A 13-episode serial, Dark Shadows: Bloodlust sees the American town of Collinsport ripped apart by a brutal murder. The series will be launched in January 2015 both as a series of downloads and in two CD boxsets. Purchasers of either will be able to follow the adventure as episodes go online week by week.

“Big Finish have been producing Dark Shadows audios since 2006,” says writer and series co-producer Joseph Lidster. “Over the years, we've brought back most of the original cast and told stories featuring so many of those fantastic characters producer Dan Curtis created. We knew, however, with Bloodlust that we wanted to go even bigger.”

“For me, the appeal of Dark Shadows is the soap opera format,” continues co-producer David Darlington. “It's hard to recreate that in a series of audio dramas but, over the last couple of years, we've experimented with ongoing storylines and character arcs. And now, with Bloodlust, we're really going for it.”

“Although the murder mystery has a beginning, middle and end,” continues Lidster, “there's so much more going on. Relationships develop across the series and there are a few surprises along the way.”

Big Finish is also pleased to announce that Snowflake, the short story released on Halloween as a prelude to Bloodlust, will be included in the CD release.

You can hear the various townsfolk introducing themselves, for free, here and behind-the-scenes photography can be found at instagram.com/darkshadowsbfp.

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As well as Dark Shadows: Bloodlust, Big Finish have annouced a further six audiobooks for 2015 starting with Dark Shadows: Panic in May, and finishing with a fifthieth title in the range for October. As with previous releases, these titles can be subscribed to at a special price.