Dracula used second-hand melted sex toys as PROPS and show's soundtrack features screaming babies

It’s set to become one of the BBC’s goriest shows, which co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are delighted by.

But it seems Dracula will be even more nightmarish than originally thought, as the Sherlock star, 53, said they used second-hand melted sex toys as props on set, while the three-part series’ score features the sound of screaming babies.

Speaking at the show’s premiere at the BFI Southbank in London earlier this month, Mark revealed: ‘I hastened to add used [sex toys]. It’s the only latex which is sort of flexible enough.’

Nightmarish: Dracula co-creator Mark Gatiss revealed this month at the show’s premiere that they used melted sex toys as PROPS and the soundtrack featured screaming babies

While show composer David Arnold, who also worked with the creative team on Sherlock, explained that he wanted the music ‘to stink of Dracula.’

He explained: ‘It needs to be infecting everything so we created quite a bunch of awful sounds that were musical, one of which was real blood in a glass when you can run your finger around the rim. 

‘We created percussion things [with] the coffins and we got the sound department to send the sound of screaming babies and I made an organ. We had two weeks of making the world of Dracula in sound.’

Extreme: Show composer David Arnold explained he wanted the music ‘to stink of Dracula’ so used real blood and the sounds of screaming babies (Claes Bang pictured as the vampire)

‘Dracula has always fed off men and women’: This comes after it was reported on Thursday that the new adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic suggested the count is bisexual

This comes after it was revealed that the new adaptation of the Bram Stoker classic begged the question – is the new Dracula bisexual?  

The latest adaptation of the story seems to suggest the blood-sucking count is interested in both sexes, as it features a scene where human Jonathan Harker is questioned about ‘having intercourse’ with the Nosferatu.

According to The Telegraph on Thursday, the first episode opens with the character being asked by the ‘Atheist Nun’ about his night in the vampire’s castle, as she inquires: ‘Did you have intercourse with Count Dracula?’

Interested: The Telegraph said the show opens with Jonathan Harker being questioned about his night in Dracula’s castle, as a nun asks: ‘Did you have intercourse with Count Dracula?’

Violent: Despite the insinuated transgressions, Steven claimed during a screening in London that Dracula’s interest was purely predatory as he’s ‘drinking their blood’

She then refers to a ‘contagion’ that the Count (played by Claes Bang) gives to his victims that puts them in an ‘incurable’ state of desire.

Despite the insinuated transgressions, co-creator Steven claimed during a screening in London that Dracula’s interest was purely predatory: ‘He’s not actually having sex with anyone. 

‘He’s drinking their blood. You might need to delete your Tinder, if that is what you think. Dracula has always fed off men and women.’

Not the case: Of the claims, Steven hit back, ‘You might need to delete your Tinder, if that is what you think. Dracula has always fed off men and women’

More to come: Viewers will also meet a new female character called Dorabella (Lily Dodsworth-Evans) in the three-part series

Little is known about Dracula author Stoker’s own sexuality, but the vampire’s implied promiscuity with both sexes appears to reflect recent theories that the writer was homosexual.

A fiercely private man, Stoker was close with Oscar Wilde, and even went on to marry his former love Florence Balcombe in 1878, but it has since been hypothesised that the author was gay.

In 2011, the author’s private journal was found by his great-grandson Noel Dobbs, and his cousin Dacre Stoker, a professor in South Carolina, wrote a book about his famous ancestor based on the journal soon after.

Claims: Little is known about Dracula author Stoker’s own sexuality, but the vampire’s implied promiscuity with both sexes appears to reflect recent theories that the writer was homosexual

Theory: A private man, Stoker was close with Oscar Wilde and even married his former love Florence Balcombe, but it has been claimed that he had an erotic relationship with the author 

Admitting that the journal held ‘very few truly personal comments’, Dacre said in the introduction: ‘A careful reading of the entries in light of what we do know about Bram’s life and relationships reveals much more than initially meets the eye.’

While author Talia Schaffer wrote an academic journal about ‘the homoerotic history of Dracula’, in which she claimed Stoker fell in love at first sight with actor Henry Irving, and had an erotic relationship with Wilde.

