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Carmilla tells the story of Laura, a lonely and imaginative girl on the threshold of womanhood, living in isolation in a remote castle in Styria on the Austro-Hungarian border. Apart from a traumatic childhood dream of a predatory night visitor, Laura’s life has been simple and happy in the company of her stern father and kindly governess Madame Perrodon. A seemingly innocent coach accident brings an unexpected guest into their lives: this is the bewitching and beautiful Carmilla, who while recuperating at the castle strikes up a close friendship with Laura.

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Carmilla’s resemblance to the visitor in Laura’s dream is uncanny. Laura soon learns that Carmilla has dreamt about her too and believes this is proof that they were destined to be together.

As local peasant girls sicken and die from a mysterious wasting disease, sightings are reported of a ghostly figure walking at dawn and a 100-year old portrait is unearthed from the Karnstein side of the family bearing a close resemblance to Carmilla, it appears the visitor is more, or other, than she claims to be. Laura’s bad dreams worsen, during which she suffers from a pricking, suffocating sensation, and by daylight she is increasingly pale and wan. This culminates in a hunt for Carmilla, who appears to have vanished; General Spielsdorf, whose own daughter he claims died at her hands, leads the hunters to the family vaults in the decrepit village of Karnstein. Carmilla is a vampire, and can only be dispatched in the tomb where she lies. Carmilla calls desperately to Laura to save her and be united with her forever, but the hunters carry out their task and destroy her. Years later, Laura still remembers Carmilla with a wistfulness tinged with regret.

Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic novella Carmilla was published in the 1872 ghost story collection 'In a Glass Darkly', since when its influence can be traced on everything from Bram Stoker’s novel 'Dracula' to Dreyer’s 1920s film 'Vampyr' and Hammer’s lurid 1970s film 'The Vampire Lovers'. Le Fanu’s original is far more than a vampire story, however, offering a love story plausible in its complexity, a subtle psychological study of individuals at the mercy of the unknown, and an elegant chiller all in one.
Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-73) was an Anglo-Irish Dublin journalist; known as “The Invisible Prince” due to his reclusive, nocturnal habits, he was widely acknowledged by 20th Century masters of the ghost story such as M.R.James to have been the great innovator of the genre, moving his chosen form away from the Gothic towards the psychological. Along with the stories of 'In a Glass Darkly', his finest work includes the ghost story 'Schalcken the Painter' and the novel 'Uncle Silas'.


The Cast of Carmilla
A wonderful cast were assembled to record Carmilla: Anne-Marie Duff (Laura) is known from the film 'The Magdalene Sisters' and television’s 'Sinners' and 'Amongst Women'; Brana Bajic (Carmilla), originally a stage actress from Sarajevo, is now based in the UK and recently appeared in television’s 'Stranded' and 'Randall & Hopkirk'. Veterans of the supernatural David Warner and Jacqueline Pearce took part: David (Father) was his generation’s Hamlet and appeared in films such as 'Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment', 'Straw Dogs', 'The Omen' and 'Titanic'to name but a few; and Jacqueline (Duchess) is well known to television viewers of a certain age as Servalan in 'Blake’s 7'. Celia Imrie and Kenneth Cranham are well known to radio, film and television fans, Celia’s work ranging from the film 'Hilary and Jackie' to television’s 'The Planman', and Kenneth’s from the film 'Gangster No.1' to television’s 'Without Motive'.

Writer & Director
Don McCamphill is an exciting, versatile writer from Ballymena in Northern Ireland, whose radio credits include the afternoon plays 'Bull Epic' (shortlisted for the Richard Imison Award 2000), 'The Wide Open Sea' and 'The Price of Reputation', and recently the 2-part classic serial dramatisation of Thackeray’s 'Barry Lyndon' and the Friday Play 'Take the Bus'. He has had stage work performed in Belfast, and is the author of the BBC Northern Lights short film 'The Wayfarer'. He is currently studying an M.A. in Film at Goldsmith’s, London.

Lawrence Jackson directed all of the above radio productions by Don for BBC Northern Ireland, as well as directing the short “The Wayfarer”. His other radio credits as director include the first two series of 'Baldi' starring David Threlfall, the Woman’s Hour series 'Voices from Vindolanda' and the 2-part classic serial dramatisation of Stendhal’s 'The Charterhouse of Parma'.