An interesting take on the human psyche, supernatural style (Being Human)

Member Name: Caewan

Product:	Being Human
Date:	18/07/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun to watch, and riveting; brilliant acting, excellent and interesting plot

Disadvantages: the producers didn't make enough of the plot, and really needed more episodes to allow it to evolve

I'd heard of Being Human from an 'alternative' site I occasionally went on. It intrigued me, but I hadn't seen it on BBC3 - I didn't have digital so I assumed I couldn't miss what I hadn't had (or seen) in the first place.

I was wrong.

The series is about your average 20-somethings - Mitchell and George, hospital porters, move into a house already situated by Annie. The hitch is this: Mitchell is a vampire, George is a werewolf, and Annie is a ghost.

You can see why it was on BBC 3 now, can't you?

Really though, disregard the synopsis - this show is funny, sweet though edgy and tense at times. The characters, though fitting well into their supernatural niches, are well developed and actually very normal for their age.

Mitchell is a very good-looking, quiet guy, and he wants desperately to 'fit in' with society - he holds street get-togethers and houseparties with the neighbours, though it poses an unknowing risk to both the humans and of course, the risk of being found out is great and perilous. He's a vampire, over 100 years old, and fought in the first world war, where he was 'turned' into a vampire so other vampires would leave his men alone.

George is a very clumsy, socially-inept guy with glasses, who is also Jewish and terrible with girls. He has a very high IQ and can speak several different languages. He turns into a werewolf every month, and thinks they as "monsters" should be shut off from the normal world in case they hurt or kill someone. He's against Mitchell's want to be part of the community, and gets very anxious about it. He was turned into a werewolf while on holiday in Scotland; he watched his walking partner shredded to pieces in front of him, and left his entire family, including his fiance, so not to hurt them.

Annie is an insecure and self-critical woman who lived in the house before with her fiancé, Owen, who she is still in love with. She is also a ghost and doesn't remember much about her death, which involves a flight of stairs and a falling motion...at first. She can only wear the clothes she died in, and her ability to be seen and heard by mere humans fluctuate with her mood, though any supernatural being can see, hear and touch her.

The three live in a house in a Bristol housing estate. Their landlord is Annie's former fiance, Owen.

Of course, that's not all of it.

The main theme of the series is in the title. What makes a human being? Each character takes up something to make them feel 'more human' - Mitchell abstains from blood, George refuses to acknowledge his "condition", and Annie feels besotted with Owen and, in one episode, dedicates the rest of her existence to being his "wife", even though Owen already has a new girlfriend. As the story unfolds, it seems like the characters do too - and as their personalities become more apparent, their humanity does too. What's more human than loving friends?

There are a lot of minor characters in Being Human, mostly centering around the hospital where George and Mitchell work; George develops a tenuous relationship with a nurse there, Nina, and Mitchell's "maker" often haunts there, Herrick. Herrick is a vampire, and a strong one at that...his dayjob is a police officer. Herrick has a "master plan" that Mitchell openly scoffs at - but when Herrick asks Mitchell why offering eternal life to the dying and sick people at the hospital is such a bad thing, Mitchell is speechless.

Mitchell also had a relationship with an intern before episode 1 - Lauren. During sex he lost control of himself and bit her, and then gave her his own blood to drink - turning her into a vampire. Not being able to live with what he did, he abandoned her to be brought up by Herrick, which as seen as something of an abandonment by the vampire community. Lauren is very clingy but also resentful towards Mitchell, and was taken in by Herrick's clan before she 'woke up'. She tries to seduce Mitchell several times, but Mitchell tells her he hates what she's become.

Without revealing too much, that's the series in brief. Being Human is quite sexy, so probably isn't suitable to watch with your mum. Some of it is also quite scary, especially George's transformation parts, so its probably best that very young children don't watch. I'd recommend it to anyone else, however, especially if you like shows like HBO's True Blood and the dearly departed Hex. There are six episodes in the series all-together, quite short, and the episodes are about 40 minutes long, and 1:20 for the series finale.

The sets are generally 'house' or 'hospital', with a few others, so nothing awe-inspiring there unfortunately. The premise is thought-provoking and interesting, if over simplified rather too frequently, with the plot twist a sort of "Final Solution" vampire style, the motto being 'no one is left behind'. The series is very English, but I doubt anyone from any other country would have difficulty understanding it.

The actors are very good, and I enjoyed Lenora Crichlow's performance in Sugar Rush way back when, so its good to see her in such a new, different role.

Series 2 has been commissioned, thankfully, and I do hope it improves upon the first series. There is some VERY good material in this series, especially the way the characters interact with each other, and I can only hope they can expand upon it. I got the feeling this series was a bit of an experiment, I hope series two will be more rooted and daring.

Summary: a sexy, gory, funny, edgy, supernatural comedy-drama series set in Bristol