To mark the arrival of Dracula to BBC screens, the team at BBC Creative has put up two billboards in London and Birmingham, which come to life after dark! In the billboard advertising of the new BBC adaptation of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s character cannot be seen in daylight on the posters, but he suddenly appears at night in a shadow thanks to specially-arranged lighting over stakes.
An ‘In case of vampires – break glass’ box containing a stake also sits below the billboards – on Brixton Road in South London and Upper Dean Street in Birmingham.
The two billboards don’t directly depict the count himself, but through a clever play of shadows and stakes, see him emerge as a haunting ghost. During the day, passers-by will notice that the billboards are stabbed with stakes – alluding to the action of vampire killers. Yet, at night a light at the side turns on, and viewers realise the stakes have been placed with the utmost intention so that their shadows recreate the face of the TV series’ blood-thirsty villain.