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Being Human (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Being Human is a British
supernatural
drama
television series. It was created and written by Toby Whithouse
and is currently broadcast on BBC Three
. The show blends elements of flatshare comedy and horror drama. It originally starred Aidan Turner
as Mitchell (a vampire
), Russell Tovey
as George (a werewolf
) and Lenora Crichlow
as Annie (a ghost
)—all of whom are sharing accommodation and attempting as best as they can to live a "normal" life and blend in with the ordinary humans around them. During the show's second series, Sinead Keenan
became part of the main cast. The first two series were set in in Totterdown, Bristol
, and the third series relocated to Barry, Wales
.
On 13 March 2011, series creator Toby Whithouse announced that Turner had left the show and that new characters would be introduced. On 11 November 2011, Russell Tovey announced that he was leaving Being Human after Series 4 to work full-time on his other show, Him & Her
.
The series is one of the most popular shows on BBC's iPlayer. The second series premiered on BBC Three on 10 January 2010. The third series premiered on 23 January 2011. The day following the series 3 finale, the BBC announced a fourth series would premiere on the BBC in 2012.
and introduces George (a reluctant werewolf
in his mid-twenties) and Mitchell (a vampire
with the appearance and behaviour of a young man in his mid-twenties, but who's actually over a hundred years old). Both are attempting to reject their current nature as supernatural predators — George by strictly managing his transformations and their effect on others, Mitchell by abstaining from blood-drinking. Despite a long history of antipathy between the werewolf and vampire races, Mitchell and George have formed a deep friendship: they have both taken low-profile, low-status jobs as hospital porters and live together as housemates. Moving into a new house together, they discover that it already has an occupant — Annie, the ghost of a young woman in her mid-twenties. Annie had previously lived in the house with her fiance Owen, but died after falling down the stairs. She has remained to haunt the property while Owen, unaware of her continued presence, has rented it out to Mitchell and George. As supernatural beings, both George and Mitchell can see, touch and communicate with Annie, who is delighted to have the company and becomes the third member of their surrogate family.
All three, however, have ongoing problems to deal with. Mitchell is arguably under the most pressure: his first, and central, challenge is his struggle with his desire to feed (which is presented as being similar to a struggle against drug addiction). His second challenge relates directly to the first and is his recent creation of a reckless new vampire — Lauren, a date whom he attacked and drank from during a one-night stand in which he could not resist the temptation to feed. The third challenge is the growing pressure placed on him by the Bristol vampire community led by William Herrick (the vampire who'd originally "recruited" Mitchell during World War I). Herrick has imperial ambitions of leading a global vampire ascendancy, and has worked carefully on placing vampires undercover within the human establishment — he himself is a high-ranking police officer. He has now begun to recruit humans with valuable positions or careers (such as local government officials, lawyers and architects). Prior to giving up blood, Mitchell was seen as a hero figure by many in the vampire community, meaning that Herrick sees him both as a valuable ally not to be let go easily, and as a potential rival.
George's own challenge is to manage his monthly werewolf transformations in such a way that he does not kill anyone, nor pass on the werewolf syndrome. He considers his condition to be "a curse", over which he is in a certain state of denial (including referring to his wolf-self as if it were a different person). Finally, Annie's challenge is to deal with her new life as a ghost (including the isolation and loneliness which results) and to find out the reason why she has remained on Earth as a ghost instead of passing over to the afterlife.
The remainder of Series 1 deals with the protagonists' attempts to deal with these situations and with the various characters (human or otherwise) whom they come into contact or conflict with. All of the problems are finally brought to a ferocious climax which the trio survive, but with their existence no less precarious.
Series 2 (also set in Bristol) deals with the aftermath of Series 1. Mitchell must struggle with the dual responsibilities of managing his own urges and attempting to manage the now scattered and rudderless Bristol vampire community. George must cope with the responsibilities of intimacy and the problem of having passed on his "curse" despite his best efforts. Annie must find a new purpose in her continued presence (having resolved the initial issues which kept her on Earth) and must also deal with the malignant attention of another type of supernatural being, resident in the afterlife but able to influence events in the world.
The lives of Mitchell, George and Annie are further complicated by other new factors. There is now a need to fit George's girlfriend Nina into the household, and deal with urgent new problems she is facing herself; there are problems with the police, and two powerful and playful vampires (Ivan and Daisy) have arrived in Bristol with the threat of causing mayhem. The trio are also subject to the growing attentions of a mysterious organization (possibly called the Centre for the Study of Supernatural Activity, or CenSSA) led by the scientist Dr Jaggatt and the priest-administrator Kemp. This organization has identified and classified the three different types of supernatural creature – vampire, werewolf and ghost – and is continuing to research them, although it's evident from the start that they are quite prepared to let subjects die in the course of the research. The lives of each of the four main protagonists gradually draw them closer and closer to the organization, despite the threat it may pose to all of them.
, a zombie
WAG
and a pair of werewolves (who have set themselves up as vampire hunters) and the complications of their own developing relationships. Events lead up to a finale which leaves the household changed dramatically. Aidan Turner left the show at the end of the third series.
