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klc-archive · 18 years

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“I almost cried with laughter when I read the first script and then I met Keith-Lee Castle, who plays the Count and just looks like a rock star, and I knew it was going to be cool.” - Donna Grant (Magda)

Daily Record interview with Donna Grant (Magda) By Samantha Booth.

Sinister, calculating and scheming is how Scots actress Donna Grant describes her character in the BBC’s new kids’ show Young Dracula. In fact, vampire mum Magda sounds quite despicable - but that’s exactly why the 30-year-old actress from Inverness was so desperate to play her.

The mum-of-one said: “I just couldn’t resist playing her because she is such a fantastically nasty character. She is a vampire and like all vampires she thinks she is better than everyone but Magda really does take it to another level. She is just so brilliantly evil.

The show is about Count Dracula’s move to Britain with his two children after his wife, Magda, has run away with a werewolf. And in tonight’s episode Magda returns to her family - although I am not saying if they welcome her back or not because, not only is she not the best mother in the world, she also broke the Count’s heart.

"But he loves her for her evil - so in a way she can do no wrong.”

Donna was intrigued by the role of Magda from the minute she heard about it and as soon as the show’s producers set eyes on the Scot, the role was hers.

She said: “I think it was a combination of me getting into the part and because they thought I had the right look. They offered me the part on the spot.”

Since then Donna has been filming the show in the Brecon Beacons in Wales and has thoroughly enjoyed every minute if it. She said: “I almost cried with laughter when I read the first script and then I met Keith-Lee Castle, who plays the Count and just looks like a rock star, and I knew it was going to be cool”

"And it really has lived up to all of my expectations.

"The show has been great fun to film and some of my outfits have just been fantastic - I have a wedding bouquet with dead bird skulls in it.

"I know it is meant for children but I really think some adults will love it too.

"It is incredibly well written and because the whole Goth thing is pretty cool at the moment I think it could be a huge success.”

Growing up in Inverness with her mum and grandparents, Donna always wanted to act. She had an idyllic childhood, spending a lot of time out riding on her family’s horses, but when she left school as a teenager she was desperate to get out into the world and, in particular, she had her sights set on London.

She said: "I absolutely loved growing up in Inverness and, if I could, I would bring my own daughter Scarlet up in that way too – but I have to be in London just now for my work.

"But when I was 17 I was just desperate to get out and get started living and working. "I didn’t even want to go to university. I just wanted to get stuck right in.”

Luckily for Donna, some photographs she’d had taken by an Inverness photographer found their way into the hands of a London talent scout. The next thing Donna knew, she was being invited down to the city for a meeting with a top agency.

She said: “It was always acting I had wanted to do but modelling found me, so what could I do? The agency liked me and before I knew where I was, I had moved down to London and was thrown into this mad world of modelling.

"At the time it was the easy option but I quickly discovered it also meant I could make lots of money, travel and meet really interesting people so I wasn’t going to walk away from it in a hurry.” Donna did every kind of modelling, from catwalk to billboards.

She worked for a time in Japan and Germany, shot ads for Agent Provocateur and Baileys and appeared in several television commercials. BUT just because she was finding a certain level of success as a model, it didn’t mean Donna had forgotten her dream of becoming an actress.

And in 2001 she finally got her first acting job in a film called Is Harry On The Boat?, following the loves and lives of a group of young holiday reps in Ibiza and co-starring Danny Dyer and Davina Taylor.

Donna said: “It was brilliant fun to film and I’m still friends with a lot of the people I met out there in Ibiza.”

It wasn’t long until Donna found herself having to take time out from acting to have her baby daughter Scarlet, who is now three years old.

A bit of a rock chick at heart, she met Scarlet’s dad Chris McCormack, guitarist in hard rock outfit 3 Colours Red, when his band at the time, Grand Theft Audio, were supporting The Cult in concert at the Brixton Academy in London.

