It took me a little bit of time to finally get around to watching this show after it was sent to me. The plot seemed intriguing even though it sounds like the set-up for a bad joke. A ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire get a flat in Bristol, England…Yeah see what I mean. But it was the fact that it was listed as a dramatic comedy (Dramedy) that made me waver just the slightest. But my faith in BBC television kept me from shirking my reviewing responsibilities. I mean these are the people who made “Doctor Who,” “Torchwood,” and “Spaced,” so I figured it couldn’t be all bad. Maybe there’d be enough action in it to keep me invested and the writing would most likely be great. Alas I was wrong about the action. But the writing, by God the writing was amazing.
This show gets by on the characters and the stories alone. The season was only six episodes long and I watched them back to back with a slight break to stretch and eat. The show centers on Mitchell the vampire, George the werewolf, and Annie the ghost. Annie haunts the apartment that Mitchell and George have just moved into, and as the title suggest, focuses on them trying to live a “normal” life though they aren’t exactly normal, or even alive in Annie’s case. “Being Human” works because the characters ARE human despite their current state. George and Mitchell hold down a job at the hospital, and Annie just wants to be noticed and keep her daily routine. But the supernatural world they were each forced into keeps intruding on their lives and it becomes a struggle for each as to how they deal with it.
BBC has a knack for having creative and interesting shows and this is no different. Though there isn’t any action really, there is a lot of intrigue, and some serious character building in the series that just draws you in, as well as some commentary about humanity as a whole. And it’s funny too. Not laugh til you cry, gut busting funny, but funny in that humanistic way. By the end of the series you have started to wonder if you can classify this eclectic trio as monsters. It’s the human flaws that come to the surface that truly endear the characters to you.
The Season One set comes with a decent amount of special features including behind the scenes looks at the effects (they use practical effects for the werewolf transformations that hearkens back to the good old days), costume design, and interviews, as well as deleted scenes and production videos.
It’s really a good show, though it isn’t as over the top as say “True Blood,” but nowhere near as sappy as “Twihard” wannabe “Vampire Diaries” or “Twilight” itself. What it does have are great characters, some genuinely funny moments and a story that’s well written. Unfortunately I have to wait for the second season to hit DVD, and the third is about to start airing soon I believe, but I’m hooked. I’m interested to see how SyFy does with their American remake of the show. I’m really hoping they can pull it off as I’d like to see how they spin-it, but I won’t hold my breath for a good translation. I’ve got the original and I’m good.
CAST: Russell Tovey … George
Lenora Crichlow … Annie
Aidan Turner … Mitchell
Sinead Keenan … Nina
Donald Sumpter … Kemp
Lyndsey Marshal … Lucy
Jason Watkins … Herrick