The producer also said some old characters would return, and he intended to introduce new ones. Radio Times
reported that the fourth series is likely to air in early 2012, and that the characters will continue to live on Barry Island. On April 19, 2011, BBC America
announced it would co-produce the fourth series with BBC Three.
On 30 April 2011, actor Michael Socha
, who plays the innocent young werewolf Tom, told the Derby Telegraph that he'd been asked by Toby Whithouse to appear in Series Four. On 26 May, actor Craig Roberts
told British magazine SFX that his character will return to the show. Roberts, who plays the eternally teenaged vampire Adam, said, "I believe I am going back for an episode. They've not mentioned too much about Becoming Human. If that does get mentioned again I'm all for doing it because I thought it was a great thing. I'm really happy to do Being Human again because it's a fantastic show, and if Becoming Human wants to go again, I'm game." On July 22, the Warrington Guardian
reported that 22-year-old Andrew Gower
had been cast as Cutler, a vampire who will become one of the main characters on the show. South Wales actor Darren Evans will also appear on the show, although the nature of his character was not stated.
On October 16, 2011, SFX magazine revealed that Irish actor and 2011 Spotlight Prize
nominee Damien Molony (a recent graduate of the Drama Centre London) had been cast as the new vampire Hal. Molony told the magazine in an interview that Hal is an upper-class, very English, well-dressed vampire for which the writers have laid out an extensive back-story
. Molony also revealed that his character will fall in love. Series creator Toby Whithouse told the online version of magazine Digital Spy
that the series would "have to re-establish...relatively soon in series four" the main concept of a vampire, werewolf, and ghost living in a home together, but declined to comment further on what the details of this might be. In an interview with the Web site CultBox, series star Russell Tovey said that Hal would be "the new head vampire."
Series star Russell Tovey denied rumors that his werewolf character George Sands might not appear in the entire series. In his CultBox interview, Tovey said that the plot lines were "very spread out", that "a lot more happens", and that a number of new main and recurring characters had been added to Series Four. "[T]he storyline is going completely crazy,..." he said. Dave Golder, writing for SFX magazine, concluded that Tovey's comments meant fans would see less of George and more of the new characters, and that Whithouse would be likely to reinvent the show with all these changes.
The filmmakers returned to Barry Island to film season four in late July 2011, where they continued to use local man Gary Rowe's house as the group's bed-and-breakfast base of operations. Students from the drama and theater programme at Coleg Gwent
were used as extras and in minor roles on the show. Cast member Damien Molony said in mid-October 2011 that several scenes for the series' final episodes had already been filmed.
On 11 November 2011, Russell Tovey announced he was leaving the show during Series 4 and will only appear in the series briefly.
announced it had obtained rights to stream episodes of Being Human via its home video service in the United States.
Whithouse was contacted by the BBC who told him they were making a series of pilots. Whithouse was not a fan of the television pilot process but believed otherwise the show would never get made so the pilot script was submitted. In 2007, Danny Cohen
, the controller of BBC Three, commissioned the pilot of Being Human, West 10 LDN
, Mrs In-Betweeny, and Phoo Action
pilots as part of the rebranding of BBC Three. Before the pilots were broadcast, Whithouse was told that only Phoo Action would be commissioned for a series. The pilot episode was broadcast on 18 February 2008. The journalist Narin Bahar of the Reading Chronicle
started an online petition to lobby BBC Three commissioning editors to greenlight a full series which was signed by over 3000 people. Phoo Action was cancelled after it was decided that the scripts for the series were not good enough and Being Human was then commissioned.
as Mitchell the vampire, Andrea Riseborough
as Annie the ghost, and Russell Tovey
as George the werewolf, as well as featuring Adrian Lester
as Herrick (the vampire leader and main antagonist of Series One) and Dominique McElligott
as the recent vampire convert Lauren (converted by Mitchell). With the exception of George, these parts were recast when the series went into full production.
The first and second series were set and filmed in Bristol
featuring views of Clifton Suspension Bridge
and Clifton Village
. Windsor Terrace, Totterdown, Bristol, was the location of Mitchell, Annie, and George's home and the pub shown in the pilot. Scenes set at the hospital where Mitchell and George work were filmed in and around Bristol General Hospital
and Glenside, Bristol
.
The third series was filmed and set in Barry (Barry Island). The new house is located on Cannon Street. Some filming took place in Hensol Woods near Cowbridge
, Vale of Glamorgan, in July 2010. The move to Barry Island and Wales was prompted by the BBC's "Out of London" project, which seeks to move productions away from London and to new production facilities in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Some interior filming occurred at an abandoned bus depot which had been converted into a film studio.
