A documentary crew follows a group of vampires in modern-day New York, who are trying to cope with the demands of the 21st Century and the impending arrival of the Ancient One, The Baron.

Fans of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s wildly successful 2014 spoof documentary movie will find plenty to enjoy in this new 10-part TV translation, relocating the action from Wellington, New Zealand to Staten Island, US. Indeed, Clement (Flight of the Conchords) and Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) return respectively in writing and directing roles, not being adverse to recycling some of the same gags.

Two of the new characters – Kayvan Novak’s (Phonejacker) Nandor and Matt Berry’s (Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place) Lazlo – are essentially the same as Clement and Waititi’s characters in the feature film. But if that suggests self-plagiarism, it’s not the case at all. In the hands of these established comedic actors the characters can flourish across the 10 half hours, and there’s enough new angles to take the show to new places.

One of the great new characters is daywalking vampire Colin Robinson, played by Mark Proksch. He’s an energy vampire, his skill being able to drain energy from his victims merely by talking to them – boring them to death. We all know a Colin Robinson or two, and it’s a lovely conceit that such an innocuous man fits in well with such creatures.

Harvey Guillen is Nandor’s familiar, Guillermo, a loyal manservant craving to be turned into the undead after 10 years loyal service, while Natasia Demetriou is Nadja, the final vampire in the group, who believes she has found her lost love reincarnated in an unsuspecting New Yorker.

Verdict: From Nandor’s purchase of ‘creepy paper’ to decorate the party (it’s really crepe paper) to his desire to buy some ‘dust that sparkles’, this knowing mockumentary scatters plenty of genre and ‘fish out of water’ references to keep up the fun factor. There’s also a great appearance from Doug Jones! Let’s see what happens next. 8/10

Nick Joy