On June 28th 1966, American teenagers' afternoons were rocked by the arrival of a daring, frightening and addictive new television series, the legacy of which is still felt today. Dark Shadows combined the traditional afternoon soap-opera with vampires, werewolves and witches, providing unmissable programming for a whole generation.

Dark Shadows brought to life the saga of the Collins Family, a wealthy clan of aristocrats cursed by supernatural powers. From their ancestral home of Collinwood, the family plotted against each other, with the innocent (and not so innocent) citizens of Collinsport caught in the crossfire. Before long, the family's ancestors also made their way to the house; including vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid), the immortal werewolf Quentin Collins (David Selby) and the love-spurned witch Angelique (Lara Parker). Battles were raged in the past and future, in parallel timelines and distant dimensions; and audiences were hooked.

A half-century later, Big Finish is delighted to be celebrating this iconic series with the June release of Dark Shadows: Blood & Fire; a terrifying new double-disc release, featuring actors from across all 1,225 episodes of the original series and from throughout ten years of Big Finish audio dramas. A new teaser trailer for the eagerly awaited story was released earlier this week, giving listeners a haunting glimpse of what's to come for the Collins family in this landmark release:

The first block of recording is now complete on the anniversary special. Joining Lara Parker as the witch Angelique are Kathryn Leigh Scott and Mitchell Ryan as Patience and Caleb Collins. Andrew Collins and Daisy Tormé star as their children, Joshua and Abigail. James Storm plays pirate Abraham Harkaway alongside Jerry Lacy as architect Malachi Sands. Also appearing in the adventure are John Karlen as Alfred Loomis and Lisa Richards and Christopher Pennock as Euphemia and Uriah Spencer Stockbridge. Further casting will be announced over the next few weeks.

The Dark Shadows story will continue later in 2016 with the release of Dark Shadows: Bloodline, a new 13-part miniseries which will follow the same format of the award-nominated Dark Shadows: Bloodlust. More details on the new series will be coming soon – while Episode 1 of Bloodlust can be listened to for free here.

Recently, Kathryn Leigh Scott, star of both the original TV show and Big Finish's audios joined production's assistant Robert Dick for a chat with range producers David Darlington and Joseph Lidster to discuss her thoughts on those last ten years.

Kathryn speaks of the first Big Finish days in the studio, stepping back into the shadows with her co-stars again, and of her most recent stories – how she took the lead in Bloodlust and how she persuaded Mitch Ryan to come on board for the fiftieth audio adventure Dark Shadows: And Red All Over, where he reprised his original series role as the vengeful Burke Devlin. She also looks back on her appearances in Star Trek – The Next Generation and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L D., and she remembers Lela Swift and Joel Crothers.

Davy and Joe take the opportunity to reveal to Kathryn who she’ll be playing in Dark Shadows: Blood & Fire, and tell us some exclusives about Bloodline… and beyond…

Click the SoundCloud player below to listen to the podcast:

Dark Shadows: Blood & Fire can be pre-ordered today for just £14.99 on CD or £12.99 to download. Pre-orders for Dark Shadows: Bloodline will open later in the year. You can explore Big Finish's entire Dark Shadows range on the product pages here.