AMBER BENSON: Buffy Vet Joins Dark Shadows Audio Production

Vampire.com is reporting that actress Amber Benson, who played Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has become a part of the Big Finish Dark Shadows audio dramas. She’s been cast as the youth Judith Collins (the role originally played by Joan Bennett on the original soap). Notes the site, “This character, then middle-aged and bitter, first made her appearance in the 1897 story, in which Barnabas Collins traveled back in time to prevent the death of Quentin Collins whose ghost tormented the family in 1970. Judith was Quentin’s older sister. Now, in a tale called Dress Me in Dark Dreams Benson portrays a much younger version of the same character.”
Big Finish officially describes Dress Me in Dark Dreams as follows: “Collinwood in the nineteenth century is a lonely place. While her brothers experience the world, the young Judith Collins must stay and tend to her grandmother, Edith. Judith, though, has secret dreams of romance. She sees herself dancing in a beautiful dress with a dashing stranger. But the man of her dreams is becoming steadily more real. Soon Judith must fight for the man she loves. But should she, instead, have heeded the warning words of her bitter grandmother?”
Offers the drama’s writer Marty Ross, “It was always a dream of mine to have a shot at the Dark Shadows blend of horror and romance, and the characters of Judith and Edith, these two strong and impassioned women, offered all the inspiration a writer could want in terms of what I hope is complex, creepy but ultimately rather moving gothic drama.”
Adds series co-producer Joseph Lidster, “The story gives us a chance to delve into the history of one of my favorite characters from the show. Judith is such a glorious creation but with Joan Bennett sadly no longer with us, it didn’t seem as though we’d be able to feature her in one of our Dramatic Readings. It was [the drama's director] James Goss’ suggestion that we get Amber in to play her at an earlier age and it works beautifully.” Look for the drama at the end of April.