Review: Being Human 1.1

Mitchell, George and Annie.

When BBC Three revamped itself in 2008 for a more student-focused market, it ran a series of Pilots which were, supposedly, to be made into series. These were low-budget experiments with outlandish synopses; the other series supposedly comissioned from them was Phoo Action, a comic-book inspired tale of a Hong-Kong cop fighting monsters on the streets of London using Karate. In that case, the tale of Being Human sounds almost sober.
      The concept of a house-share between a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost is admittedly one stuffed to the proverbial brim with cheese, and sounds as clichéd and painful as most children's television shows. Head Writer Toby Whithouse, however, knows his stuff, and the series' emotional complexity manages to push past the cliché (most of the time). But, more to the point, how does the first episode of this premier series set-up shop after the pilot?
      Well, there are a few casting changes. Russell Tovey remained as werewolf George, but vampire Mitchell is now played by Aiden Turner and ghostly Annie by Lenora Crichlow. The episode is a "reboot" of the ilot, but tends to just rumble along in places as if trying to set up a status quo. In short; George and Mitchell are visited by vampiress Lauren, whom Mitchell transformed by accident in the pilot, and isn't keen to help seeing as he's trying to stay "clean" of blood. George meanwhile is forced to change in the house as his old transformation spot (as seen, again, in the pilot) is being used by construction workers. We're also introduced to their landlord, Annie's ex-fiance Owen.

George transforms at the full moon.

     Speaking in hindsight, the episode presents us with a much different picture to later on in not only this series but in the series as a whole; it thrives mainly as a comedy with some incedental horror tidbits here and there. The low-budget werewolf transformation actually looks more realistic for all of its slight cheesyness, and Annie's general greyish colour scheme helps to connotate her ghostly presence (not that anything else does; she can apparently pick things up and be seen, making her supernatural presence not all that impressive so far).
     Being Human starts with a fun and well written comedy piece that while not being particularly overwhelming does sow the seeds for a lot of dramatic potential. It's got decent characterisation for its principle cast and is a generally entertaining hour of cheesy supernatural antics.

Thanks.