lady is becoming harder to resist.
Aside from the business of love, Grayson instructs Harkin and Renfield to redistribute the Coolant Company’s assets towards his next invention. The Order, meanwhile, reprimand Lord Laurent for his treacherous deal, leaving Laurent’s beau, Daniel, hungry for revenge.
Episode 4
Thursday 21 November 2013, 9pm
Although neck-deep in dangerous enemies, Dracula also has powerful allies to call upon. Josef Cervenka (Alec Newman, Waterloo Road) – who was vamped by the man himself – travels to Carfax Manor to help his plan to destroy The Order. His arrival coincides with Lady Jayne’s deepening suspicions that a senior vampire is summoning demons to London.
To fend off unwanted attention, Dracula also uses the power of the press to bring his rivals down a peg or two. Harker is told to dig dirt on General Shaw, a venerated military hero, but trouble finding a solid story sees him pursue a questionable lead.
With Harker preoccupied, Grayson bonds with Mina during a test of his latest invention. The young lady’s inquisitive nature leads her further astray when she makes a startling discovery in Van Helsing’s secret office.
But just as the pawns in Dracula’s game seem to be moving neatly into position, Lord Davenport plants the seeds of a counter attack following the revelations contained in his son’s suicide note.
Episode 5
Thursday 28 November 2013, 9pm
Wandering eyes and burning lust make for an intense soiree at Mina and Harker’s engagement party. While Harker longs for vaulted social status, hobnobbing with the city’s high flyers, most eyes are on Mina and Grayson, with the chemistry between the pair proving hard to miss. However, Lady Jayne notices that Lucy’s feelings for Mina seem too passionate for platonic friendship.
Van Helsing continues to dabble with ways to protect Dracula from daylight, but his latest experiment involving electric shocks causes the old friends to clash. The vampire’s waning patience new episode wears thinner as he struggles to locate the missing Renfield. His loyal servant is being held captive by Lord Davenport – will Dracula’s confidante spill his secret under duress?
Episode 6
Thursday 5 December 2013, 9pm
Dracula’s longing for Mina prompts him to crash an intimate dinner date between his beloved and Harker. Although charmed by the vampire, Mina contemplates eloping with her fiancée, but is she just trying to escape temptation? Things get even more complicated – a love square perhaps – after Lady Jayne urges Lucy to profess her feelings for her best friend.
The huntress has her own love life to worry about, too, when Browning warns that Grayson’s nocturnal activities have not gone unnoticed. To test his mortality, The Order schedules a meeting at high noon under the façade of a Coolant Company conference. If Grayson declines the invitation, their suspicions that he is a vamp will be confirmed and Lady Jayne will have to pay for fraternising with the enemy.
You can’t kid a kidder, though, especially when the person in question is a savvy entrepreneur. Grayson plays dirty at a poker game to advance his business ambitions and urges Van Helsing to finesse the solar serum, however his problems multiply quicker than his cash flow when a precious item passes into Davenport’s hands, not to mention Mina earning a spot in Van Helsing’s bad books.
Episode 7
Thursday 12 December 2013, 9pm
It’s showtime for Grayson as he unveils his pioneering technology in a public spectacle. If successful, he’ll hit The Order where it hurts – in the pocket – but the cruddy capitalists are on to him and orchestrate a ruse to discredit his invention.
Harker and Dracula turn from friends to foes following the journalist’s realisation that his source for the General Shaw exposé was an actress hired by the vampire. Incriminating Dracula would reveal his role in the fraud, though, leaving his hands tied. Browning senses Harker’s frustration and offers him the opportunity to join The Order, however Lucy tempts him with an altogether tastier bait.
Mina is all too capable of creating her own suffering, it seems, by teaming up with Dracula to organise a dance for the patients of her father’s hospital. Aiming to be a better ‘man’, he tries to resist his blood-thirsty urges, but his beloved Mina is too close for comfort when his willpower flags.
Episode 8
Thursday 19 December 2013, 9pm
Despite his pretensions to airs and graces, Dracula is disappointed that he’s still vulnerable to the bloodlust of a vampire around Mina. His spirits are further sapped when he struggles to reclaim the resonator seized by authorities on The Order’s payroll. Browning and co might have got one over on Dracula, but Van Helsing plans to level the playing field by abducting Browning’s children in revenge for the murder of his family years earlier.
Giving the spiteful alpha males a run for their money, Lucy sets out to break Mina’s heart by seducing Harker. She’ll have to act quickly to deliver the first blow, though, after Davenport discovers the uncanny resemblance between Mina and Grayson’s dead wife, leading to a gruesome plot to disfigure the young lady.
Episode 9
Thursday 9 January 2014, 9pm
Grayson is furious about The Order’s acid attack on Mina and listens to his baser instincts when deciding how to wreak havoc on the organisation. The group are now strengthened by Harker’s alliance, but a much bigger threat looms as Lady Jayne secretly recruits an army to launch the ultimate vampire hunt.
Lucy, meanwhile, tries to free herself from a spiralling web of lies by telling Mina about her indiscretion with Harker. What she doesn’t realise is that an insult to Mina is also an affront to Dracula, and he is a lot less understanding…
Episode 10
Thursday 16 January 2014, 9pm
Can love conquer all? Dracula believes so as his mission to win Mina comes to a head in the blood-pumping series finale. After accepting his invite to a spectacular display of his pioneering wireless electricity, Mina gives the smouldering but scheming vampire hope for a brighter future. The course of true love and wicked revenge never runs smooth, though, and Harker endeavours to sabotage the event by sneaking in members of The Order masquerading as photographers.
There is a devastating twist in the ruse, however, that the bitter journalist isn’t clued in on. A showdown also beckons between Dracula and Lady Jayne’s huntsmen, while the newly-turned Lucy makes a meal of a close acquaintance. Plus, Van Helsing refutes the idea that time is a great healer by spawning a fate worse than death for Browning.
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