We all know that Philip Glenister is The Man. His Gene Hunt is the true TV iconoclast of the Noughties, so whenever he pops up in a new TV show – all swaggering, Alpha Male charisma – he deserves to be watched. He’s still Gene Hunt in Ashes To Ashes, of course, but last night I went to a press launch of ITV1′s brand-new, Saturday night family fantasy drama series for 2009, Demons. So what did Phil do next? And, more importantly, what accent would he be rocking?

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It seems the Saturday night, family fantasy drama series is now massive rating-winning pie that everyone wants a piece of. Doctor Who set the tone, then there was the lamentable Robin Hood and the slightly less lamentable Merlin on BBC One, while ITV1 got in on the act with the so-so Primeval.

Demons is the channel’s big bid for Saturday shits and giggles for 2009. I can imagine this alongside Dancing On Ice (the old reality/drama one-two punch). The good news is that it delivers.

Just a word about the venue first. Whoever ITV is getting to source its launch venues deserves a medal – last week it was Wilton’s Music Hall for Whitechapel, this week it St Andrews’s Church crypt, which was a very telling and appropriate venue. It had all the gothic charm Demons did well in supplying, and I even overheard someone talking about someone who was in the crypt on her own getting stuff ready before the screening and hearing wispering noises when no-one was there. I like it!

So Demons. It’s all about the Van Helsing clan, and, again, uses a (now) well-worn plot device – it takes an established story or myth or whatever, gives it a modern-day setting and introduces character that are still at school or college.

So we have this guy Luke, a student, who is destined to become a major player in the fight between the underworld and, erm, the overworld. Luke waltzes around his flat with his top off for most of the first ten minutes, coz he’s buff and stuff. He has a fringe like waht young teens do these days.

Luke is special, and he knows this because he has been paid a visit by Philip Glenister’s gruff and taciturn Ruper Galvin. He’s an American chap – yes, that means Philip Glenister does an American accent (quite convincing actually) – who is a key player in the fight with demons and the like.

Of course, Luke doesn’t know all this to begin with. All he knows is that Rupert is his godfather and he was a good friend of his late father, but as events start to unravel it’s pretty clear that both his late father and Rupert are something a bit different.

In fact as soon as Rupert shows up, things start to go weird. Luke is attacked by a monkey-gremlin type of thing, a man with a big top hat and mangled face who hawks up furballs starts to stalk him and some hoodies have a go at him in an alley way as well. It soon turns out that Luke is destined for more than just student life.

So far so ok, but 20 minutes into it I was thinking that this was all a bit cheesy. Some of the dialogue was a bit poor (“Welcome to the dark ages”), and Rupert, all Fedora and old-school detective look about him, sounded as though he had swallowed a Victorian Dictionary Of Insults (“I will smite thee, you freak”).

But as soon as the back story was out of the way, it settled down and soon got very good indeed. There were demons and there was fighting and a well-known face showed up and was very evil and was hugely entertaining. In fact, he was a complete scene stealer.

I liked it. I liked it very much. It reminded me of a teenage League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen in places. Mina Harker (who we’re promised will reveal a neat twist later in the series) was part of the demon-busting team (and played by the extraordinarily beautiful Zoe tapper), as was Ruby, Luke’s fiesty girlfriend. So the whole Van Helsing and Dracula myth/story/whatever is sort of in place.

I was wondering where ITV1 was going to place it because there was some very scary imagery on show. Not necessarily jump-out-of-your-seat moments, but lots of shots of dark, cavernous underground lairs, and carnival-style freak show villians.

I don’t think it could go out too early, but, once it got going, this was cracking stuff.

Look out for it in the new year.