Sunday, September 04, 2011

Being Human


So, a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost decide to rent a house in Bristol, England, and live together. That's not the beginning of a joke, it's the set-up for a BBC TV series called BEING HUMAN. We've just watched the first season, which is only six episodes, on DVD, and it's very, very good. This is one of those rare series that manages to mix laugh-out-loud humor, poignant drama, and fairly gory horror action into a very effective blend. Aidan Turner as the vampire Mitchell, Russell Tovey as the werewolf George, and Lenora Critchlow as the ghost Annie are all very good, as is the supporting cast, which includes Jason Watkins as a really despicable villain, the leader of a group of vampires who are out to take over the world. The series starts out with what you'd think would be a fairly small scale, but by the end of the six episodes it's taken on an epic feel that really has me looking forward to the next season. In fact, there's so much packed into these stories that it seems like there are more than six episodes in the first season. I've heard that they're making an Americanized version of this. I don't see how it could possibly be as good, but I suppose I'll probably give it a try. In the meantime, this original version of BEING HUMAN gets a high recommendation from me.

7 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

I watched the first episode and promptly forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me.

Randy Johnson said...

The American version has been running on Syfy(likely the reason you haven't seen it; me either for that matter).

Steve M said...

James, this really is a terrific series that gets better and better season by season. There's been three seasons and the ending of season two will have you desperate to watch season three and what an ending that has!

I haven't seen the American version.

Penelopecat said...

My wife and I are big fans of the British version of Being Human. I was more open to the American version than she was at first, but we were both surprised at how much we ended up enjoying it. It's similar enough to the British version that we like it, but different enough to make it worth watching in its own right.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could agree but I can't. We tried but after 3-4 episodes just gave up.

Jeff M.

Jack Badelaire said...

Yeah I'm a little more taken with the British version of the show, but neither is bad. I'm not a big fan of the whole werewolf/vampire obsession - truth be told I much more like the fact that they have a ghost in the mix.

I've only seen the first season of the British show as far as I can remember - I'll have to track down the other two seasons.

Cora said...

Seasons 1 and 2 of the British version are very good, but season 3 lost me, I'm afraid. I still haven't watched the final episode.