Last December Hammer assured fans that 2026 would be a bumper year, soon making good on the promise with the launches of Hammer Presents and the original soundtrack range, swiftly followed by Volume 1 of The House of Hammer. Oh, and there was the small matter of the announcement that the iconic Dracula (1958) would be restored and released, reincorporating shots cut by censors, meaning the film will finally be available to enjoy as director Terence Fisher always intended.

But now Hammer brings you something else entirely new. A range of script books that will enable fans to become immersed in early takes on their favourite films as well as experiencing movies that were never made… We caught up with Hammer’s Steve Rogers to get the full story on this exciting new development.

Hammer News: Thanks for speaking to us, Steve. Two things I’d like to ask you about today, if that’s okay. Obviously, I want to know about The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula, but first of all, can you explain the background to this new range?

Steve Rogers: Everyone knows that you need a script to make a film, but what might not be that well-known is how Hammer revised these scripts through pre-production and sometimes well into actual filming. This means that scripts usually went through several iterations, with early drafts often differing markedly from the final film.

HN: Any examples you’d care to mention?

SR: Well, the Quatermass Xperiment script was significantly different before Val Guest streamlined it for filming – and, though the narrative for Dracula remained the same, some of the characterisation changed – along with most of the dialogue. These are films that have been watched and loved worldwide for more than fifty years and yet these scripts offer alternative ways to experience these stories, showcasing what was intended by the original writer rather than what actually appeared onscreen.

Early drafts and shooting scripts of Hammer films are vanishingly rare – ranging to a handful of copies to just a single, solitary script, dependent on the film. Scripts for unmade films are even rarer and it is a singular breed of collector who can afford to acquire original screenplays, whether made or unmade.

As Steve Rogers points out, the completed versions of Hammer films including Dracula (above), deviate significantly from the stories as they existed in their early script form.

HN: So presumably this range is intended to make such scripts infinitely more accessible?

SR: Absolutely. One thing we’re always keen on at Hammer is to share different aspects of the films fans love: restorations of the films themselves, the new programmes we create for the Blu-rays and 4Ks, our limited edition posters, reprinting the John Burke books, even t-shirts and other apparel – it all allows the fans and collectors different ways to connect with the films they love. So, for a long time (this project has been in development since John Gore took up his stewardship of Hammer in 2023) we’ve been looking for a way to share key scripts from the archive with the fans – and we’ve landed on a format that allows people to have these scripts on their own shelves.

HN: Sounds good! So what exactly can we expect from these tomes of terror?

SR: The Official Script Collection is a high-end, ongoing series of books that showcase these scripts in the best way possible, alongside contextual articles and other printed material, presenting these rare (and often unique) screenplays in highly collectable, slipcased hardback editions. We wanted these to be as classy and collectable as our limited 4K/Blu-ray editions and it took a fair bit of R&D to get something we knew the fans would love.

HN: Fabulous! Tell us more about the title the new range will launch with…

SR: We're leading with the script for an unmade Christopher Lee Dracula film called The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula. It was written by Tony Hinds (under his usual nom de plume of John Elder) in 1970 as Dracula – High Priest of Vampires and then slightly rewritten seven years later as Unquenchable. In both instances it never went into production, though it was eventually adapted about a decade ago into a rather splendid radio production by Mark Gatiss.

As The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula was being developed by Hammer, it was envisaged that Christopher Lee, seen here in Scars of Dracula (1970), would don the famous cape once more…

HN: Can you give us a one-line teaser for the story the script(s) tell?

SR: Dracula, avoiding pursuit (presumably by Van Helsing) is driven further east and ends up in India, where his path crosses with murderous sects and an adventurous traveller called Penny. The original script was set contemporarily in 1970 and the later rewrite made it a period piece, but in both versions Tony Hinds' Kiplingesque love of India comes through and, in a marked break with the other films in the Dracula cycle, the main characters are female. As a Hammer Gothic, it is modern yet classical and very much plays to Hinds’ strength as a dramatist – Mark Gatiss called it, ‘a wonderful, rich and atmospheric script and way ahead of its time’. Who am I to argue?

HN: Ha! And it's just the one script in this first book?

SR: No. The book features both versions of the script, plus some of Hinds' work-in-progress pages, alongside two brand-new essays: Dick Klemensen on Tony Hinds and Barry Forshaw on unmade Hammer films. The whole thing comes in at 312 pages and, because there was obviously no original poster artwork for this, we've commissioned brand-new artwork from the legendary Graham Humphreys.

Text: Anthony ‘Tony’ Hinds (seen here on the right alongside Freddie Francis) wrote The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula, and is the subject of an essay by Dick Klemensen that features in the first entry of Hammer’s Official Script Collection.

HN: This is great news, but I’m guessing you can predict my final question… What's next in the range?

SR: That's a closely-guarded secret. What I can say is that there are plans to release several of these books every year and news on the next one – not unmade this time but a different look at an all-time classic thanks to its original shooting script – should break quite soon. Until then, fans can look forward to owning their own copy of a unique artefact: an unmade Christopher Lee Dracula story written by the key architect of Hammer's gothic cycle.

Big thanks to Hammer’s Steve Rogers for his time and insight. Pre-order your copy of The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula now!

And don’t forget, you can stay up to date with developments across this range, and get all the latest info on what’s happening at Hammer by subscribing to the free newsletter.