How Christian became a Demon fighter

Demons star Christian Cooke has revealed he trained in martial arts to play a vampire slayer in the new drama.

The 22-year-old former Echo Beach star plays London teenager Luke Rutherford in the ITV1 thriller series, whose American godfather Rupert Galvin (Philip Glenister) arrives and tells him he is the last surviving heir of Van Helsing and must help rid the world of demons.

Christian said: "I did a few weeks with a trainer, having two-hour sessions and the trainer taught me different moves from different martial arts, just so that I ended up looking like I could defend myself. But it wasn't specific to a martial art, so it wasn't like I was really good at karate or Thai boxing; it was just that I could fight."

He added: "It's more sort of street-fighting and when you see the sequences, they're quite rough, they're quite raw, they're not like a Jackie Chan sequence. So that makes it more believable and you do see him as a normal kid who's just being nurtured into this hero figure.

"He's got to train and become Van Helsing, these things don't come naturally to him."

Demons also features Mackenzie Crook, Zoe Tapper, Richard Wilson, Kevin McNally and Holliday Grainger. It begins screening this Saturday, January 3.

Get exclusive access to your favourite stars. Subscribe to TV Times magazine