But perhaps the effect that will last longest in viewers mind is a point late in the 90-minute episode in which Dracula (played by Claes Bang) transforms from a dog back into his human form by ripping through the flesh of the poor animal, leading to a memorable showdown between Sister Agatha (Dolly Wells) and a very naked Count.
In particular, the show’s team used melted (and, as the creators emphasised, not used) fleshlights. Mark Gatiss, who created the show alongside Steven Moffatt, said: “The great, terrible revelation of this whole thing is that the embryonic sack that Dracula pushes through is literally made of melted-down sex toys.It is the only latex which is flexible enough.”
At the premiere, Bang added, “In case anyone is wondering, it takes 80 of those flashlights [sic] to do that. There might be someone out there thinking, ‘how many do I need,’ and it’s 80!”
Making Bang tear his way through a sex toy sheath was not the only indignity the actor was subjected to for this scene, as he was required to shoot the naked scene for three days in a very cold Slovakia. The 52-year-old Dane said: “It was about minus five, it is a 10 minute scene, and we did the whole scene every time.”
Wells added: “I felt quite guilty, because I had long johns and so many clothes on!”
However, according to Bang, it was actually his decision to do the scene nude. He said: “I know it’s slightly weird, but I thought it was written like that and it has an impact that he’s actually stood there with no clothes on. It works.” He also joked: “I just like that. They were saying ‘put [clothes] on, put ’em on,” and I said, ’no, no.’"
Dracula is released on Netflix on January 4.