There were allegations that part of the set used in Series 3 was haunted. Thirty cast and crew members watched a cup fly through the air and smash into a video monitor. Assistant director Mike Gallivan said that, over a four week period, images of people were captured on film three times even though no actor or crew member was present. "We did a shot in the kitchen and we actually thought it was a member of crew in the background, and we played it back and it wasn't," he said. "It was just an image and we've seen three so far. The set is officially haunted. We're working with real ghosts." Russell Tovey told the press that movement and people had been captured by the cameras. Aiden Turner denied that the allegations were a publicity stunt: "This isn't something we've made up. People are freaking out on set thinking that they are seeing a ghost."
felt the show lacked sex appeal and that the plot was boring, and concluded: "so what?" But by late January 2009, the Daily Record reported that most of the reviews of the pilot had raved about the new show. Viewership for the pilot was very high, and a massive online petition drive helped turn the pilot into a series.
Reception of the series has been extremely favourable. Stephen Armstrong in The Guardian
gave the show a warm review, noting that it's primary appeal was not supernatural or horror. It was, he wrote, "a curious genre mash-up drama about a ghost, werewolf and vampire sharing a flat in Bristol, which deals more with the horror of living in modern Britain than the horror of the undead." David Belcher writing in the Glasgow Herald
was effusive, however, calling the series "Easily the sole good programme on BBC3... Being Human: the supernatural drama that's super in its depiction of human nature. At the conclusion of the first season, Andrea Mullaney of The Scotsman
had high praise for the show's premise and writing:
When it debuted on BBC America in 2009, the show won similar plaudits. The Miami Herald Glenn Garvin praised the show's balance of humor and pathos: "What it is is darkly funny, deeply affecting and utterly cockeyed, a work that celebrates life by dwelling on death, love by abiding loneliness. It's a tale of cold, dead noses pressed up against the window pane of humanity. ... But for all the laughs, Being Human never loses sight of the menace of its characters." Writing in the New York Times
, Alessandra Stanley called the series "compelling" and praised its equal emphasis on horror, remorse, and humor:
Writing for the Chicago Tribune
, Mary McNamara lauded the show's humor, but emphasized its moral seriousness and metaphorical nature. "[D]espite more than a few laugh-out-loud moments, Being Human is no sitcom, no Will & Grace
with monsters," she wrote. "Creator Toby Whithouse takes all the themes associated with the cursed and the damned very seriously, and if his exploration of them is less baroque than other franchises, it promises to be even more effective. Addiction is the obvious comparison, and Whithouse makes it nicely — the relationship between John and Lauren (Annabel Scholey), the woman he hopes is his last victim, plays like classic junkie love."
The praise has continued throughout the series' run. Matt Roush from TV Guide
, having given critical plaudits to the third season, said of the series: "Can't recommend it highly enough." Reviewing the Series 3 Blu-ray release, the Wichita Falls Times-Record-News noted: "So many movies and TV programs will suggest how evil people can be and how much characters can suffer. Being Human actually can make viewers feel something of that horror and awfulness." Melinda Houston, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, applauded the way the show took the common television theme of the "disenfranchised...suddenly retaliat[ing]" and inverted it. "Moving beyond the teen tropes, it sets itself squarely in a mire of 20-something Gen Y angst. Being special and having power has no upside; being different is a burden and a nuisance and all anyone wants is a life of ordinariness."
The show's success, Matt Patchett of The Yorker
said, helped pave the way for other British supernatural shows, such as The Fades
.
, but lost to Misfits
. It was nominated for the same award again in 2011, but lost to Sherlock.
Being Human was crowned Best Drama Series at the 2011 TV Choice Awards.
In March 2011, the BBC announced that live, delayed, and online viewership for the premier of Being Human third season was 1.8 million viewers, the largest viewing audience for a season premier in BBC Three history. The average viewership per episode in Season 3 was 1.4 million viewers on television and another 400,000 viewers via the show's release on iPlayer. The network also revealed that Becoming Human finale, which aired on BBC Three rather than online, received more than 1.5 million viewers on television and iPlayer.
In August 2011, the BBC's Director of Television, George Entwistle, revealed that Being Human had 330,000 Facebook
fans, compared to 2.3 million for the Facebook pages of EastEnders
and 220,000 for Springwatch. Two months later, the Web site InsideSocialGames.com reported that Utinni Games is developing a social network game
based on the show, in which players can create their own character and participate in an extensive, constantly evoling storyline set in the show's universe.
in the U.S. in 2011. The first season was 13 episodes. A second season is planned.
, which was launched midway through the transmission of the third series. Becoming Human
stars Craig Roberts
as teenage vampire Adam, Leila Mimmack as werewolf Christa, and Josh Brown
as ghost Matt, the three working together to solve Matt's recent murder.
published the first set of Being Human books, set at some time during Series 2.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
television series. It was created and written by Toby Whithouse
Toby Whithouse
Toby Whithouse is an English actor, stand-up comedian and screenwriter. His highest-profile work has been the creation of the BBC Three supernatural television series Being Human. He also created the Channel 4 television drama series No Angels , and has written for BBC One's Hotel Babylon and...
and is currently broadcast on BBC Three
BBC Three
BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...
