A look at this year's DARK SHADOWS stories from BIG FINISH

(Note: The following feature is taken from the latest issue of BIG FINISH'S VORTEX MAGAZINE, which you can download HERE.)

BIG FINISH producers David Darlington and Joseph Lidster 
hint at what's to come in this year's DARK SHADOWS dramas

It’s the 1970s and Alfie Chapman (Simon Kent) and Emma Finney (Brigid Lohrey), two British students travelling across America, are forced to stay overnight in the town of Collinsport when their car breaks down. But their problems are only just beginning as they’re about to discover that Collinsport isn’t any ordinary town.

“We want this series to be accessible to new listeners,” says co-producer David Darlington, “so we arrive in Collinsport alongside Alfie and Emma and meet the residents – both natural and supernatural – through them.”

And they’re not the only visitors – British TV presenter Tom Lacey (Stephen Kelly) and his crew are also there to film a special Halloween episode of the supernatural investigation show Beyond the Grave.

Small towns might be infamous for their mistrust of strangers, but it’s the residents Alfie, Emma and Tom should be worried about. There’s the mysterious veiled woman, obsessed with death, staying at the Collinsport Inn. Local spoilt rich girl Carolyn Stoddard (Nancy Barrett), who spends her days drinking in the Blue Whale and dancing with strangers. The pub has a new barman, Jonah Rooney (Christopher Ragland), who could be hiding secrets of his own. A young woman has returned to the town wearing a mysterious pendant. And can Deputy Sheriff Jim Hardy (Jonathon Marx) really be as wholesome as he seems? Elsewhere, Cyrus Longworth (Christopher Pennock) is embarking on a relationship with schoolteacher Sabrina Jennings (Lisa Richards), but also having to deal with the son of the Devil (James Unsworth) who lives inside his soul. And for some reason, Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott) – the owner of the Collinsport Inn – has a nursery rhyme stuck in her head.

“The story of Dark Shadows spans centuries,” says co-producer Joseph Lidster, “but this year we’ve decided to focus on a specific period in the mid-1970s. Each disc in this six-part run features a standalone story, but by setting the entire series within a span of a few weeks, we’re able to increase the ‘serial’ nature of it. It’s a story about a seemingly normal community and the people who live there but it’s a town with secrets stranger than Twin Peaks and a body count higher than The League of Gentlemen’s Royston Vasey. This is the story of Collinsport.”

COMING SOON: The writers introduce their upcoming DARK SHADOWS tales

BENEATH THE VEIL
“Alfie Chapman and Emma Finney’s arrival in Collinsport marks the beginning of a killing spree. With the bodies piling up, just who is to blame? And who will survive?” KYMBERLY ASHMAN

THE ENEMY WITHIN
“Handyman Cyrus and teacher Sabrina are not a natural couple – but when someone starts killing their neighbours, they discover they have more in common than they realised.” WILL HOWELLS

THE LUCIFER GAMBIT
“Who killed billionaire Isobel Randall? To uncover the truth, a young woman enters a dark world of sorcery and murder. But to escape, is she willing to make the ultimate sacrifice?” ERIC WALLACE

THE FLIP SIDE
“Carolyn Stoddard goes to the Blue Whale to escape the darkness in her life. But tonight, alone and at the mercy of a madman with the face of a friend, she’s reminded that nowhere is safe in Collinsport.”
CODY QUIJANO-SCHELL

BEYOND THE GRAVE
“Halloween in Collinsport, and a TV show is broadcasting live from the town’s cemetery. What could possibly go wrong…?” AARON LAMONT

Click here to find the entire archive of DARK SHADOWS audio dramas from BIG FINISH.