| Cinematography: | Tim Palmer (pilot) Nic Morris (series) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Creator: | Toby Whithouse |
| Director: | Alex Kalymnios |
| Genre: | Supernatural drama, comedy-drama |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Runtime: | 50 mins (Full 8 episodes together) |
| Starring: | Craig Roberts Leila Mimmack Josh Brown John Boyega Emma Rigby |
Becoming Human should not be confused with hominization.
Becoming Human is a British supernatural comedy-drama webisode series and a spin-off from the TV series Being Human. Created by Toby Whithouse, it was directed by Alex Kalymnios, written by Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson and John Jackson, and stars Craig Roberts as the teenage vampire Adam (previously seen on Being Human), Leila Mimmack as the werewolf Christa and Josh Brown as the ghost Matt. A composition of the eight episodes (including the finale) was aired on BBC Three at 9:00pm on 20 March 2011.[1] [2] [3]
Becoming Human continues the adventures of Adam, a 46-year-old vampire in the body of a 16-year-old teenager. Adam had been protected by his parents up until they died of old age, following which he had come under the protection and encouragement of Mitchell, Annie, George, and Nina. As Becoming Human begins, Adam has moved elsewhere and is trying to live a normal life as a "human".
On his first day at the school, Adam manages to embarrass and ostracise himself. However, he meets another pupil, Christa, who is hiding the fact that she is a werewolf. Christa has also been being followed by a fat, melancholic teenage boy whom she believes is a stalker but whom no one else can see or hear. Adam realizes that he is a ghost. The ghost introduces himself as Matt and turns out to be a missing student from the school.
Adam quickly realizes that it's because Matt has been murdered at the school toilets, and the three of them set about trying to solve the murder. The task is made more difficult by the fact that Matt's own memories of the event are unclear. Among the suspects Adam and his friends investigate are the school bully Danny Curtis, Brandy Mulligan and Mr. Swan.
A sub-plot of the show deals with the uneasy relationship between the trio, which has elements of a rivalry, friendship and love triangle. It is revealed that Matt had a three-year-long unrequited crush on Christa which ultimately led to him being in the boys' toilets he died in, scribbling "an anonymous declaration of love" on the cubicle wall with a key when the murderer attacked him. It's suggested that Adam and Christa also might have feelings for each other, although both deny it.
Adam frequently makes crude passes at Christa and takes opportunities to kiss her or be seen doing so (for instance, when spying on the gym teacher, Mr. Swan, they are hiding within gym equipment - they cover up their spying by making out). It's unclear whether this is human or vampire-influenced behaviour. Christa, however, outspokenly rejects and dismisses him. In spite of this, Matt is subject to occasional outbursts of jealousy. Adam, meanwhile, is also trying to deal with his vampire urges and is frequently tempted to "punish" the murderer (once they are discovered) by feeding from them, with Christa acting as moral restraint and Matt struggling with his own desires for revenge.
Following several false leads, a major breakthrough is made when Mr. Roe lets slip to the trio that Mr. Swan has ordered him to clean the same boys' toilets that Matt was drowned in. They eventually discover that the CCTV cameras between the toilets and the gym are missing, further implicating Mr Swan in the murder. They begin to suspect that Matt's body is hidden in the gym, because Christa can smell it the day before the full moon. They investigate the gym the night of the full moon - when a werewolf's senses are at their peak - only for Christa to start changing. Matt and Adam discover that they are trapped - someone locked the doors. Matt and Adam lure the transforming Christa into the gym's supply cupboard and barricade the door. In the morning, she is released and they wonder where Matt's body could've been. They initially fear that Christa may have eaten it during her time as a werewolf; but Matt succeeds in finally locating his body-still in the cupboard hidden among cleaning tools.
Mr. Swan finds them and they question him, accusing him of the murder. He tells them that Mr. Roe had keys to the gym and access to the security cameras, and the trio realise that Roe was listening to their conversations the entire time during detention (while pretending to be listening to music on headphones) and had already fed them a false lead regarding Brandy Mulligan. At this point, Roe appears and knocks out Swan with a baseball bat. Matt uses a chalkboard to ask Roe why he committed the murder, and Adam grabs him by the throat as Roe tells them that he was tired of being pushed around by people, so he "pushed back". Someone had apparently keyed Roe's car, and he'd seen Matt running away from the scene (Matt was innocent, though - he was running from the girl's locker room, where he'd been caught peeping). Roe then followed Matt into the toilets and saw Matt carving a symbol of his love for Christa. Roe assumed that Matt was writing yet another insult towards him, so he drowned Matt in a fury.
A furious Adam almost gives in to the urge to bite Roe, but is stopped by Matt. After this, a supernatural "door of death" (the same type that feature in Being Human) materializes for Matt to "move on" through. Matt is reluctant to do so, as he has come to enjoy the company of Adam and Christa - being happier than he'd ever been in his lifetime - and the excitement of the investigation. Roe attacks them in an attempt to get rid of the evidence, but the group wrestles him to Matt's door and Adam throws him through and shuts the door, which vanishes. Matt takes this as evidence that he can stay.
Having now come to terms with his death, Matt gives Adam and Christa his blessing to form a romantic relationship (although they continue to deny their willingness to have one). The episode ends with Adam suggesting that "the other side" may become complicated by having a living person take the place of a dead one, and claiming that "they" may send Roe back (setting up a possible plot-strand for a follow-up series).
