This show is set in
Oxford. Since Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, one of the most beautiful
cities in England it’s kind of required to have lots and lots of aerial shots
and showing off all the pretty university buildings. Only this is accompanied
by overly ominous music and melodramatic voice overs
The first few minutes
of the show and already the urge to snark is rising… It just feels like it’s
going to… take itself overly seriously
Our main character is
Professor Diana Bishop, she’s an American researcher who has a position at Yale
who is back in Oxford in the hope she will be offered a professorship. By the
way everyone gushes, she is very very very good at her job as a historian.
She is also a witch
-but never uses her magic because her parents were killed by witch hunters in
the Ukraine (as she explains on an almost date with a guy who is also a
librarian and she kinda needs to work on her flirty banter) so she’s decided
it’s far better to never practice magic and have it leak out accidentally
ruffling papers and throwing priceless ancient books around. She also wants
nothing to do with the local witches despite being friends with Gillian, local
witch, and the local coven leader offering her a place
She is, perhaps, not
the best at making decisions.
She has to do some
research on Alchemy to get her paper done by October so she can get this
much coveted role so she goes researching in the Bodleian where she requests a
book. This book is a Special Book and it only appears when she asks for it.
When she touches it we get a full on poltergeist experience with flickering
lights and writing moving and running down her hands and it even burning her.
Duly freaked out she sends the book back - and it vanishes.
She calls her aunt,
who raised her, for advice but then hangs up all sulky because her aunt
suggested maybe she use magic. Diana is outraged - how could she suggest a
magical witch use magic to deal with the magic weirdness caused by the magic
book?! The very idea!!!!
The magical weirdness
is also felt by all the vampires in Oxford, especially Matthew (a professor of
biochemistry) who sidelines in ominous voice overs. He think she has found The
Magical Special Book which contains secrets about “creatures” (supernatural
beings), especially vampires. And he’d really really like to find that so that
a) the witches don’t find it and use it to squish vampires (since vampires and
witches are not best buds at all) but mainly b) so he can fix vampires. It
seems recent attempts to create new vampires have been failing -as we see with
young vampire Marcus trying to raise his friend who gets in a terrible car
accident. This doesn’t work and the man dies.
Also Marcus’s
non-consensual public attempt to turn someone is totally not allowed as well.
Matthew and his assistant Miriam are testing blood and trying to find a cure.
He thinks the book will help so approaches Diana and honestly explains his
worries and predicament.
Hah, no. He starts following her around being all spooky and vampiric and creepy making not-quite threatening statements and warning her that other supernaturals will have felt the woo-woo and be looking for her. He’s also trying to grasp that despite being rather powerful, she’s also utterly ignorant of her power
