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Two twentysomethings, George (a werewolf) and Mitchell (a vampire), move into a flatshare only to discover that their new home is haunted by Annie, the ghost of a previous tenant.
- For a vampire, death isn´t the end, it´s just the beginning.
- The worst thing about being a vampire… it´s lonely.
Cast
Aidan Turner as Mitchell
Jason Watkins as Herrick
Lenora Crichlow as Annie
I watched the pilot and it´s an ok show… could be better, but I certainly expected less…
So now…
Recap and Spoilers from Being Human Pilot
Last weekend BBC3 debuted Being Human, their new horror/drama starring out actor Russell Tovey. The show centers around the lives of three twentysomethings living in Bristol, England trying to deal with the usual issues young folks face such as finding love, figuring out careers and trying not to kill people despite the fact they are vampires, werewolves and ghosts.
Tovey plays the unfortunate George, who apparently never watched An American Werewolf in London and therefore never learned that one should never ever walk about on the English moors late at night unless you want to get bit and watch your friend be devoured.
Going walkabout like this can lead to …. being dead like this
Indeed, in flashback we learn George and another fellow had been attacked in the not too-distant past; George survived, but caught werewolf cooties from a scratch. Of course, there are side-effects including the fact that once a month he transforms into a snarling beast — like Ann Coulter does every morning. Okay, he’s not that much of a monster
And women think their time of the month is rough. Ha!
George is actually a sweet-natured fellow who left his fiance, family and friends upon becoming a werewolf. He now works as an orderly in a hospital alongside hunky Mitchell (Aidan Turner, pictured below), himself a vampire, something that looks to have happened in some previous European war where they wore tin helmets.
No, I haven’t seen True Blood! Why does everyone keep asking me that?
And the third leg in this horror version of Three’s Company is Annie (Lenora Crichlow), a ghost. Thus far her character is the least interesting as she isn’t particularly threatening (not yet anyway) and, as is so often the case with television, her character’s motivation thus far pretty much centers on her pining for her fiance who has already moved on, natch. Maybe that we’ll send her off into murderous ghost mode.
I was quite taken by the first episode which smartly sets up each character’s back story, then gives each character a challenge involving their “condition”. In George’s case, the padded room he spends the night of his transformation in at the hospital is getting all spiffed up, meaning he’s about to transform in public. Mitchell rushes him home just in time for George to get naked (Tovey is nekkid several times) and transform into a best.
George as a werewolf and George after some thorough manscaping
Despite being about monsters Being Human is, of course, actually about the human condition, what it means to be human, yadda yadda yadda. The three live together as support for each other and, in the case of George andMitchell, to keep them from hurting us innocents in situations such as George’s no-padded-room problem.
Being a vampire, Mitchell is naturally tempted to suck upon the blood of mere mortals and it turns out that — oops — he killed a friend of theirs and lied to George about it. Awk-ward! Even worse, he might be getting ready to snack on the gal George is crushing on. It also turns out there is a whole group of vampires hanging about in Bristol and apparently they have been watching True Blood because they’ve decided it’s time to come out. Something tells me there is going to be trouble in River City.
Tovey is adorable as George, bringing the character a sweet vulnerability and decency that shouldn’t be confused with weakness. Methinks we’ll see George be plenty tough when he has to. Of course, I wish there were a gay character on the show, but I love the fact that George is straight and played by Tovey.
Overall, the show nicely mixed humor, horror and drama and left me feeling it’s better than Supernatural or Torchwood, but not yet anywhere near Buffy the Vampire Slayer status. The first season is six episodes long and is currently available for viewing on the Being Human home page on BBC3. Even though I’m in the U.S. I was able to watch it this weekend, but when I checked again today, it said it wasn’t available outside the U.K. You might pop over there and try your luck, but I suspect some lackey forgot to check the “Don’t Let Yanks Watch” box and that has been since fixed. Or maybe they’re going to make it available to everyone the first weekend it airs. If not, everyone not British might have to wait until it comes to BBC America.