She also claimed Stoker identified with widespread homophobia in the wake of Wilde’s imprisonment ‘partly to disguise his own vulnerability as a gay man’ and to justify his belief ‘in the value of the closet.’ 

Icon: Dracula has been portrayed by 87 different times, the most famous actor to take on the role was Christopher Lee, who played the blood-sucking count ten times from 1958 to 1976

Classic look: Bela Lugosi is also one of the actors best associated with playing the character, which he portrayed in 1931’s Dracula

Recent: More recent versions of the character include Gary Oldman’s take in the 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, opposite Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder

Original: The first iteration was the unauthorised adaptation Nosferatu – a silent film released in 1922 that renamed the titular character Count Orlok

Dracula has been portrayed by 87 different actors over the years, the first iteration was the unauthorised adaptation Nosferatu – a silent film released in 1922 that renamed the titular character Count Orlok.

The most famous actor to take on the role was Christopher Lee, who played the blood-sucking count ten times from 1958 to 1976 in a series of Hammer Horror films.

More recent versions of the character include Gary Oldman’s take in the 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula opposite Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder, and Luke Evans’ very different take on the character in action-flick Dracula Untold.

Very different take: In 2014, Luke Evans played the character in action-flick Dracula Untold

On the box: Jonathan Rhys Meyers played the vampire in 2013 NBC TV series Dracula

Supporting role: Rudolf Martin portrayed Dracula in Buffy The Vampire Slayer in 2001

Unexpected: In another take on the story, Shadow Of The Vampire saw Willem Dafoe portrayed actor Max Schrek, an actor who becomes obsessed with his role as the Count in 2001

Modern: Gerard Butler played  Dracula, and Judas Iscariot, in Dracula 2000

Despite the ambiguity surrounding Dracula’s sexuality in their show, Steven told The Times: ‘He’s bi-homicidal, it’s not the same thing. He’s killing them, not dating them.’

This comes after Steven’s co-creator Mark appeared on Wednesday’s edition of Lorraine to discuss the show, where he claimed they had created a ‘dark, sexy’ version of the iconic villain.

Of the story’s enduring legacy, he explained: ‘I think there’s a vampire myth in almost every culture it must mean something, just the fear of being fed upon or our blood being drained you can interpret it endlessly.

‘The version of Dracula we’ve arrived at is a public decision, it’s a combination of Bram stoker’s book and the play by Hamilton Deane. Dracula is a much more dark, sexy figure than Nosferatu now.’

New take: Steven’s co-creator Mark appeared on Wednesday’s edition of Lorraine to discuss the show, where he claimed they had created a ‘dark, sexy’ version of the iconic villain

Trials: Mark also said that lead star Claes Bang ‘had all the same problems Christopher Lee had’ during filming as ‘his contacts hurt, his fangs hurt, [and] his cape got in the way’

Mark also went on to say that lead star Claes ‘had all the same problems Christopher had’ during filming as ‘his contacts hurt, his fangs hurt, [and] his cape got in the way.’

Last month the duo told Radio Times magazine that the mini-series is ‘not for kids’ because of its gore.

The former Doctor Who showrunner said: ‘This is not for kids. Any kid who stays up to watch it will be properly frightened, but it won’t disturb them – it’s cracking good fun.’ 

Blood-soaked: Last month the duo told Radio Times magazine that the mini-series is ‘not for kids’ because of its gore

Dark: Mark supported the horror on show, as he added: ‘We’re just pleased it’s as gory as it is’

While Mark also supported the horror on show, as he added: ‘We’re just pleased it’s as gory as it is. It’s certainly not underselling the fact that it’s Dracula. And that fingernail shot is what gets everyone – without exception.’

Kicking off in Transylvania in 1897, the three-part series sees the bloodthirsty Count Dracula travel from his hometown to London, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake.

The three-part Dracula series begins airing on BBC One on New Year’s Day at 9pm. 

Out soon: The three-part Dracula series begins airing on BBC One on New Year’s Day at 9pm