The Confessions of Dorian Gray

The Confessions of Dorian Gray is an audio series created in 2012 by Big Finish, in an attempt to experiment with original content and to draw in more modern listeners. Starring Alexander Vlahos as the title character, the series is based on the 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and began with a Backdoor Pilot titled "Shades of Gray" in the Bernice Summerfield audio series.

The core premise of the series is that Dorian Gray was in fact a real person that Wilde wrote a book about, except unlike his literary counterpart he didn't destroy his portrait and instead continued to live through the 20th century all the way to the present. The series is primarily a Gothic Horror, set in different years as Dorian encounters many different supernatural threats.

Originally intended to only last two series, the success of the range led to the creation of series 3, which abandoned the almost anthology aspect of the first two series for a serialised Story Arc set in the present. However the mixed reception to this led to series 4 returning to the anthology idea, though the Christmas specials were set after series 3, while the fifth and final series mixed things up by having three stories set from the perspective of Dorian's friends while the the Grand Finale returned to Dorian's perspective.

Despite officially ending in 2016, the series returned in several forms. First in The Lost Confessions boxset in 2019, which had three unused scripts for the series including the original planned ending, a free mini-episode in 2020 titled "Isolation", and a Milestone Celebration titled "The Anniversary" in 2022. A Live Action Adaptation called Before Your Eyes was also released to celebrate the ten year anniversary, starring Vlahos again. Vlahos also reprised his role in Big Finish's 2013 adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, though it isn't canon to the Confessions series.

