PICK OF THE

What We Do in the Shadows SoHo2, 7.30pm Thursday; Neon

It might be set in the New York borough of Staten Island, far from the Wellington we know and love, but don’t worry,

loses nothing in the transition from big to small screen.

And while there’s no Taika or Jemaine — not in front of the camera, at least — there seems to have been little trouble securing some of the funniest people on earth to replace them.

Matt Berry you might recognise, if not from then from popping up in shows like or He’s the one with

We Do in the Shadows Toast of London The IT Crowd The Mighty Boosh. What

the outstanding voice, which has the incredibly rare effect of making every line he says 500 per cent funnier than if anybody else had said it. So obviously he was born to play impatient, shorttempered vampire Laszlo.

The rest of Berry’s blood-sucking housemates are just as good. Natasia Demetriou (from the funniest show in ages, you have to watch it,

is Nadja, who describes their other flatmate, Nandor, as “like a big turkey walking around trying to control everything on the farm”. Nandor is played by British actor Kayvan Novak, though it’s easy to see a bit of Jemaine

Flats) Stath Lets

Clement in his role as stroppy leader of the pack.

In the first episode, the trio, along with their human familiar Guillermo and office bore energy vampire (“the most common kind”) Colin, receive a long overdue visit from their Baron, who had kind of expected them to have conquered the new world by now.

“Is this Staten Island the seat of power in the new world?” he inquires. “It is where the boat dropped us off,” Nadja replies.

The vampires have plenty of catching up to do. First Staten Island, then — maybe — the world.