The pair had a whirlwind romance, married and had baby Scarlet. Donna said: “I have always been into my rock music and through modelling I did hang about with a lot of rock types at the time. So I was instantly attracted to Chris and we ended up having a whirlwind romance. Sadly, things just didn’t work out and we are now in the middle of divorce proceedings. But we really are still best friends.”

Donna now lives a much quieter life with Scarlet in north London and loves nothing better than the chance to return to Scotland to see her family and get out into the hills.

She said: “I love coming back up to Scotland and I am so excited because I just booked my tickets for Christmas so I’ll be spending the holidays at home.

"Drinking wine, eating lots of nice food and going for walks in the hills - it will just be wonderful. My life is a lot quieter now than it was a few years ago but that’s the way I like it. Where I live in London is a bit like a village so I do get the best of both worlds down there and I do like it, but nothing beats coming home.

However, I don’t think I would have settled down as well now if I hadn’t had my wild time when I was younger. It was a load of fun at the time and I met loads of amazing people. I even met some of my heroes, such as Joe Strummer from The Clash, although my most star-struck moment came when I met Chris Morris from Brass Eye. I really admire him and think he is so funny and clever but when I met him I just didn’t know what to say. I mean, because of my modelling, I am quite used to meeting famous people but when I came face to face with him all I could do was make a bit of a whimpering sound. I just thought that he is so witty and cutting he’s just going to chew me up and spit me out whatever I say. Can you imagine what he would have said to me if I had said I really liked his work? And I know I said I lead a quieter life now but my uncle has just opened up a new venue in Inverness called The Ironworks and we have Dirty Pretty Things playing there at New Year - so I might not be able to resist digging my rocker gear out once again. Especially as I will have my mum on hand to babysit.” A rock ‘n’ roll loving mum in rocker gear … Magda would be proud.

#Keith Lee Castle #Donna Grant #Magda Young #Young Dracula #Interview #Samantha Booth #Daily Record #TV #2006 #Count Dracula #The Count

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vampyrasa · 3 years

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do NOT REBLOG my headcanons or i will EAT your face.

why is dracula usually pinned to the father-figure archetype?

the short answer: hes an unwavering masculine figure that goes against society’s horrible conceptions of masculinity. its about his principles, as warped as they are, ruining others - but never coming back to ruin his children.

the longer answer: interestingly enough, as much as i hate him, this topic and fixation on vampires captured the attention of sigmund freud. i had the misfortune of reading his papers and insights on this phenomena during my research on vampire folklore and the human psychological draw toward vampiric fiction. that, however, is not where i’ll be taking my essaying today.

instead, i point out that the count often takes the role, both in the book and in other media (such as castlevan.ia, van hel.sing (especially to both his children and toward victor frankenstein), of the knowledgeable mentor-figure, even if he doesn’t mean well by it in the end. he is the one who teaches unsavory magicks, the one who funds research into the unknown and into alchemy to bring back the dead, or simply teaches science to hungry minds. he can be seen as cold and strict, or loving but distant. but no matter what, the count is almost always depicted in this role, or in wanting the role (2004). this was also the case in the lugosi films, both in drac.ula’s daughter and mark of the vampire in 1937.

think about many vampire characters: can you see them viewing the count as an almost paternal figure? like an old grandfather, a father figure, a mentor figure, or just a distant relative? not just because of his being the progenitor, i personally believe that it comes from his subversion of the typical trope shown in most media of these mentors ( especially in gothic fiction ) being a symbol of toxic masculinity. it is also in his appearance; the allusion that he is painted, that he wears lacquer, has long hair that is absent from covering his forehead, paints his nails, and adhered to fashioned “feminine” beauty norms at the time.

hell, there was even an entire british show called young dracula that showcased the count in this exact way, and as the father of several young vampires. as played by keith lee-castle. ( click to view ) . in other media as well do we see older vampires being cast into the role of father figure, usually both doting (at first) and then the source of some betrayal ( under.world, castl.evania, etc. ) - if you’re reading this, why do you suppose this is. send me an im, i’d love to discuss it.

