Dark Shadows: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

My name is Victoria Winters; In the small town of Collinsport Maine, lies the Collinwood mansion where the richest family in town resides. The Collins family has been plagued with troubles since the town was founded. There have been vampires, werewolves, witches, over zealous witch hunters and much more. We join their story as I, the new governess Victoria WInters arrives in town on my way to meet my new charge, David Collins. I am about to encounter strangeness I have never imagined in my wildest dreams.

Dark Shadows is an American Gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinsport, Maine, where a number of supernatural occurrences take place.

The series became hugely popular when vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) appeared ten months into its run. Dark Shadows also featured ghosts, werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles; indeed, as actors came and went, some characters were played by more than one actor.

Dark Shadows was distinguished by its vividly melodramatic performances, atmospheric interiors, memorable storylines, numerous dramatic plot twists, adventurous music score, broad cosmos of characters and heroic adventures. The original network run of the show lasted for nearly five years to amass 1,225 episodes.

It continues to enjoy an intense cult following

Series details

• Title: Dark Shadows
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
• Premiere date: 1966-06-27
• Final broadcast date listed: 1971-04-02
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: ABC
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 30 minutes
• TVmaze community rating: 8/10
• TVMaze ID: 13129
• IMDb ID: tt0059978
• TVDB ID: 73599

Cast and credited roles

• Carolyn Groves — Victoria Winters
• Betsy Durkin — Victoria Winters
• Alexandra Isles — Victoria Winters
• Anthony George — Burke Devlin
• Mitchell Ryan — Burke Devlin
• Louis Edmonds — Roger Collins
• Joan Bennett — Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
• David Henesy — David Collins
• Nancy Barrett — Carolyn Stoddard Hawkes
• Joel Crothers — Joe Haskell
• Kathryn Leigh Scott — Maggie Evans
• David Ford — Sam Evans

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1966: premiered 1966-06-27; final listed air date 1966-12-30.
• Season 1967: premiered 1967-01-02; final listed air date 1967-12-29.
• Season 1968: premiered 1968-01-01; final listed air date 1968-12-31.
• Season 1969: premiered 1969-01-01; final listed air date 1969-12-31.
• Season 1970: premiered 1970-01-02; final listed air date 1970-12-31.
• Season 1971: premiered 1971-01-04; final listed air date 1971-04-02.

Source and licence

Adapted from Dark Shadows on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.