Dracula series inspired by Benedict Cumberbatch's shadow

\'Dracula\' was inspired by Benedict Cumberbatch\'s shadow.

Show boss Mark Gatiss - who worked with the 43-year-old actor on \'Sherlock\' - has revealed how the star of the BBC detective drama helped spark the idea of adapting Bram Stoker\'s iconic horror tale for the small screen.

Gatiss - who created the upcoming show with Steven Moffat - told Pilot TV magazine: "The truth is we were making Sherlock, two days into shooting the first series and we had to come back for the Royal Television Society Awards.

"I had this photo on my phone of Benedict Cumberbatch silhouetted against Mrs Hudson\'s door, and I showed Ben Stephenson who was then head of BBC drama, \'Oooh it looks like Dracula, doesn\'t it?\' And he went, \'Do you want to do it?\' "

However, Gatiss joked he would like to have come up with a more exciting response when asked about the inspiration for the programme.

He joked: "Well, I\'m conscious whatever we say now will be the story we\'ll be telling for the next ten years so I might pretend that we were in a hot-air balloon over Marrakech."

Gatiss and former \'Doctor Who\' boss Moffat have been hard at work on the new show, and the latter previously admitted how difficult it was to work on a project where the lead character is also the villain.

He said: "There\'s lots of things that are challenging about \'Dracula\'.

"Having an evil lead character is actually really difficult. That\'s been the main challenge I think. But how we\'ve handled, that you\'ll have to wait and see."

The new adaptation starts in Transylvania in 1897, with the bloodthirsty count - played by Claes Bang - drawing up plans against Victorian London.

No release date has been confirmed, but the highly anticipated series will air on BBC One in the UK and Netflix around the world.