Behind the scenes of The Tony & Cassandra Mysteries
The Collinsport Historical Society
Release Date: 01/09/2018
Return to House of Dark Shadows
The Collinsport Historical Society
Will McKinley loves House of Dark Shadows. Nancy Kersey, a creative collaborator with Frid in those days, does not love House of Dark Shadows. On Oct. 19, they made a pilgrimage to Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York — the film's shooting location — to debate the merits of the big screen version of Barnabas Collins.
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Kathryn Leigh Scott and Daisy Tormé
The Collinsport Historical Society
Kathryn Leigh Scott and David Selby recently reunited to play Maggie Evans and Quentin Collins once more for Big Finish Productions in a four-story boxset "Maggie and Quentin: The Lovers' Refrain." Set after "Return to Collinwood","The Lovers' Refrain" catches up with a very-much-in-love 21st Century Maggie and Quentin who find that as they get older - or at least as one of them does - life doesn't get any easier. Kathryn's recording sessions for this boxset took her to Los Angeles, New York and London. I snuck into the studio after she wrapped on her final day to grab a few...
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The Dark Shadows Daybook: On Barnabas Collins ...
The Collinsport Historical Society
Diabolical Daybook diarist Patrick McCray is joined by the Fabulous Alexis Latshaw to resurrect Barnabas Collins and argue that TV’s greatest villain is its greatest hero in a bizarre act of unnatural fan love.
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Penny Dreadful and the Vampire of Collinsport
The Collinsport Historical Society
Penny Dreadful's alter ego Danielle Gelehrter discusses her favorite vampire, Barnabas Collins, and her memories of growing up a "second generation" Dark Shadows fan.
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The House by the Sea with Jessica Dwyer
The Collinsport Historical Society
Jessica Dwyer explains why the sins of Collinsport's royal family aren't always that sinful.
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Big Finish's Welcome to Collinsport
The Collinsport Historical Society
The producers of Big Finish's line of "Dark Shadows" audio dramas talk about why extending the show's storyline has always been about extending the Collins family.
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The Dark Shadows Daybook with Patrick McCray
The Collinsport Historical Society
Patrick McCray and Justin Partridge have a drink at The Blue Whale and talk about Master of Dark Shadows, how the show speaks to the lonely and why the 1897 storyline is like an episode of "Fantasy Island" for Barnabas Collins.
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My Drawing Room with Alice Collins
The Collinsport Historical Society
Alice Collins talks about discovering "Dark Shadows" on The Sci-Fi Channel while home sick from school at age 11, and seeing something familiar in the show's themes and characters.
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The Clunes Reunion
The Collinsport Historical Society
On the seventh anniversary of Jonathan Frid's death, his production staff and creative collaborators reunite in New York City.
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Evolving in the Shadows with Ella Minnope
The Collinsport Historical Society
Ella Minnope talks about how the romantic aesthetic of the deep South compares to the dysfunctional Collins family.
info_outlineIn June 2016, David Darlington, co-producer of Big Finish Production's Dark Shadows ranges, and I flew to New York to attend the Tarrytown celebrations for Dark Shadows' 50th Anniversary.
When the fans visited the Big Finish tables, they all had requests for what they'd like to hear from the range... "Something with Julia", "More Tony and Cassandra", "Quentin and Laura in Eygpt", "More Tony and Cassandra", "What Happened Next to Adam", "More Tony and Cassandra"... All weekend, over and over, we were asked for further adventures of Tony and Cassandra. And it wasn't just us... when we were chatting with Lara Parker and Jerry Lacy about the stories they had both recently been writing for Big Finish they told us they'd been delighted by the requests for more they had been getting.
...So make more Tony and Cassandra we did. David and fellow co-producer Joseph Lidster got to work on The Tony and Cassandra Mysteries and - with script-editor Alan Flanagan - assembled their team of writers and a company of actors who could take on the guest roles in all four plays. And over in LA Jerry and Lara got ready to crack four more cases, this time joined by Jerry's wife, the multi award-winning Julia Duffy, as Tony's secretary Rita Channing.
I attended the UK recording sessions and spoke to Davy, Joe and Alan... and the four writers and four guest actors to see what mysteries I could solve myself.