Vampire Identification Guide
I’m rewatching a favorite vampire series from 1998 - “UltraViolet”. It stars Jack Davenport as Michael Colefield, a London police detective. In episode 1 (Habeas Corpus), he gets recruited into a specialized unit called Section V - the V of course stands for Vampires, although they are never called that in the series (it uses leeches instead).
Other members of Section V include Susannah Harker as Dr. Marsh. She joins after her husband, a cancer specialist, was recruited by the leeches. Idris Elba plays Vaughan Rice, a Gulf War veteran whose unit had been slaughtered by leeches. Rounding out the main cast is Philip Quast as the head of Section V. He’s a priest, so he has extra incentive to combat the vampires.
In the first episode, Colefield discovers his friend and partner, Jack, has been recruited by the vampires. At first, Colefield does believe in vampires, but he soon can’t deny they exist. Jack is played by Billy Moyer, who would play a vampire again 10 years later in “True Blood”.
As the six-episode series progresses, we learn that the vampires have a long-range plan for dealing with humans.
My favorite part of the series is how Section V combats vampires. Vampires from folklore don’t have a reflection.
The series extends that idea to include that they can’t be seen in photos or even video. So Section V has special cameras attached to the guns to make sure the person they are targeting isn’t seen by the camera.
They also use charcoal-tipped bullets. In a raid on a vampire’s hideout, they deploy gas grenades that deploy garlic-laced smoke to incapacitate the vampire.
And religious iconography doesn’t affect the vampire unless they think it does.
Section V knows that a vampire can regenerate, but they don’t know how. Once destroyed, the vampire’s ashes are collected and stored in a special vault with UltraViolet lights.
