Being Human
Wednesday February 25, 2009 in television |
This week I’ve given myself an intensive course of the BBC’s Being Human, watching the first five episodes in quick succession. Being Human takes three archetypes from the supernatural and horror genre to create a rather wonderful and original series. A vampire and a werewolf move into a house in Bristol, where they meet a ghost. It might sound a tired idea for a series. It isn’t.
Being Human unfolds neatly to introduce its leads. Mitchell (Aidan Turner) is frozen in time, never growing old and forever resisting the allure of fresh blood since becoming a vampire as a WW1 soldier. This is a member of the undead who doesn’t fit the archetype of sleeping in a coffin by day and creeping round in a large cape at night; instead he resembles a typical young man, slightly studenty in appearance, who make up probably 99% of the Bristol population (living there, I speak from experience). Mitchell is on the wagon, meaning he is trying to give up biting the necks of young virgins, although has a tough time resisting the charms of a thirsty ex-lover (who he’s turned into a fellow vampire) and the creepy Herrick (Jason Watkins). Herrick is a kind of head vampire, disturbingly comfortable in the role of the local constabulary, who’s keen to recruit new vampires and take over the world with blood suckers.
In his man-who-cannot-die role, Mitchell is similar to Captain Jack in Torchwood, although Being Human easily beats Torchwood in the humour stakes. It can be very amusing, and is equally clever because it appears not to take the horror genre too seriously, although I find it does treat it with the respect it deserves. And, sorry to say it, Aidan Turner is a much better actor than John Barrowman. But, at least so far, Mitchell’s immortality hasn’t been played on thoroughly and we only see a hint of his different personas over the decades, although in one episode he does run into an old flame from the 1960s. It would be interesting to explore Mitchell’s history if the series is allowed to continue next year.
Our second character Annie (Lenora Crichlow) is a ghost, who we learn has previously died in the house. Annie meets another ghost, a young man who died in the 1980s. He still owns a Walkman and attempts to pass around those long forgotten things called “tapes”, intent on sharing his love of The Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen with everyone else. Annie’s main focus, however, becomes the haunting of her ex-boyfriend after she learns that he was responsible for her death. For me, Annie is the weakest of the three leads, although it may just be my unfortunate indifference to Crichlow as, again, Being Human deals rather well with this supernatural element of the story. Episode five ends with the hint that Annie’s time may be up, and it may be worth the series exploring other ghosts, or other horror archetypes, if – again – it is allowed to continue.
Our third character is George, a werewolf played by the excellent Russell Tovey, who gives a very good comic touch to things. I believe that Tovey was in the running for Doctor Who, and after seeing him in this it is interesting to imagine what his take on Tardis duty would have been like. Anyway, George is a natural worrier, and provides a steady balance to the quietly wayward Mitchell. George also has a complex love life (it being difficult to explain to your girlfriend exactly why you tend to go wildest in the bedroom when it’s a full moon). George also has some very good one-liners. When him and Mitchell are besieged upon by angry neighbours after a vampire-porn DVD has accidentally fallen into the hands of a twelve year old boy, they find themselves watching the 1931 film of Frankenstein, where an angry mob pursue the monster to his inevitable doom. George observes:
I used to think this sort of thing was a load of bollocks. Now it’s like watching Ken Loach.
Being Human is an excellent combination of horror and humour, the two “aitches” that tend to make the best television. The script is above average, as are the performances (even though I’m not crazy on Lenora Crichlow). The soundtrack is very good (especially during the 80s themed episode) although not intrusive and it’s refreshing to find a series that doesn’t immediately remind me of any particular film or author (for example I found the recent Demons attempting to be a little too Neil Gaiman-ish). I can’t wait for episode six, where the undead appear to be becoming a wee bit restless. Long live Being Human.