ACTOR, writer and presenter Mark Gatiss returns to BBC4 with a feature-length exploration of European horror cinema – Horror Europa With Mark Gatiss.

Following his acclaimed 2010 series A History Of Horror, the County Durhamborn actor and writer turns to explore the story of European horror, looking at how the genre came to reflect the continent’s turbulent 20th Century.

“What fascinates me about the story of European horror is its sheer diversity, the sense that there’s a parallel, but entirely separate, story to the English language one,” he says.

“Europe is so much the home of horror, with its myths of vampires, werewolves, witchcraft and the undead, yet it’s like those myths were exported to Hollywood, leaving Europe the room to develop a new tradition as a way of processing its traumas, particularly the two world wars.

“Now I’m going in search of the stories behind the classics of European horror cinema and meeting the people from across the continent who created the films I most admire.”

His voyage takes him across Europe, from the castle in Slovakia where FW Murnau shot Nosferatu (1922), to the hotel in Ostend, Belgium, where Harry Kamel filmed his erotic vampire classic, Daughters Of Darkness (1971).

Other highlights include a visit to Paris where he meets Edith Scob, the woman behind the mask in the extraordinary Eyes Without A Face (1960), while in Rome, he discusses Italy’s distinctive brand of horror, the “Giallo” thriller, with master director Dario Argento.

In Madrid, he has a rare interview with the godfather of Spanish horror, Narciso Ibez Serrador, before speaking to today’s foremost exponent of Spanish-language horror, Guillermo del Toro.