Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows

After listening to Paul's 'Dark Shadows' article on 'Round The Archives' Episode 29, we decided to take the plunge and start watching from the beginning. We had seen one or two episodes in the past, but they had been later on in the run and centered around the character of Barnabas Collins.

We only watched a few as we  couldn't get into the story, not knowing what had happened previously. This time, starting from the first episode, we've found ourselves getting drawn into the story and we're keen to watch more.

So far we've seen two full episodes and various bits and pieces from other ones.

And I must say that I'm intrigued as to what is going on. There are so many mysteries, with lots of implied secrets to discover.

There's the puzzle of why Victoria Winters has been summoned to Collinsport to look after David Collins, who is apparently not a normal child, whatever that might mean...

Why is Burke Devlin back in town and why is he pretending not to have been there before, when it seems obvious he has.

And why is no one that lives in Collinwood (or perhaps even in Collinsport) happy?

Hopefully we will find out the answers to these questions, but it may not been for quite some time as the storylines can run for months or even years.

Over 20 years ago I recorded 'Dark Shadows' for Paul as I had access to whichever channel was showing it. I must have recorded at least half of it, with our friend Andy Ching recording the other. I wonder how many video tapes we went through; I used to record them on long play, which meant a slight loss of picture quality but that you could get twice the number of episodes on one E180. Or possibly E240...

Paul cannot remember how he first heard about 'Dark Shadows', though he does remember buying a novelisation and video at a comic mart. But whatever it was that introduced him to it he was soon hooked.

The reason I think being that as he has a magpie-like nature and as a librarian he likes to catalogue lost television shows. Call it his superpower if you like - something I think he shares with many other archive television fans including us. The thrill of discovering a TV show previously unknown to you and the enjoyment of watching the storylines unfold.

Especially if there's sinister music going on in the backgroud all the time...

Our video about 'Dark Shadows' can be seen here.

And yes, it's meant to be in black-and-white...

(Written by Lisa Parker)