Demons: The Whole Enchilada

I'm impressed. Demons is shaping up to be a genuinely enjoyable show, even if it is just a British rethinking of Buffy The Vampire Slayer several years after that series became passé in the general public's consciousness.

While it has yet to to truly hit original territory, tonight's story of an 'angel' abducting children was wonderfully creepy and atmospheric and while I could do without Philip Glenister's American accent (I know we're stuck with it, so I'm going to have to get used to it), Luke the half-life slayer and his Scooby Gang (Galvin, Mina and Ruby) are shaping up to be interesting characters.

The dialogue is more functional than memorable, but the story manages to stay on target, while weaving small sub-plots about Luke's "normal life" (e.g. taking his driving test) in and around the main plot.

Angels that turn out to be something more sinister are nothing new for this genre (see Supernatural's Houses Of The Holy), but there was an incredible ick factor in making this demon, Gilgamel, target children for the small of innocence on them, so it could harvest their souls.

It has to be said that Luke's final, inevitable triumph over Gilgamel was rather sudden and anti-climatic, but after all the excellent build-up, Peter Tabern's script didn't really leave much time for anything more than a stab with a magical sword.

Young Luke Van Helsing's circle of half-life (that's the Demons term for monsters) fighting allies was also broadened this week by the introduction of Richard Wilson (having escaped from his mentoring role in the interminable Merlin) as a curmudgeonly old priest, Father Simeon, with an arsenal of holy relics and a dislike of Galvin.

The shadow of Buffy hangs heavy over Demons (from the opening training sequence to Luke's relationship with his mother - who isn't allowed to know why he keeps disappearing off with his stepfather, Galvin), but if you're going to model yourself after a show - and do it pretty well, so far - then it's a good idea to select one that helped create the genre and open the way for many of the programmes that followed in its wake.