TV - Being Human for Dummies (and Vampires, Werewolves and Ghosts)
Being Human is, as far as I can tell, a BBC3 pilot show, with an open-ended conclusion. You can't find out more, because it's the BBC3 site, and it's all fun and trendy and full of funk all.
The basic premise couldn't be more ridiculous. A vampire and a werewolf share a flat together which is haunted by a ghost. As other disembodied spirits of the aether have commented:
If your mansion house needs haunting just call, Rentaghost, We've got spooks and ghouls and freaks and fools, at Rentaghost...
This is going to take some pulling off to convince me, and there is one great concern. The terrible TV hangover of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't want to watch another sub-Joss Whedon Torchwood. Some people may never tire of arch and knowing dialogue and emotional overload at the expense of plots, but too much sugar is bad for anyone's health.
As it happens, the show is more grounded than I had need to fear. George and Mitchell are two spirits both disenfranchised from society. George is the clever, be-spectacled, ill at ease man who has lost his orthadox Jewish faith after becoming a victim to the curse of the werewolf. Mild-mannered by day, rampaging force of nature as the full moon approaches. Mitchell is handsome, thin, with rock star chic, but with the weight of ages behind him and haunted by his vampiric nature.
In an attempt to get on the first rung of the humanity ladder, they choose to get a flat together. A halfway house where they can try and leave their dead end hospital porter jobs, and their darker sides behind. But their reasonably priced flat comes with fixtures, fitting and one lonely phantasm, Annie. A sensitive northern girl, whose life and death never went entirely to plan.
There's a strong cast, some heavy undercurrents in all of their lives and some very dramatic and touching moments throughout. If anything, it's more Withnail & I than Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At times the dialogue gets a little above itself, but there's lots to keep the attention and the real problem is you need more than the 60 minutes offered.
I hope this gets picked up for a series, it has all the potential Torchwood lacks. I'd recommend giving it a try. And if there's going to be another episode, please let me know.
Being Human is repeated throughout the week and is still available on the new BBCplayer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0090xff
The basic premise couldn't be more ridiculous. A vampire and a werewolf share a flat together which is haunted by a ghost. As other disembodied spirits of the aether have commented:
If your mansion house needs haunting just call, Rentaghost, We've got spooks and ghouls and freaks and fools, at Rentaghost...
This is going to take some pulling off to convince me, and there is one great concern. The terrible TV hangover of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't want to watch another sub-Joss Whedon Torchwood. Some people may never tire of arch and knowing dialogue and emotional overload at the expense of plots, but too much sugar is bad for anyone's health.
As it happens, the show is more grounded than I had need to fear. George and Mitchell are two spirits both disenfranchised from society. George is the clever, be-spectacled, ill at ease man who has lost his orthadox Jewish faith after becoming a victim to the curse of the werewolf. Mild-mannered by day, rampaging force of nature as the full moon approaches. Mitchell is handsome, thin, with rock star chic, but with the weight of ages behind him and haunted by his vampiric nature.
In an attempt to get on the first rung of the humanity ladder, they choose to get a flat together. A halfway house where they can try and leave their dead end hospital porter jobs, and their darker sides behind. But their reasonably priced flat comes with fixtures, fitting and one lonely phantasm, Annie. A sensitive northern girl, whose life and death never went entirely to plan.
There's a strong cast, some heavy undercurrents in all of their lives and some very dramatic and touching moments throughout. If anything, it's more Withnail & I than Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At times the dialogue gets a little above itself, but there's lots to keep the attention and the real problem is you need more than the 60 minutes offered.
I hope this gets picked up for a series, it has all the potential Torchwood lacks. I'd recommend giving it a try. And if there's going to be another episode, please let me know.
Being Human is repeated throughout the week and is still available on the new BBCplayer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0090xff
posted by paulvonscott at 4:01 PM
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