If the definitive film of the current vampire craze is the Twilight franchise, then the definitive television series is True Blood.
Stylised, sexy and unrelentingly dark, the first series captured a fanatic audience with its tales of the inhabitants of fictional Louisiana town Bon Temps, where vampires live uncomfortably alongside their human neighbours.
Bar owner Sam Merlotte, played by Sam Trammell, attempts to break down the barriers by stocking synthetic blood (called Tru:Blood) alongside draft beer and vodka shooters, so fanged customers can drink with their human counterparts.
But problems brew in the town after a string of unsolved murders, and Sam's waitress Sookie, played by former child Oscar-winner Anna Paquin, finds her relationship with vampire Bill, played by British actor Stephen Moyer, questioned by all around.
Sam, 38, says there's even more danger in the town in series two.
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