. The show blends elements of flatshare comedy and horror drama. It originally starred Aidan Turner
Aidan Turner
Aidan Turner is an Irish actor. He is best known for playing Dante Gabriel Rossetti on Desperate Romantics, Ruairí McGowan on The Clinic, and John Mitchell on the supernatural drama series Being Human. He will be playing Kíli in the upcoming two-part fantasy film The Hobbit.-Early life:Aidan...
as Mitchell (a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
), Russell Tovey
Russell Tovey
Russell George Tovey is an English actor with numerous television, film and stage credits. Tovey is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural drama Being Human which started in 2008...
as George (a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
) and Lenora Crichlow
Lenora Crichlow
Lenora Isabella Crichlow is a British actress best known for playing Annie in the science fiction drama Being Human.-Background:...
as Annie (a ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
)—all of whom are sharing accommodation and attempting as best as they can to live a "normal" life and blend in with the ordinary humans around them. During the show's second series, Sinead Keenan
Sinead Keenan
Sinead Keenan is an Irish actress with a vast variety of television, film and stage credits. Keenan is best known for playing the role of werewolf Nina Pickering on BBC Three's supernatural drama Being Human, which began airing in 2009. Keenan has been a regular cast member since Series 3 began...
became part of the main cast. The first two series were set in in Totterdown, Bristol
Totterdown, Bristol
Totterdown is a suburb of Bristol, England, situated area just south of the River Avon and south-east of Temple Meads railway station. It rises relatively steeply from the river bank to a largely terraced Victorian housing area which is notable for its painted homes - often in bright colours - that...
, and the third series relocated to Barry, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
On 13 March 2011, series creator Toby Whithouse announced that Turner had left the show and that new characters would be introduced. On 11 November 2011, Russell Tovey announced that he was leaving Being Human after Series 4 to work full-time on his other show, Him & Her
Him & Her (TV series)
Him & Her is a British television sitcom about a lazy twentysomething couple. It was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Three on 6 September 2010. It is written by Stefan Golaszewski and stars Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani. The theme tune is the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang" by Lulu.The...
.
The series is one of the most popular shows on BBC's iPlayer. The second series premiered on BBC Three on 10 January 2010. The third series premiered on 23 January 2011. The day following the series 3 finale, the BBC announced a fourth series would premiere on the BBC in 2012.
Plot
The central premise of Being Human is that various types of supernatural beings exist alongside human beings, with varying degrees of menace; that three of these supernatural beings are opting to live amongst human beings rather than apart from them; and that these three characters are attempting (as much as is possible) to live ordinary human lives despite the pressures and dangers of their situations. They are constantly threatened with exposure or persecution, with pressure from other supernatural creatures, and with problems caused by their attempts to deal with their own natures.Series 1
Series 1 is set in the regional British city of BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and introduces George (a reluctant werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
in his mid-twenties) and Mitchell (a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
with the appearance and behaviour of a young man in his mid-twenties, but who's actually over a hundred years old). Both are attempting to reject their current nature as supernatural predators — George by strictly managing his transformations and their effect on others, Mitchell by abstaining from blood-drinking. Despite a long history of antipathy between the werewolf and vampire races, Mitchell and George have formed a deep friendship: they have both taken low-profile, low-status jobs as hospital porters and live together as housemates. Moving into a new house together, they discover that it already has an occupant — Annie, the ghost of a young woman in her mid-twenties. Annie had previously lived in the house with her fiance Owen, but died after falling down the stairs. She has remained to haunt the property while Owen, unaware of her continued presence, has rented it out to Mitchell and George. As supernatural beings, both George and Mitchell can see, touch and communicate with Annie, who is delighted to have the company and becomes the third member of their surrogate family.
George's own challenge is to manage his monthly werewolf transformations in such a way that he does not kill anyone, nor pass on the werewolf syndrome. He considers his condition to be "a curse", over which he is in a certain state of denial (including referring to his wolf-self as if it were a different person). Finally, Annie's challenge is to deal with her new life as a ghost (including the isolation and loneliness which results) and to find out the reason why she has remained on Earth as a ghost instead of passing over to the afterlife.
The remainder of Series 1 deals with the protagonists' attempts to deal with these situations and with the various characters (human or otherwise) whom they come into contact or conflict with. All of the problems are finally brought to a ferocious climax which the trio survive, but with their existence no less precarious.
Series 2
The lives of Mitchell, George and Annie are further complicated by other new factors. There is now a need to fit George's girlfriend Nina into the household, and deal with urgent new problems she is facing herself; there are problems with the police, and two powerful and playful vampires (Ivan and Daisy) have arrived in Bristol with the threat of causing mayhem. The trio are also subject to the growing attentions of a mysterious organization (possibly called the Centre for the Study of Supernatural Activity, or CenSSA) led by the scientist Dr Jaggatt and the priest-administrator Kemp. This organization has identified and classified the three different types of supernatural creature – vampire, werewolf and ghost – and is continuing to research them, although it's evident from the start that they are quite prepared to let subjects die in the course of the research. The lives of each of the four main protagonists gradually draw them closer and closer to the organization, despite the threat it may pose to all of them.
