Buffy and Angel fans get ready - the event of your dreams is coming to Brighton.

The actors who play Xander, Tara, Buffy's mum, Principle Snyder and Angel are being flown from Hollywood for some red-carpet treatment.

This is not part of some extensive tour but a one-off event for the whole of Europe which is expected to attract wannabe vampire slayers from as far afield as South Africa.

A full day and night's entertainment is organised for three days (with about 5,000 people expected each day), which offers worshippers of the cult TV series the chance to meet its stars.

"European people never get to see the Hollywood celebrities," says Glenn Dellimore of Jealous Events, which is organising the elaborate affair.

"I spend half my time in Los Angeles where you see lots of them all the time.

"Here, there's just the extreme conventions for fanatics and nothing really for normal, ordinary people who just like watching the show and want to meet the stars."

Glenn and his partner, Sarah Owen, have been in the TV/film event business since 1997, arranging shows according to what is considered to have cult status.

There have been Terminator and Star Wars-related conventions and there will be a Buffy Hallowe'en Vampire Ball at Blackpool next November, a Matrix event in the autumn and another Buffy extravaganza next spring.

"We picked Brighton as the location for this event for logistical reasons," explains Glenn, "It's easy for most people to get to and the venue suits.

"Organising these things in London is such a hassle these days.

"It's also a fun place to be, by the sea with lots of good restaurants and places to stay and Brighton is well-known, which is good for attracting people from all over."

Although the seventh and final series of Buffy was aired in the United States last May, its spin-off, Angel, which moved away from the High School arena to attract an older demographic, is still going strong.

Both shows, whose plots centres on a teenager chosen as her generation's vampire slayer and her true love, a 251-year-old vampire who wants to right his past wrongs, do get people passionate.

The basic premise may seem daft but the style in which the stories are delivered is camp, wickedly witty, loaded with metaphorical punches, insightful and absolutely addictive.

When the show made its debut here in 1997, it hovered just outside BBC2's top 20, yet by series three it was never outside the top three.

It has spawned 120 books, comics, DVDs, merchandise and more than 1,300 internet sites where viewers discuss plot and dialogue.

"Buffy was designed to be a pop culture icon," says Joss Whedon, the show's creator shortly after filming the final.

"She became that and so she exists beyond her ratings.

"It's true we never found an enormous audience but at the same time, we've retained our cult status in that our viewership has never been as large as the awareness of us."

Doors open at the Brighton extravaganza at 9am with live music from the LA Demons.

At 9.30am, the stars arrive in a limousine and walk up a red carpet.

There are various ways of meeting the stars and getting their autographs.

As well as question and answer sessions featuring David Boreanaz (who plays Angel) and his co-stars, there will be the option of live autograph and combined photo sessions for an added cost, re-enactments of scenes from the shows with Angel and Spike lookalikes, Buffy and Angel quizzes and merchandise stalls.

For an extra £149, you can enjoy a VIP reception on the roof garden which has a limited 40 places or you can buy one of only ten limited £599 VIP tickets.

The day's offerings end at 4pm and at 6pm the evening's entertainment begins.

There will be a fun not-real-money casino with professional croupiers, a fancy dress disco with themed-costume awards and a karaoke room where you can pretend you're in Lorne's Karaoke bar from the Angel series.

"The stars might attend the evening's entertainment," says Glenn.

"But we can't guarantee it since we can't really ask them to work all day and all night. It's up to them really - they might turn up, they might not."

The event runs from 9am to midnight on both days, tickets £49 to £79.

Please log on to www.jealousevents.co.uk for further details.