Stephens To Redefine Vampirism In New British Horror-Fantasy

Whitby, Yorkshire. 1889.

Lord Earl and Lady Margaret White have come from London to establish their new family residence in the beautiful idyllic rural town of Whitby. Their two children, Adam and Eva, have also made the long two week journey by carriage and both have grand plans to develop the agricultural farming community in the hope of prospering through local trade.

Three years to the day of their arrival, livestock begin to disappear and the family begin to suspect that there is a thief at large in the community who is responsible for these occurrences. Soon after, Lord White overhears a conversation between a local Magistrate and an Accountant about the mysterious happenings and disappearances of local townsfolk from across the town and county.

Deeply concerned, Lord White calls on his friends to keep vigil after it has become apparent that all things evil start and end within the boundaries of Whispering Woods, a dense evergreen forest to the North of the town. The manor doors become barricaded, nobody is allowed to enter, nor leave the property until this unsolved mystery has been fully investigated and remedied.

A full moon appears on the third night and howling is heard from within the forest, yet there have never been any reports of werewolves or other supernatural phenomena. This only causes the people of Whitby and surrounding communities to start conjuring up their own fantastical accounts of who or what may haunt and prowl within the cursed woodlands.

The following day, a body thought to be that of a local farmer is discovered in a very mutilated and savage condition near some lush undergrowth on the border of the forest. Lord White immediately calls for Chief Inspector Francis Abberline of London Metropolitan Police to come to Whitby and commence an investigation as to what exactly has happened. The legendary lawman arrives to find a bizarre case of vampirism and other supernatural phenomena within the town, brought about by sinister evil forces from which there is seemingly no escape. Realising that he has stumbled upon something much greater than he had first expected, Abberline enlists the help of the mythical Gabriel Van Helsing to help him in his quest to hunt down and destroy the evil forces at play.

Meanwhile, the Van Harter family arrive from Rotterdam to visit Lord Earl White and his family. Lord Earl and Lady Margaret White travel under the protection of Yorkshire Constabulary to Grimsby port in a bid to meet the arrival of the inaugural voyage of the newly constructed schooner ship ‘Rona’. Not a word is mentioned about the unsettled behaviour in their home town of Whitby.

Over a period of months, Laurea Van Harter becomes intimately close with Earl and Margaret's son, Adam White, and seduces the him in his bedroom. Caught up in their passionate embrace, Adam is bitten by Laurea – a vampire without warning to anyone else.

After being informed of what he witnessed in secret, Michael Van Harter speaks in confidence with Lord Earl White and it is not long before Laurea is soon discovered by Inspector Abberline, who proceeds to apparently kill her by driving a steel stake through her heart.

Eva, learning of her brother’s unfortunate endeavour, defies both her father and Inspector Abberline as she races against time with Van Helsing to find the mythical ‘MoonSphere’ pendant that she truly believes is the only way that she can save his life. She only has three days before the next full moon rises, allowing Laurea to re-awaken and wreak havoc with Eva on the people and communities of Yorkshire.

This powerful new period drama showing Stephens at his best and demonstrates an entirely new way of life that is both plagued by evil and breathes new life among legendary heroes and villains during the Nineteenth Century.