Series 3
Series 3 saw the protagonists move to Barry Island in South Wales (as the result of events in Series 2). They set up house in a former bed-and-breakfast hotel and attempt to resume their "normal" lives, despite the overhang of the results of the Series 2 climax. As Series 3 progresses, the quartet must deal with the return of various figures and events from George and Mitchell's past, more supernatural incursions (more vampires including a teenager and a pair of suburban swingersSwinging
Swinging or partner swapping is a non-monogamous behavior, in which both partners in a committed relationship agree, as a couple, for both partners to engage in sexual activities with other couples as a recreational or social activity...
, a zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
WAG
WAGs
WAGs is an acronym, used particularly by the British tabloid press, to describe the wives and girlfriends of high-profile footballers, originally the England national football team. The term came into common use during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although it had been used occasionally before that...
and a pair of werewolves (who have set themselves up as vampire hunters) and the complications of their own developing relationships. Events lead up to a finale which leaves the household changed dramatically. Aidan Turner left the show at the end of the third series.
Series 4 (2012)
On 13 March 2011, Whithouse and BBC Three announced that Being Human would return for a fourth series. Eight 60-minute episodes were commissioned.The producer also said some old characters would return, and he intended to introduce new ones. Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
reported that the fourth series is likely to air in early 2012, and that the characters will continue to live on Barry Island. On April 19, 2011, BBC America
BBC America
BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, and available on both cable and satellite.-History:The channel launched on March 29, 1998, broadcasting comedy, drama and lifestyle programs from BBC Television and other British television broadcasters like ITV and...
announced it would co-produce the fourth series with BBC Three.
On 30 April 2011, actor Michael Socha
Michael Socha
Michael Socha is an English actor, best known for his roles in the critically acclaimed films This Is England and Summer, and the television series This Is England '86 and Being Human.-Early life:...
, who plays the innocent young werewolf Tom, told the Derby Telegraph that he'd been asked by Toby Whithouse to appear in Series Four. On 26 May, actor Craig Roberts
Craig Roberts
Craig Roberts is a Welsh actor. He is best known for playing the lead role of Oliver Tate in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film Submarine, and for playing the character Rio in The Story of Tracy Beaker.-Life and Career:...
told British magazine SFX that his character will return to the show. Roberts, who plays the eternally teenaged vampire Adam, said, "I believe I am going back for an episode. They've not mentioned too much about Becoming Human. If that does get mentioned again I'm all for doing it because I thought it was a great thing. I'm really happy to do Being Human again because it's a fantastic show, and if Becoming Human wants to go again, I'm game." On July 22, the Warrington Guardian
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
reported that 22-year-old Andrew Gower
Andrew Gower (actor)
Andrew Gower is a British actor best known for his recurring role on the ITV medical drama Monroe. In the summer of 2011, he was cast on the BBC Three supernatural drama series, Being Human.-Life and career:...
had been cast as Cutler, a vampire who will become one of the main characters on the show. South Wales actor Darren Evans will also appear on the show, although the nature of his character was not stated.
On October 16, 2011, SFX magazine revealed that Irish actor and 2011 Spotlight Prize
The Spotlight (directory)
The Spotlight is a UK directory of actors and actresses. It was established in 1927.It originally existed as a printed directory, but now also exists as an online interactive directory....
nominee Damien Molony (a recent graduate of the Drama Centre London) had been cast as the new vampire Hal. Molony told the magazine in an interview that Hal is an upper-class, very English, well-dressed vampire for which the writers have laid out an extensive back-story
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
. Molony also revealed that his character will fall in love. Series creator Toby Whithouse told the online version of magazine Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
that the series would "have to re-establish...relatively soon in series four" the main concept of a vampire, werewolf, and ghost living in a home together, but declined to comment further on what the details of this might be. In an interview with the Web site CultBox, series star Russell Tovey said that Hal would be "the new head vampire."
Series star Russell Tovey denied rumors that his werewolf character George Sands might not appear in the entire series. In his CultBox interview, Tovey said that the plot lines were "very spread out", that "a lot more happens", and that a number of new main and recurring characters had been added to Series Four. "[T]he storyline is going completely crazy,..." he said. Dave Golder, writing for SFX magazine, concluded that Tovey's comments meant fans would see less of George and more of the new characters, and that Whithouse would be likely to reinvent the show with all these changes.
The filmmakers returned to Barry Island to film season four in late July 2011, where they continued to use local man Gary Rowe's house as the group's bed-and-breakfast base of operations. Students from the drama and theater programme at Coleg Gwent
Coleg Gwent
Coleg Gwent is Wales' largest further education college.It has more than 35,000 students ranging from secondary school leavers to mature students...
were used as extras and in minor roles on the show. Cast member Damien Molony said in mid-October 2011 that several scenes for the series' final episodes had already been filmed.
On 11 November 2011, Russell Tovey announced he was leaving the show during Series 4 and will only appear in the series briefly.
