New Audio Dramas for 2009

Big Finish Productions have confirmed a number of new releases in their range of Dark Shadows audio CDs for the coming year. In addition to two more dramatic readings in their current series of two-hander stories, the long-awaited continuation of the full-cast audio drama series is due in the summer.

Speaking on the Big Finish website, the production team comments: "Series two of the full-cast audio dramas is on track for release in August 2009 and will be our most ambitious Dark Shadows project to date. It's a four-part epic, continuing our ongoing stories in grand fashion. We will be recording these new CDs once the last of our current run of dramatic readings are released. The first of the new stories is tentatively called The Banished Creatures and picks up directly from the exciting final scenes of The Rage Beneath."

For more information on the Dark Shadows audio dramas, and to order the existing titles, visit the Big Finish website.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas to all our readers. Thanks for your support and please join us in 2009 for more Dark Shadows news and coverage. Joining in the festive spirit is Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie), who shares her annual Christmas card.

Happy holidays everyone!

Actor Updates

• DSBoards have reported two recent appearances for the cast of the 2004 Dark Shadows pilot. Alexander Gould (David Collins) featured in the December 10 episode of ABC's whimsical romance Pushing Daisies, whilst Kelly Hu (Julia Hoffman) guested on NBC's Law & Order: SVU, in an episode due to repeated on December 20.
• David Selby (Quentin) will be once again be playing President Abraham Lincoln, this time at the historic Washington DC Ford's Theatre, in The Heavens Are Hung in Black, a new play celebrating the venue's re-opening and the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. Preview performances begin on February 3, and further information can be found on David's official website.

Johnny Depp Movie Update

Reports of the latest on the the proposed big screen Dark Shadows came thick and fast this week, with the announcement that the film is due to film in London in summer 2009.  Oscar winning producer and longtime Depp collaborator Richard D. Zanuck confirmed in an interview on Collider.com that he will be producing the project, which would star Depp and be directed by Tim Burton. The trio have previously worked on the gothic-flavoured Sweeney Todd, plus the upcoming Alice in Wonderland.

As previously reported, Johnny Depp's production company Infinitum-Nihil are producing the film for Warner Bros, with a script by John August, who wrote the recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory adaptation. David Kennedy and Graham King are also attached to the project as producers. More news as we get it.

New Dramatic Readings CDs

Big Finish Productions have announced two new titles in the series of Dark Shadows audio CDs. The latest dramatic readings feature David Selby (Quentin) and Lara Parker (Angelique), performing new stories with haunting music and sound effects. The Skin Walkers is available now, while The Path of Fate, by Dark Shadows novelist Stephen Mark Rainey, is due out towards the end of December. To order online, click on the hyperlinked titles.

News Bites

• David Selby (Quentin) has written a new novel, Lincoln's Better Angel, indulging his life-long love of Abraham Lincoln. To read more about the book and order online, click here.
• Mary Cooper, who played Josette Collins in the 1841 Parallel Time storyline, died at her Manhattan home on October 22, aged 89. Her long career included Broadway turns in Harvey and The French Touch, plus a London West End production of Fallen Angels, alongside Joan Bennett (Elizabeth).
• MPI Home Video are releasing Dan Curtis' anthology TV movie Dead of Night on DVD this January. Special features include deleted scenes and an isolated music score by Bob Cobert. Of particular interest to Dark Shadows fans, will be the bonus 1969 pilot A Darkness at Blaisedon, which features Thayer David (Professor Stokes) and Louis Edmonds (Roger). To pre-order the release from Amazon, click here.

2009 Dark Shadows Festival

The annual Dark Shadows Festival returns to the east coast for its 2009 celebration, which will take place on August 14-16 at Newark's Renaissance Airport hotel, located near Newark International Airport.

Jonathan Frid (Barnabas) will make a special guest appearance at the event, alongside John Karlen (Willie), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie), Lara Parker (Angelique), Marie Wallace (Eve), with other guests expected to be announced in the coming months. The Dark Shadows Festival will issue a mail-out within the next month or so, confirming registration prices.

In the meantime, discounted hotel rooms can be booked at the special discount price of $120.00 a night. To book, visit the hotel website, by clicking here, and using Dark Shadows Book Code DKSA to receive the discount price.

Why blog?

Today marks a new start for the Dark Shadows Journal's News Page. For nearly a decade, the site has been providing visitors with the latest news and features on Dark Shadows, and regular readers will have noticed that updates have tailed off as time's gone on. The reality is that in its old form, the site was no longer practical to update, making it less and less manageable... but, with hundreds of pages in the old format, revamping the site really wasn't realistic. So, with that in mind, I decided that the time had come for a new approach, and this news blog is the result. It can updated regularly, and it's a nice user-friendly way of getting the site back on track.

I'll see what format things take as we go along, but I think there's an opportunity to break out from straight news coverage, so look out for extended features, debate and much more. I've always wanted the site to have an interactive aspect, and now with the comments feature, you can share your thoughts and opinion on news, as it happens.

Between my day job and my work producing Big Finish's series of Dark Shadows audio dramas, I simply don't have the time I once had to devote to this site, but hopefully now, it can get back to providing a place for people to enjoy Dark Shadows on the net. Thanks for your support, and keep visiting!