Becoming Human was published from 30 January until 20 March 2011 on the BBC Three Website.[2] A new episode was shown each Sunday around 10 pm.[4]
The writers of the series were Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson and John Jackson. The director was Alex Kalymnios.[1] Becoming Human was produced by the Zodiak Media group Touchpaper Wales.[5] Altogether 1,5 Million viewers saw Becoming Human online. At 20 March 2011 all episodes were cut to a 50-minutes special and were broadcast on BBC Three.[1] Various scenes of the series were filmed at the Barry Comprehensive School.[6] After Becoming Human has ended, Craig Roberts (Adam) appeared in the episode 4x05 Hold The Front Page of Being Human.[7] [8] Furthermore, two blog messages were posted in 2013 on the official Website of Being Human, which describe the fate of the characters Christa and Adam after Becoming Human.[9] [10]
In addition to eight episodes there are also clues consisting of mobile phone videos, suspect profiles, pictures and other side notes released each week between the episodes on the Becoming Human blog, enabling the viewers to investigate Matt's murder in more depth. Among the clues include appeals and missing posters made by Matt's parents, voice messages and videos made by Adam and Christa, and Christa's journal entries.[11] [12] [13] Also, after the online release of the eighth episode, the BBC released an online clip, showing Mr. Roe, communicating to our world through a TV from purgatory, as Annie did at the end of Being Human series 2. During this clip, he was seen to be extremely angry having been thrown over, and promises to return and take revenge on the trio. This has left a possible opening for a second series, although as the last series of Being Human was aired in early 2013 chances of a second series are highly improbable.[14]
Adam is stuck in puberty. He always wants to keep the bloodlust at bay which is hard for him.
Actor Craig Roberts describes Adam as a vampire who always talks about sex but never had sex himself. He wants to be accepted by the other students, but uses words from the 80s and is surprised when he doesn't get any reaction towards this. In the Rathborne High School he wants to start a new life.[15]
Actress Leila Mimmack describes Christa as a difficult moody teenager, who is scared of being a werewolf. At first, she is not happy about working together with Adam and Matt. Later however they help her find herself, as a werewolf as well as a teenager.[15]
Actor Josh Brown describes Matt as a very insecure boy. He is a loner who doesn't know what to do when he talks to somebody. Furthermore, he has been so much used to being ignored that he did not even realise that he had died and became a ghost. Adam and Christa are the first to talk to him, which makes Matt very happy.[15]
In addition diary entries by the characters, fictional newspaper articles (e.g. about Matt's disappearance or the crimes of Brandy's father) or profiles of the characters, a few small video specials were published. They are between 20 seconds and 2 minutes long. The specials provide background information on the characters and have been published between the episodes. The last special The Return takes place after the end of the series.
| Nr. | Title | Air date | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Where's Our Matt? | 26 January 2011 | Matt's mother films a video wanted message. She asks her son to return home. |
| 2 | Danny the Bully | 4 February 2011 | A video shows how Danny bullies other students. |
| 3 | Changing Danny's Ways | 8 February 2011 | Christa wants to turn Danny into a better human. She adds his name onto a list of social projects of the school, like taking care of older people, a garden club and a school musical. |
| 4 | Christa's Voicemail | 12 February 2011 | Christa believes that Matt has some secrets and tells Adam about this. |
| 5 | Brandy's P.E. Records | 15 February 2011 | Christa searches Mr Swans office about records of Brandy Mulligan. She is caught by Mr Swan. Christa tells him that she wants to join the female football club. Mr Swan believes her. |
| 6 | Adam's Find | 23 February 2011 | Christa has achieved her aim to change Danny. Through his involvement in the social projects he got voted as the pupil of the month. Meanwhile, Adam finds an old picture of Christa. |
| 7 | Christa's Anger | 23 February 2011 | Adam makes fun of Christa and shows her the old picture he has found. |
| 8 | Adam's Theory | 25 February 2011 | Christa doesn't speak with Adam any longer. Adam thinks this is strange and that she might be involved in Matt's murder. |
| 9 | Swan vs Roe | 1 March 2011 | A video shows how Mr Swan shouts at Mr Roe, because Mr Roe is not in control of his own class. |
| 10 | Christa on Camera | 4 March 2011 | Christa and Adam argue with each other. |
| 11 | Janitor on CCTV | 8 March 2011 | Adam looks at video clips from the CCTV camera. The janitor can be seen almost everywhere. Adam thinks that he has found a new suspect. |
| 12 | The Return | 20 March 2011 | Matt's murderer says that he will come back and take revenge. |
The Feedback of the show was positive. 1.5 million fans watched the series and discussed online about the newest hints about the murderer.[21] [22]
Nick Bryan says that Becoming Human has a great humor, and that Craig Robers portrays Adam very well.[23]
According to Robert William Berg, Becoming Human plays in the same mystical background as the mother series Being Human. However Becoming Human shows the problems from a different perspective, the perspective of teenagers. The series describes the difficulties of being an adolescent, the social stratification of school cliques, and bullying at school. The writers handle these "very serious issues with a gentle touch and some deft, dark humor without ever making light of these serious issues." However the episodes were written and produced separately, so the episodes don't flow seamlessly into each other. Altogether Becoming Human is a brilliant series with a high quality of writing. Furthermore, it has great main and supporting actors, who show authentic performances.[24]
Dan Owen explains; "Becoming Human is a high-quality series. However, it isn't as sexy, stylish, acerbic, and compelling as the British TV series Misfits." The series is made for a younger audience. Older viewers might not like the series as much as the younger ones.[1]