Episodes and home video
In October 2011, NetflixNetflix
Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...
announced it had obtained rights to stream episodes of Being Human via its home video service in the United States.
Background
Creator Toby Whithouse was approached by production company Touchpaper Television to develop a drama series about a group of friends who buy a house together. Whithouse was not enthusiastic about the idea but came up with three characters, George, Mitchell and Annie. Touchpaper Television liked the characters so they started developing the project. For months Whithouse and Touchpaper Television struggled to come up with a storyline for the first episode. Eventually they had a final meeting to see if they could come up with a storyline or the project would be scrapped. Whithouse came up with the supernatural elements and the characters were changed.Pilot episode
Danny Cohen
Danny Cohen is the current Controller of BBC One, the BBC's flagship television channel in the United Kingdom. He is the youngest person to be appointed as Controller of the channel.- Education :...
, the controller of BBC Three, commissioned the pilot of Being Human, West 10 LDN
West 10 LDN
West 10 LDN is a BBC drama starring Ashley Madekwe, Noel Clarke, and Ashley Walters. It is set in the fictional Greenside council housing estate in West London....
, Mrs In-Betweeny, and Phoo Action
Phoo Action
Phoo Action is a BBC Three 60 minute TV pilot, one of six drama pilots that were transmitted in early 2008, and was first broadcast on February 12, 2008 at 21:00 UTC. Phoo Action is based on the Jamie Hewlett created strip 'Get The Freebies' which ran in The Face from June 1996 to June 1997...
pilots as part of the rebranding of BBC Three. Before the pilots were broadcast, Whithouse was told that only Phoo Action would be commissioned for a series. The pilot episode was broadcast on 18 February 2008. The journalist Narin Bahar of the Reading Chronicle
Reading Chronicle
The Reading Chronicle is an English local weekly newspaper covering Reading in Berkshire and surrounding areas, starting off as the Berkshire Chronicle.-Editions:...
started an online petition to lobby BBC Three commissioning editors to greenlight a full series which was signed by over 3000 people. Phoo Action was cancelled after it was decided that the scripts for the series were not good enough and Being Human was then commissioned.
Casting
The pilot episode starred Guy FlanaganGuy Flanagan
Guy Flanagan is an English actor, known for portraying John Mitchell in the pilot episode of Being Human.-Background:Born in New Longton, South Ribble, Flanagan attended Cardinal Newman College, and went on to train at Drama Centre London.-Career:...
as Mitchell the vampire, Andrea Riseborough
Andrea Riseborough
-Early life:Riseborough grew up in Whitley Bay. In reference to The Long Walk To Finchley, she has described her parents as "working-class Thatcherites"....
as Annie the ghost, and Russell Tovey
Russell Tovey
Russell George Tovey is an English actor with numerous television, film and stage credits. Tovey is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural drama Being Human which started in 2008...
as George the werewolf, as well as featuring Adrian Lester
Adrian Lester
-Personal life:Lester was born in Birmingham, England, the son of Jamaican immigrants Monica, a medical secretary, and Reginald, a manager for a contract cleaning company. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham...
as Herrick (the vampire leader and main antagonist of Series One) and Dominique McElligott
Dominique McElligott
Dominique McElligott is an Irish television and film actress, appearing primarily in independent films. She starred in Moon alongside Sam Rockwell as well as the RTÉ series Raw before leaving to film Leap Year...
as the recent vampire convert Lauren (converted by Mitchell). With the exception of George, these parts were recast when the series went into full production.
Filming
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
featuring views of Clifton Suspension Bridge
Clifton Suspension Bridge
Brunel died in 1859, without seeing the completion of the bridge. Brunel's colleagues in the Institution of Civil Engineers felt that completion of the Bridge would be a fitting memorial, and started to raise new funds...
and Clifton Village
Clifton, Bristol
Clifton is a suburb of the City of Bristol in England, and the name of both one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells...
. Windsor Terrace, Totterdown, Bristol, was the location of Mitchell, Annie, and George's home and the pub shown in the pilot. Scenes set at the hospital where Mitchell and George work were filmed in and around Bristol General Hospital
Bristol General Hospital
Bristol General Hospital is a rehabilitation hospital in Guinea Street, Harbourside, Bristol, in the south west of England...
and Glenside, Bristol
Glenside, Bristol
Glenside campus is the home of the School of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England , Bristol. It is located on Blackberry Hill in the suburb of Fishponds...
.
The third series was filmed and set in Barry (Barry Island). The new house is located on Cannon Street. Some filming took place in Hensol Woods near Cowbridge
Cowbridge
Cowbridge is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, approximately west of Cardiff. Cowbridge is twinned with Clisson in the Loire-Atlantique department in northwestern France.-Roman times:...
, Vale of Glamorgan, in July 2010. The move to Barry Island and Wales was prompted by the BBC's "Out of London" project, which seeks to move productions away from London and to new production facilities in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Some interior filming occurred at an abandoned bus depot which had been converted into a film studio.
