Tonight is the season finale of The Vampire Diaries here in the UK. I love this show and have never missed an episode. Over the past couple of months, watching it has been even more fun because I’ve had a group of wonderful Twitter pals to share it with – all simultaneously ‘online’ as we write our own (sometimes incoherent) running commentary. So, before I’m mourning into my hanky tonight, here’s a quick season recap…

Super-sweet Elena didn’t just develop an attitude problem – she turned bad. The relief. We were itching for Klaus and Caroline to kiss. Didn’t happen. But will it?? Stefan needed to finally get over Elena and get it together with Rebekah. Again, didn’t happen. But it might! All The Originals (well, nearly) were back full force. We lost Jeremy. We may even have lost Bonnie (nooo!). Alaric (yay – Damon’s drinking buddy!) and Lexi were back, albeit briefly. We’ve had compelling and spells; an ancient cure for vampirism; siring and love triangles; angst, double-dealing and betrayal and, at one point, we even thought we’d tuned into an episode of Lost (if you saw it, you’ll know what I mean).

And then there’s Damon – oh sweet, messed-up, badly-behaved but ever-so-entertaining with that cheeky grin and, er, other attributes – Damon. Some episodes we just stopped caring how complex the plot got as long as we tallied up enough Damon screen time. It’s all about the priorities.

The Vampire Diaries isn’t the only vampire series I’ve been addicted to over the years. I was into Moonlight, Blood Ties and True Blood once upon a time. Unfortunately I gave up on True Blood after about three seasons when it got way too bizarre and disturbing for me (I’m something of a sensitive soul, believe it or not). Those that stood the test of time though, along with TVD, were Ultraviolet, Angel and Being Human (all hail, Toby Whitehouse!).

Ultraviolet was the first vampire series I was hugely into. Then came Angel. I was into Buffy in a big way so when the spin-off series came out I was hooked. I wore my Angel t-shirt to death and even bought the special collectors boxset when the series ended. Then along came Being Human (UK version – couldn’t get into the US remake) about a vampire, a ghost and a werewolf who all share a house. A simple concept maybe, but the execution is far superior to anything I’ve ever seen. As far as script writing goes – perfect. Characterisation is off the charts. Sexy vampires? Have you seen Aidan Turner as Mitchell??? Seriously, I’ve never been the same. It died off for me a little after the main cast went, but it’s still worth some merit.

Then there are the vampire movies….

 The vampire books…

 The awesome live shows (think I’ve seen this one about seven times)…

And you know you’re obsessed, really obsessed, when you can’t even serve up a summer drink without a little bit of vampire incorporated.

 Yep, you know you’re true vampire fan when you keep a coffin of fangs in your freezer.

Case closed.