#♔. ˋ like a drowning in the heart like falling endlessly from the skin to the soul . ˊ headcanon/meta.#headcanon

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riotatthemovies · 4 years

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Halloween sitcom specials.

When the Halloween season comes rolling in I like most people start to watch more horror movies (maybe even more than I usually do). But near Halloween the horror I watch needs to have a childish innocence to it. Memories of Halloween with candy and costumes and telling each other innocent ghosts stores around a fire to spook each other. That's what Halloween is for me, memories of how as a child monsters and ghosts were just too damn cool. So the horror films I choose are more monster based often with a folklore campfire tales twists. However I also love flashing back to the cheesiest childhood memories of tv at the time. Everyone loves the better episode of Simpsons Treehouse of horror. The VHS collecting geeks I talk to often post articles about the infamous Halloween make up tips tapes and safety PSA tapes of the 80s.

For your retro entertainment I bring you a list of my 10 favorite sitcom and kids show Halloween episodes of my youth. I say my favorite not the best because I'm sure if I said the best I'll get a msg saying I'm wrong. Also I'm sure some kids gonna tell me of a that's so Raven episode and I'm an old so I never watched that. Also people always talk about the Rosanne Halloween episodes so I will let everyone else talk about those. Also note there was never a Golden girls Halloween special and if there was there is no doubt that would be the top of my list. So this is in no real order . . .

10: Facts of Life Season 5 episode The Halloween Show

Natalie is making a home movie and SPOILER tricks all the girls into believing their den mother is possessed by a ghost and is turning random people into sausages and feeding them to the group. Yeah seriously that's the point, I mean you don't know its Natalie tricking everyone so she can film a reality horror film until the end but you figure it out. Its completely unbelievable that the group of girls fall for this and legit believe it enough to try and fight their den mother that they have been best friends with for five seasons. The magic of a show being 25 minutes long that the characters have to jump to huge assumptions and get over it and a chuckle pretty quick too.

9: Webster Season 4 episode Witchbusters

Webster has some non Halloween oddly creepy episodes as it was pure 80s kids entertainment. Webster loved wearing Halloween masks and in season 2 he finds a creepy doll in the room of a missing girl that looks like a real person and comes off very Black Christmas/ Psycho. But I love the season 4 episode where Webster is peer pressured into sneaking into an old ladies house on Halloween because everyone thinks she is a witch. When Webster sneaks in his friend chickens out and leaves . Webster then finds one of the old ladies cats and thinks it is his friend who had been turned into the cat by the witch. Like many episodes the issue at had happens because Webster is really dumb. So of course he kidnaps the cat and takes it home because he thinks its his friend. Dumb Webster Dumb. Man I loved that stupid show.

8 .Family Matters season 8 episode STEVIL

Many people seem to remember the Halloween episode where infamous Steve Urkel brings a ventriloquist dummy to the Winslows Halloween party and as as ventriloquist dummies do , it comes to life and tries to kill everyone. Goosebumps meets Family Matters right there. I noticed its been the hip show to talk about this seaspn, probably cause this happened in the 90s.

7. Mr. Belvedere season 3 episode called Halloween

Mr Belvedere is depressed after eye surgery and the youngest kid in the family Wesley gets old Mr Belvedere in an eye patch and brings him out trick or treating which in turn sends him out on a bit of a bender. Also in the episode the daughter wants to wear a sexy maid costume to a party but her dad wont let her. So her older brother wears the maid costume to the party so they can secretly switch costumes there. Just one of many episodes where the older brother Kevin did a drag scene to show off his legs. ALSO in that episode the dad Bob Ueker is asked to join a sort of Shriners group but they end up being a crazy hooded cult. Which is extra funny cause in later episodes you find he did join the Shriner group after all and they never mention them being a cult. In fact the next time you see the cult members they are friends of the family and all go in drag with the oldest son they can go under cover to catch a purse snatcher.. but that's another episode.