There were allegations that part of the set used in Series 3 was haunted. Thirty cast and crew members watched a cup fly through the air and smash into a video monitor. Assistant director Mike Gallivan said that, over a four week period, images of people were captured on film three times even though no actor or crew member was present. "We did a shot in the kitchen and we actually thought it was a member of crew in the background, and we played it back and it wasn't," he said. "It was just an image and we've seen three so far. The set is officially haunted. We're working with real ghosts." Russell Tovey told the press that movement and people had been captured by the cameras. Aiden Turner denied that the allegations were a publicity stunt: "This isn't something we've made up. People are freaking out on set thinking that they are seeing a ghost."
Reception
The pilot episode was not widely reviewed, and some reviews were not necessarily positive. A review in the Daily Telegraph called the pilot one of BBC Three's "wildly uneven" new shows. Brian McIver, writing for the Daily RecordDaily Record (Scotland)
The Daily Record is a Scottish tabloid newspaper based in Glasgow. It had been the best-selling daily paper in Scotland for many years with a paid circulation in August 2011 of 307,794 . It is now outsold by its arch-rival the Scottish Sun which in September 2010 had a circulation of 339,586 in...
felt the show lacked sex appeal and that the plot was boring, and concluded: "so what?" But by late January 2009, the Daily Record reported that most of the reviews of the pilot had raved about the new show. Viewership for the pilot was very high, and a massive online petition drive helped turn the pilot into a series.
Reception of the series has been extremely favourable. Stephen Armstrong in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
gave the show a warm review, noting that it's primary appeal was not supernatural or horror. It was, he wrote, "a curious genre mash-up drama about a ghost, werewolf and vampire sharing a flat in Bristol, which deals more with the horror of living in modern Britain than the horror of the undead." David Belcher writing in the Glasgow Herald
The Herald (Glasgow)
The Herald is a broadsheet newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, and available throughout Scotland. As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 47,226, giving it a lead over Scotland's other 'quality' national daily, The Scotsman, published in Edinburgh.The 1889 to 1906 editions...
was effusive, however, calling the series "Easily the sole good programme on BBC3... Being Human: the supernatural drama that's super in its depiction of human nature. At the conclusion of the first season, Andrea Mullaney of The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
had high praise for the show's premise and writing:
- The series started well and seemed to get better almost every week. By last night's conclusion, it had matured into a marvellously enjoyable and surprisingly affecting show, which turned its punchline of a premise into a metaphor for everyday struggles to make connections, overcome their selfishness and insecurities and to live a decent life. ... Remarkably un-clichéd and well written by Toby Whithouse, this was hugely better than most other British attempts at genre shows — the ropey TorchwoodTorchwoodTorchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
, the dreadful DemonsDemons (TV series)Demons is a pilot episode of a proposed drama series, initially competing to run as part of the CBS primetime schedule during Fall 2007. Demons was created by Barbara Hall, who also created Joan of Arcadia. The pilot starred Ron Eldard and Harold Perrineau. The pilot was not picked up by the network....
and even most recent episodes of Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
.
When it debuted on BBC America in 2009, the show won similar plaudits. The Miami Herald Glenn Garvin praised the show's balance of humor and pathos: "What it is is darkly funny, deeply affecting and utterly cockeyed, a work that celebrates life by dwelling on death, love by abiding loneliness. It's a tale of cold, dead noses pressed up against the window pane of humanity. ... But for all the laughs, Being Human never loses sight of the menace of its characters." Writing in the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Alessandra Stanley called the series "compelling" and praised its equal emphasis on horror, remorse, and humor:
- Three young friends share a shabby apartment in Bristol, England, as well as secrets, and those sound like the set-up to a corny joke — a vampire, a ghost and a werewolf walk into a bar. Only in this case the bar is a pub and there is no punch line. Being Human takes the killing — and the perpetrators' anguished remorse — seriously, but still manages to find the humor in their predicament as these monsters in human form struggle to blend into normal, almost Seinfeldian life that includes work, going out on dates and having the tedious neighbors over for drinks. ... All three characters are highly appealing, but the charm of the show lies in the delicate balance of engrossing drama and disarming humor; the series is not campy or self-conscious, it's witty in an offhand, understated way.
Writing for the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, Mary McNamara lauded the show's humor, but emphasized its moral seriousness and metaphorical nature. "[D]espite more than a few laugh-out-loud moments, Being Human is no sitcom, no Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
with monsters," she wrote. "Creator Toby Whithouse takes all the themes associated with the cursed and the damned very seriously, and if his exploration of them is less baroque than other franchises, it promises to be even more effective. Addiction is the obvious comparison, and Whithouse makes it nicely — the relationship between John and Lauren (Annabel Scholey), the woman he hopes is his last victim, plays like classic junkie love."
