Through the new audio dramas produced by and
available from Big Finish Productions

The House of Despair is the first of four new audio dramas from the unlikely source; our cousin from England, Stuart Manning, who runs an excellent Dark Shadows web site Dark Shadows Journal Online. This first story is written by Stuart and stars David Selby as Quentin Collins, John Karlen as Willie, Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie and Lara Parker as Angelique. In supporting rolls are Jamison Selby, Ursula Burton and Andrew Collins who I believe will be come a major player in future stories.

To say the writing is good, would be an understatement, it is, as our cousin might say, “spot on”.  Quentin, the world-weary rouge, is still sarcastic and stubborn.  Willie we find is a broken man, haunted by his past and the things the Collins Clan have made him do. Maggie owns the Collinsport Diner / Inn, an obvious bribe from Roger to keep her quiet about all things Collins.  Angelique is still (to steel a quote by Lady Caroline Lamb about Lord Byron) is "mad, bad, and dangerous to know”. Ms. Parker has never been better, one can hear the evil dripping on each syllable, knowing that any minute she will betray someone to pursue her own agenda.  

The story is the beginning of a story arc that I believe will encompass all four proposed CDs. We have Collinsport as a ghost town with the “lost” citizens wandering the streets at night, Collinwood empty and the Collins family gone. The estate has been taken over by the mysterious Mr. Strix who may be responsible for the missing family. A new enemy whose true form would be a challenge for a TV or movie to create is perfect for the theater of the mind. Here the writer in keeping with the original series’ use of classical literature for inspiration has turn to Roman mythology for this antagonist. From Wikipedia:
 

The strix or striga (pl. striges; occasionally corrupted to stirge) was an Ancient Roman legendary creature, usually described as a nocturnal bird of ill omen that fed on human flesh and blood, like a vampire. Unlike later vampires, it was not a revenant—a risen corpse—but the product of metamorphosis. The name is Greek in origin and means "owl", with which bird it is usually identified.

Barnabas is voiced by Andrew Collins,  who does a fine job and the change, is explained satisfactorily in the story.  I, like many of you, wished Jonathan Frid could have been persuaded to reprise his role, however practicality of Mr. Frid’s aged voice would have detracted from the mythos of the ageless vampire. I noticed that even Mr. Selby’s voice has aged from the recording of Return to Collinwood, but the age in his voice works to convey his immortal weariness from his wanderings.

The ending of The House of Despair is wonderful.  Barnabas, Quentin and Angelique together, all that is left of the Collins family, allied but untrusting of each other. There is the obligatory unanswered question of where the rest of the family is. Are they dead or just missing and can they be brought back as Barnabas and Angelique were. What of poor Willie, mad and dying, can he be saved? Questions to be answered in the next installment The Book of Temptation.