Lenny Rush Stars in BBC's Reluctant Vampire Series
Seventeen-year-old actor Lenny Rush leads the cast of The Reluctant Vampire, a new BBC series adapting Eric Morecambe's children's books.
Lenny Rush stars as Valentine in the BBC's new six-part series, The Reluctant Vampire. The 17-year-old actor from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, plays a human baby rescued from a fire who grows up struggling with a vampire identity, only to discover he has been human all along.
Rush is a veteran performer with roles in Slow Horses, Doctor Who, and the comedy Am I Being Unreasonable?. He also filmed scenes as Dobby the house-elf for HBO's Harry Potter series at Leavesden in Hertfordshire. The actor expressed his thrill at the project's realization. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to bring the books to screen before his involvement.
Creative Team and Legacy
The series is adapted from Eric Morecambe’s 1982 children's book and its 1983 sequel, The Vampire’s Revenge. Creators Neil and Rob Gibbons, known for the most recent incarnations of Alan Partridge, are behind the adaptation. Eric Morecambe wrote the stories while living in Harpenden and told his son, Gary, in 1982 of his desire to see them televised.
Gary Morecambe had been trying to adapt the books since that year. He admitted he had started to lose hope before Lenny Rush's involvement. He credits the young actor's arrival as the key, stating that once Rush became the star, everything fell into place. The producer Shane Allen, a childhood fan of the books, told Rush about them, leading to a Zoom meeting in late 2022 about securing the rights.
Series Themes and Humor
This children's comedy blends vampire tropes with classic British humor. It features a stacked cast and a gag-packed script described as a labor of love. The show includes a ham-sandwich-based homage to Morecambe’s finest hour, courtesy of the late writer Eddie Braben. It is designed for all ages, not only snarky adults, with a commitment from the cast that sees nobody phoning anything in.
One exchange highlights the show's gentle comedy. Valentine says, "You were going to eat me, weren’t you?" to which the vampire Valeeta replies, "Maybe a little bit, at first." The series explores Valentine's journey of self-discovery within his unconventional family dynamics, culminating in the revelation of his true human nature.