The praise has continued throughout the series' run. Matt Roush from TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
, having given critical plaudits to the third season, said of the series: "Can't recommend it highly enough." Reviewing the Series 3 Blu-ray release, the Wichita Falls Times-Record-News noted: "So many movies and TV programs will suggest how evil people can be and how much characters can suffer. Being Human actually can make viewers feel something of that horror and awfulness." Melinda Houston, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, applauded the way the show took the common television theme of the "disenfranchised...suddenly retaliat[ing]" and inverted it. "Moving beyond the teen tropes, it sets itself squarely in a mire of 20-something Gen Y angst. Being special and having power has no upside; being different is a burden and a nuisance and all anyone wants is a life of ordinariness."
The show's success, Matt Patchett of The Yorker
The Yorker
The Yorker is a student-run website that provides news, features, comments, university and college sports, and reviews for the University of York. As a private limited company, The Yorker is the only independent media outlet on campus...
said, helped pave the way for other British supernatural shows, such as The Fades
The Fades (TV series)
The Fades is a British supernatural drama television series broadcast on BBC Three and BBC HD. The first of six episodes aired on 21 September 2011....
.
Awards
The show was nominated for Best Drama Series at the 2010 British Academy Television AwardsBritish Academy Television Awards 2010
The 2010 British Academy Television Awards were held on 6 June 2010. The nominations were announced on 10 May.This year new awards were added including the award for Best Actor/Actress in a Supporting Role. Graham Norton hosted the ceremony...
, but lost to Misfits
Misfits (TV series)
Misfits is a British science fiction comedy-drama television series about a group of young offenders forced to work in a community service programme, where they obtain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm. The first series started broadcasting on 12 November 2009 on E4, and was...
. It was nominated for the same award again in 2011, but lost to Sherlock.
Being Human was crowned Best Drama Series at the 2011 TV Choice Awards.
Ratings and social media
Being Human garnered "some of the largest audiences in the network's history" when it debuted on BBC America in 2009, and again during its second season run in 2010.In March 2011, the BBC announced that live, delayed, and online viewership for the premier of Being Human third season was 1.8 million viewers, the largest viewing audience for a season premier in BBC Three history. The average viewership per episode in Season 3 was 1.4 million viewers on television and another 400,000 viewers via the show's release on iPlayer. The network also revealed that Becoming Human finale, which aired on BBC Three rather than online, received more than 1.5 million viewers on television and iPlayer.
In August 2011, the BBC's Director of Television, George Entwistle, revealed that Being Human had 330,000 Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
fans, compared to 2.3 million for the Facebook pages of EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
and 220,000 for Springwatch. Two months later, the Web site InsideSocialGames.com reported that Utinni Games is developing a social network game
Social network game
A social network game is a type of online game that is played through social networks, and typically features multiplayer and asynchronous gameplay mechanics. Social network games are most often implemented as browser games, but can also be implemented on other platforms such as mobile devices...
based on the show, in which players can create their own character and participate in an extensive, constantly evoling storyline set in the show's universe.
North American adaptation
A remake of the series produced by Muse Entertainment Enterprises aired on Space in Canada and SyfySyfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
in the U.S. in 2011. The first season was 13 episodes. A second season is planned.
Becoming Human
The BBC commissioned an online extension called Becoming HumanBecoming Human
Becoming Human is a British supernatural drama webisode series and a spin-off from the TV series Being Human. Created by Toby Whithouse, it was written by Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson and John Jackson) and stars Craig Roberts as the teenage vampire Adam , Leila Mimmack as the werewolf Christa and...
, which was launched midway through the transmission of the third series. Becoming Human
Becoming Human
Becoming Human is a British supernatural drama webisode series and a spin-off from the TV series Being Human. Created by Toby Whithouse, it was written by Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson and John Jackson) and stars Craig Roberts as the teenage vampire Adam , Leila Mimmack as the werewolf Christa and...
stars Craig Roberts
Craig Roberts
Craig Roberts is a Welsh actor. He is best known for playing the lead role of Oliver Tate in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film Submarine, and for playing the character Rio in The Story of Tracy Beaker.-Life and Career:...
as teenage vampire Adam, Leila Mimmack as werewolf Christa, and Josh Brown
Josh Brown (actor)
Joshua Brown is a British actor. He is best known for playing Alex Pickering in the long-running BBC school drama, Grange Hill. He has also appeared in another long-running series, Casualty. He guest starred in an episode of Holby City that aired on Tuesday 10 February 2009 as a character called...
as ghost Matt, the three working together to solve Matt's recent murder.
Books
In 2010, BBC BooksBBC Books
BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
published the first set of Being Human books, set at some time during Series 2.
| # | Title | Author | Published | ISBN |
| 01 | The Road | Simon Guerrier Simon Guerrier Simon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs... |
4 February 2010 | ISBN 9781846078989 |
| 02 | Chasers | Mark Michalowski Mark Michalowski Mark Michalowski is the editor of Shout!, "Yorkshire's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender paper", as well as being an author best known for his work writing spin-offs based on the BBC Television series Doctor Who... |
4 February 2010 | ISBN 9781846078996 |
| 03 | Bad Blood | James Goss | 4 February 2010 | ISBN 9781846079009 |
External links
- Official press pack at BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Press Office - Official Website