6. Alf season 2 episode called Some enchanted evening.

Alf wants to go trick or treating cause well candy of course. The tanners think its too dangerous for Alf to go out even that he insists everyone will think he is just in a costume and not an actual Alien Life form. Eventually a Halloween party is held at the house and Alf meets an old cat lady. Alf loves cats... sorta. Also in the episode is an appearance of Lewis Arquette the dad of the all those wacky Arquette kids.

Seeing the costumes that appear in all these episodes makes one feel like in the 80s and 90s there was a rule that you couldn't have a Halloween party if there was not one devil, one pirate , one French maid, one little bo peep, one scarecrow and one Dracula. Like it was a rule or something.

5. KnightRider Season 3 episode called Halloween Knight

Michael Knight must investigate the visions of a confused woman. They believe she will be the next victim of a murdered in a gorilla suit. In the episode a man wears one of the silver shamrock pumpkin masks from Halloween 3. I did an whole article on this last year. Just another reason for you to go look through the riotatthemoveis archive.

4. Fall Guy season 4 episode called October 31st

Elvira guests stars as her self as she teams up with Lee Majors and the Fall guy team to break a curse and solve a possible murder in an old castle. Guest cameos of John, David and Keith Carradine. Also Lewis Arquette. Elvira would return the next season in an episode called.. wait for it.. October the 32nd... Yep.

3. Night Court season 3 episode called Halloween Too.

Every season of Night Court got a Halloween episode but this one is suiting for the humorous episode title and for Markie Post (who was in the episode of Fall Guy I just mentioned) wearing an amazingly and awkwardly hot witch costume. She shows up in this costume after Judge Stone has just broken up with his girlfriend who he discovers is an actual witch with magical powers as he believed her magic compromised his position on the bench. Guest cameo by Anne Ramsey as another witch. All the Halloween episodes are but I really like in this one when Quan Lee misunderstands the concept of Trick or Treating and thinks you need to threaten people for candy. Also I just needed an excuse to post this picture of Markie Post.

2 . Diff’rent Strokes Season 7 episode called A Haunting we will go. Arnold and his new step brother Sam (yeah that's a thing if you ever watched the last two season of Diff’rent Strokes) peer pressure them selves into sneaking in to an old haunted house. (similar to the Webster episode as poor little Gary Coleman and Emanuel Lewis would always be compared to each other). What makes this episode gold is when Arnold and Sam break into the haunted house they have detailed replica Ghostbusters costumes on, decades before Strangers Things season 2. We also get a door banging , chandelier shaking haunted house , dusty piano and everything if I remember right and then they show us how they did it. Very cool for an 80s kid like me. Also guest stars the amazing John Astin.

Last but not least...

Punky Brewster season 2 episodes Perils of Punky part one and 2. The cartoon series has an episode of the same name but no relation. This two parter is something if you know me you have heard about a lot. Punky and her pals go camping and meet a native shaman who tells them about a haunted cave, so in part 2 what do they do.. go in it of course. Then shit get surreal. Punkys friends get offed one by one by evil spirits then get turned into severed heads, one that flies and one that is stuck in the rock wall. It all ends with Punky having to battle a giant spider with shades of the original IT movie and has to hack it to death with an axe. Ending in the spirit of native girl waving goodbye in the cave that looks just like Punky as her friends magically come back to life as if it was all a dream... or was it. The episode is to be seen to be believed. My second favorite next to the episode where Punky thinks she killed a man at her restaurant but finds out he is just a narcoleptic with a broken hearing aid. COMEDY!!!!!

There are so many more, feel free to msg me and let me know old tv shows that had wild Halloween episodes that you hold dear.

I need some Count Chocula and a reason to watch some more... hmm maybe some boo berry,... oh man, anyone got an Haunted House pasta or Scarieos?

dang.

#halloween #halloween special #halloweentv #sitcoms #80s #80stv #80ssitcom #nightcournt #family matters #punky brewster #knightrider #webster

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