Back in October it was announced that a new adaptation of Bram Stoker‘s horror classic Dracula was on the way to Netflix and BBC One from Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, creators of the hit series Sherlock.

Now the cast is coming together, with the announcement of six new actors signing on to star. Those actors are John Heffernan, Joanna Scanlan, Dolly Wells, Morfydd Clark, Lujza Richter, and Gatiss, who is also co-writing and executive producing. They join Claes Bang, who’s set to play Count Dracula himself.

Blunt Talk
Season 1 Episode 2: “I Experience Shame and Anticipate Punishment”
Directed by Tristram Shapeero
Created and written by Jonathan Ames
Starring Patrick Stewart, Adrian Scarborough, Richard Lewis, Jacki Weaver, Timm Sharp, Dolly Wells, Karan Soni, Mary Holland
Starz
Air Date: Saturday, August 29th, 2015, 9:00pm

Blunt Talk is a brand new series from Starz, debuting this Saturday evening, but as a promotion, they’re offering the first two episodes free on the Starz website. In Episode 1 (see our full review, we are introduced to Walter Blunt, played by the magnificent Patrick Stewart. Blunt is a cable news host with an addiction problem. In just the show’s first 30-minutes we witnessed him ingest alcohol, Ambien, cocaine, speed, and marijuana chocolate. Suffice to say, these things have an adverse affect on him. He is pulled over and charged with solicitation, drunk driving, and assaulting a police officer. When he gets to interview himself (yep, you read that right) live on the air, he begs for forgiveness only to pass out on air.

Blunt Talk
Season 1 Episode 1: “I Seem to be Running Out of Dreams for Myself”
Directed by Tristram Shapeero
Created and written by Jonathan Ames
Starring Patrick Stewart, Adrian Scarborough, Richard Lewis, Jacki Weaver, Timm Sharp, Dolly Wells, Karan Soni, Mary Holland
Starz
Air Date: Saturday, August 22nd, 2015, 9:00pm

Walter Blunt is a little bit of Will McAvoy from Newsroom, with the addictions and demons of Dr. House, and a lifestyle straight out of Shameless. If you like any or all of these shows, then Blunt Talk may just be for you. Patrick Stewart is Walter Blunt, the host of nightly cable news show who is dangerous addicted to… well, pretty much anything. As we learn in the first episode of Starz’s new half hour comedy (free now on Starz), Blunt is a 4x divorcee, estranged father, who is constantly supplied fresh flasks of alcohol and drugs from his manservant and best friend Harry (Adrian Scarborough). Despite the seriousness of the addictions, and his arrest early in the episode, Stewart is absolutely hilarious and believable in the role, and I was laughing constantly. The show was created and written by Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death) and is executive produced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane amongst others.

Watch the Blunt Talk featurette below, and beware of spoilers!

Sir Patrick Stewart makes his return to television next week in Blunt Talk, the new half-hour scripted comedy coming to the Starz network.

While the series airs on the Starz channel on Saturday, August 22nd at 9pm ET, the first two episodes of the show are now online to watch for free over at the Starz website.