Tropes used in The Confessions of Dorian Gray include:
  • Adaptational Sexuality: Unlike the original novel, Dorian is unambiguously bisexual, having both female and male love interests, most notably Toby Matthews who is the closest thing to being Dorian's soulmate.
  • Adaptation Dye Job: Like with most adaptations, Dorian has black hair instead of being blond. This is brought up by Simon in "The Fallen King of Britain", who read the part of The Picture of Dorian Gray where Dorian's appearance is described.
  • Age Lift: Dorian in the novel wasn't given a birth year and no dates were given to when the story is set, but the book did have an 18 year time skip. Assuming the book ended in 1891, then it started around 1873, meaning Dorian was probably born in the early 1850s. Dorian at one point gives his date of birth as the 10th of November 1862, while having his portrait painted when he was 18 in 1880. Meanwhile Before Your Eyes, which isn't canon to the audios, has Dorian state he had his portrait painted over 150 years ago in 2022, suggesting he was born between the 1840s if not earlier.
  • Alternate Continuity:
    • Officicially, Confessions isn't part of the Whoniverse and the Dorian that appears in Bernice Summerfield is an alternate version. However later audios leave this ambiguous and overall the series fits rather well into that universe.
    • The Lost Confessions are a complicated example. The first story conflicts too heavily with previous canon audios, but the last two can be seen as canon, if only in Broad Strokes, due to having little to no conflict with the actual canon.
    • Before Your Eyes not only implies that Dorian is slightly older than his audio self, but in a case of being Truer to the Text never intentional sold his soul and instead made a wish that came true like in the novel. As a result, it's not canon to the rest of Confessions.
  • Anachronic Order: The first two series and the fourth did this, jumping back and forth across Dorian's life.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Most of Dorian's adventures end in this way, with the threat defeated but many lives having been lost or ruined. "The Last Confession", the alternate Grand Finale of the series, ends as one of these. Lucifer has been freed and now inhabits Toby's body, whose soul was seemingly destroyed, while the return of Dorian's soul leaves him traumatised from his life. However Dorian resolves to fight against Lucifer's plans, seemingly having learned from his mistakes by rejecting another Deal with the Devil and now on the path to become a genuine hero.
  • Character Development: Initially Dorian isn't that different from his portrayal in the book, being a ruthless and selfish young man who cares about nothing but his own hedonistic pleasure, though buried deep is a kindness towards those he cares about. During the early part of the 20th century he largely stays this way, able to shrug off the many traumatic adventures he has. As time goes on however his regrets begin to weigh on him and eventually he simply runs out of hedonistic things to do that he hasn't already done, meaning that by the time of the 21st century he's forced to confront that not only is he no longer shocking or scandalising because everyone is like him, but society is coming close to outgrowing his attitude and leaving him behind. The deaths of his friends and loved ones leave him full of guilt as well, becoming more brooding but ironically much kinder than he was. "Running Away With You" intended conclusion for this arc was to have Dorian sacrifice himself to free the soul of his governess but series 3 continued the story and had him realise that he was genuinely a bad person, making him a bit nicer than before. "The Last Confession" provides a different conclusion to this arc by having him refuse Lucifer's offer to have him finally die or go along with whatever he has planned, choosing to devote his eternal life to fighting against him and potentially becoming a genuine hero.
  • Christmas Episode: "The Ghosts of Christmas Past" has Dorian team up with Sherlock Holmes in December 1912, the short special "Frostbite" is set at Christmas 1947, and "The Spirits of Christmas" are two specials set in 2015.
  • Deal with the Devil: How Dorian gained his immortality, having made some sort of deal for it in return for his soul. In the Shades of Gray it was a being called the Collector while it's heavily implied that Lucifer offered him the deal. "The Last Confession" revealed that Lucifer had been intentionally making deals and making people into immortals to pit them against each other. This is seemingly part of his plan to bring about the apocalypse, with Lucifer apparently looking for the best possible host.
  • Downer Ending: A few of the audios end like this, usually with Dorian being the only one to survive an encounter with a monster. "Ever After", the original ending of the series, is this. Either Lucifer is free and inhabits the body of Toby while having trapped Dorian in a mental institution, or Dorian is actual an insane banker named Charles White. Either way, he seemingly dies for good during a medical operation.
  • Framing Device: The series is told from the perspective of Dorian narrating the events of the story sometime in the future. The series 2 final would explain that this was when Dorian was trapped within his portrait and had nothing else to do except relive his memories. Meanwhile series 5 would have Oscar Wilde, James Anderson and Dorothy Parker narrating events decades later, with Oscar's story being shortly before Dorian visited him in the first audio. Series 3, the series 4 Christmas specials and "Ever After" would drop this however since it was set in the present and following Dorian experiencing new adventures.
  • Grand Finale: "Ever After" is the official ending of the range, being a Downer Ending where Dorian seemingly dies for good while the Devil is free to cause chaos in Toby's body. "The Last Confession", the original planning ending, is a Bittersweet Ending where Toby is still possessed by Lucifer, but Dorian resolves to become a genuine hero and fight against Lucifer's evil plans.
  • Halloween Episode: "Trick or Treat" is a short mini-episode set at Halloween, with Dorian having grown tired with the holiday and refusing to take part. Which causes a spirt of some kind to terrorise him for not taking part.
  • Historical Domain Character: The very first story "This World Our Hell" features Oscar Wilde while "Murder on 81st Street" has Dorothy Parker. Both would return in Series 5, in stories told from their perspective.
  • Immortal Hero: Because of Dorian's portrait, he can recover from any fatal injury and doesn't age.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's never made clear whether there genuinely is a cocaine demon in "The Fallen King of Demon" or whether Dorian simply hallucinated it. Given the truly bizarre monsters Dorian has encountered, a cocaine demon is plausible.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: They're largely similar to classic depictions of vampires: they can't go out in sunlight, drink blood to live forever, can hypnotise people and are scared of the sign of the cross.
  • Really 700 Years Old:
    • Since Dorian was born in 1862, that means he is 154 years old in "Ever After". If "Shades of Gray" is actually canon to the Confessions series, that would mean he lives to be in his 750s.
    • Toby's exact age or birth year is never stated, but he's definitely older than Dorian. "Heart and Soul" reveals that he was turned into a vampire when in 1724 and he's presumably in his twenties, making him around 150 years older than Dorian.
    • Since the Woman in Blue is actually Mina Harker from Dracula which came out in 1897, it can be assumed she's around a decade younger than Dorian. This would make her around 80 years old in Frostbite and in her 140s when they meet again in The Last Confession.
    • The Santa Claus in "Desperately Seeking Santa" age is never given, but he states that when he was born Santa Claus wasn't part of Christmas yet.
  • Series Fauxnale: "Running Away With You" was intended to be the Bittersweet Ending of the series, but the audios went on for three more series.
  • Shared Universe:
    • Confessions seems to take place in one alongside with Big Finish's audio series for Dark Shadows, Confessions having references to that series and Vlahos reprising his role in a Dark Shadows audio, and Sherlock Holmes, which has Nicholas Briggs reprising his role as Holmes in "The Ghosts of Christmas Past".
    • Despite Dorian originally appearing in the Bernice Summerfield series, Confessions officially isn't part of the Whoniverse. However despite this Confessions was part of The Worlds of Big Finish crossover, which had other Doctor Who spin-offs, and audios released after the intended GrandFinale seems to suggest that it's still plausible for it to be set in the same world.
  • Truer to the Text: In the Confessions series Dorian intentionally made a Deal with the Devil for immortality, a change from the original novel where he made a wish that unexpectedly came true. Before Your Eyes adapts the novel's version of events, with one scene showing Dorian trying to figure out the source of his immortality.
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