Amber Benson

“Ghosts of Albion: Embers” is not a TV show, but it’s got pictures and sound and it’s serialized and it’s free ... Okay, maybe it is a TV show. But you don’t need a TV to watch it! It’s written by my pals, actress-writer-director-producer Amber Benson and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden. Beginning Monday, you can watch it yourself here. Want to learn more while waiting for Monday to roll around? Look! A press release!

Following the success of their first adventure, magical siblings William and Tamara Swift return to bbc.co.uk this Autumn in "Ghosts of Albion: Embers", the latest adventure from BBC Interactive Drama and Entertainment.

The second installment of the Prix Europa-nominated drama begins on the 1st November 2004, starring BBC Carlton Hobbs award-winner Jasmine Hyde as Tamara and Rory Kinnear (Second Coming) as William as they battle zombies, necromancers and demon monkeys in the quest to find the pieces of a mystical artifact scattered across the globe!

As well as being able to watch six new episodes, fans across Britain will be invited to take part in a treasure hunt to win the golden crown, as featured in the story. A kind of Da Vinci code with demons, the treasure hunt has been developed in association with Britain’s foremost ’enigmatologist’, Chris Maslanka. Visitors to the site will be asked to solve a series of puzzles to discover the location of five crown pieces.

"Ghosts of Albion: Embers" has been co-written by the original team of Amber Benson and Christopher Golden. Benson is best known to Cult fans as Tara in the hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was also the writer, director and producer of the award-winning independent film "Chance" and is currently working on a second feature. Christopher Golden is the L.A. Times best-selling author of such novels as "The Ferryman" and "Strangewood" as well as a Bram Stoker Award winner.

"As usual, working with the BBC has been a wonderful pleasure," said Benson. "Chris and I were delighted that we could bring our internet fans the next installment of the Ghost’s saga. I think that "Embers" will be even better than our last effort."

"From the moment we finished recording the first Ghosts of Albion serial, Amber and I have been itching to get round to the next one," added Chris. "’Embers’ takes Tamara and William around the world, introduces new characters and deepens the mythology of the series. Even as we broaden the scope of Ghosts of Albion with the upcoming roleplaying game and the new series of original novels, it’s a thrill to have joined forces with the BBC and our wonderful cast to bring ’Embers’ to life."

As well as new storylines and characters, the series will have innovative animation from flash specialists Meafmania and post-production provided by audio drama specialists Big Finish.

Sophie Walpole, BBC Head of Interactive Drama and Entertainment said, "The original episode of Ghosts of Albion was a real success, and proved to be a great example of bbc.co.uk working together with talented script writers, actors, actresses and production teams to provide really great content on the web. Embers continues to develop a new form of ’webtainment’ on bbc.co.uk, fusing audio drama with comic-strip animation to enhance the internet viewing experience. We hope that visitors to the site will enjoy the next episode and look forward to developing more great drama for everyone to enjoy in the future".