Count Abdulla

As a fan of the vampire genre, I have seen just about every interpretation, but by far this was one of the best. As the recent entries of Interview with a Vampire, What We Do In the Shadows and Reginald The Vampire, this show adds another viewpoint that we normally don't see. As this series masterfully blends the culture clash trope with the Vampire comedy, as we find a female Vampire with a East Indian fetish who just so happens to bite a down on his luck Indian doctor, which is where the series gives a nod of the hat to Scrubs. As this concurrently running tropes altogether should not work but this one does. As the delving into the world of Muslim families will remind viewers of Bend It Like Beckham and Ramy but recently having seen Polite Society, this absolutely harkens to many of that brilliant movie's themes. I can only tell the viewer to give it a chance as it will surprise you just how funny and insightful it is while carving out its own niche in the vampire genre.

This series will be like marmite for most people . You'll love it or hate it , I don't think there'll be much in between.

It is well cast and we'll played. Jaime Winston is the best vampire I've seen in a long time. Abdulla and his mother time things to perfection and are great . The supporting cast are excellent.

Some aspects of the humour are actually quite cheesy and the more serious folk will see them as cringe worthy. They're not they're probably meant to be that way with some brilliantly human behaviour observations ( you do need to listen and watch carefully at some points). A specific example is his mate the Imam. Whatever he comes across as he is fiercely loyal and he gives us more than a few laughs whilst we work him out.

The whole thing is played for laughs and has a mix of cultural and religious observation with some great lines. It is not offensive although I have no doubt some will manage to see it as that with lines such as "how can I be a Muslim halal vampire". You find yourself laughing with them, not at them.

As I said, marmite but you won't know until you've tried it.

I watched the entire series before reviewing just to make sure I wasn't missing something good but in the end all I did was waste my time. No good storyline, no real comedy, no big plot twists, and on top of it all it was grossly bigoted and insulting. Just imagine how it would have been received if a bunch of white characters had made so many slurs about brown people, thrown someone out of a party for dressing as a native or stereotyping people even half as much as they constantly did in this series. Not only would it not made it to production, a lot of writers would be fired and probably prevented from ever working again. But apparently in some circles it's okay to trash people as long as they are in the right group. It might have made some people laugh but it won't work in the long run.

The 30 minute episodes are a perfect length for this fast paced series; I only planned to watch a couple of episodes and ended up watching the whole series. Yes, there are some of the usual Asian jokes (overbearing mum etc...) but in amongst the comedy, there are some serious issues too which elevates this from just another funny but ultimately forgettable show. I also love how this is such a different take on the whole vampire genre - the usual posh pale vampires only make an appearance later on and even then, they aren't the main event. Great casting too - Kathy the Vampire had me in stitches. I'm curious as to what season 2 holds after the fantastic end to this first season.

I'm not sure I have the words to describe just how bad this show is. It misses all its targets. As a comedy it fails to produce a single even remotely amusing moment. As a reflection on the humorous side of the Muslim community it is cringingly embarrassing. It's certainly no "We Are Lady Parts". As a revision of the vampire genre it's all over the place. If Nina Wadia hadn't been in the cast (did she just never read the rest of the script?) I would probably have avoided this whole debacle. Instead I'm just embarrassed for everyone concerned. If this is meant to prove, as advertised, that "comedy is back" on ITV then this is comedy that we could well do without.