Being Human is a British supernatural drama programme created and written by Toby Whithouse for BBC Three. The first series began airing on 25 January 2009 and concluded on 1 March 2009.[1] [2] It follows the lives of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who live together and try to integrate themselves into society. It stars Lenora Crichlow as Annie Sawyer, a ghost, Russell Tovey as George Sands, a werewolf, and Aidan Turner as John Mitchell, a vampire.
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| Series Number: | 1 |
| Starring: | |
| Num Episodes: | 6 |
| Network: | BBC Three |
| Next Season: | Series 2 |
| Episode List: | List of Being Human (British TV series) episodes |
A pilot episode, later informally titled “The Monsters Within”, was released on 18 February 2008, starring Andrea Riseborough as Annie, Russell Tovey as George and Guy Flanagan as Mitchell. The pilot episode was not widely reviewed, and some reviews were not positive. A review in The Daily Telegraph called the pilot one of BBC Three's "wildly uneven" new shows.[3] Brian McIver, writing for the Daily Record felt the show lacked sex appeal and that the plot was boring, concluding: "so what?"[4] But, by late January 2009, the Daily Record reported that most of the reviews of the pilot had raved about the new show.[5] Viewership for the pilot was very high,[6] and a massive online petition drive helped turn the pilot into a series. However, two of the three main roles were recast. This was partially due to the longer-than-usual waiting period between the pilot episode and the official series. This resulted in some of the actors being unavailable for returning to the show. And also partially due to a shift in tone for the show, for which other actors were more suited. The only actors to reprise their roles were Russell Tovey (George Sands) and Dylan Brown (Seth). Annie and Mitchell were both recast with Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner filling in the roles. Creator Toby Whithouse considers the pilot to be canonical.
Interior shots of Annie's house, the hospital and the funeral parlour were filmed on sound stages with exterior scenes filmed on location in Bristol.
To promote the show, the BBC launched a blog and on 22 December 2008, three 5-minute prequels were released concerning the three main characters. Mitchell's is set in the 1960s and details his moments with his latest prey. George's is a vlog filmed by an American tourist and shows George's infection by a werewolf. Annie's shows her haunting a couple that have just moved into her former house and eventually drives them out. The series premiered on BBC America in the US on 25 July 2009 and 4 August on Fox in Portugal.
Originally, every episode in the first series was unnamed, along with the second series also. However, Toby Whithouse conducted a public poll on his blog to informally name all the episodes in the first and second series’.
See main article: List of Being Human (British TV series) episodes.
The first series of Being Human received largely positive reviews. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first series has an approval rating of 100% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. The site's critics consensus reads: “Being Human is a genre gem that turns horror tropes inside out, utilising it’s monster mash of a cast to thoughtfully examine existential quandaries”.[7] The first series of Being Human also received positive reviews on Metacritic, scoring 79 out of 100, indicating “generally favourable reviews”.
The first series of the show became one of the most popular shows on BBC iPlayer.[8]
Mark Oakley of Den of Geek called it “a generally excellent series”. He called the confrontation between Herrick and George “a truly fantastic scene”. He also gave praise to Tovey and Watkins saying he “came into his own in the series finale” and “provided most of the series’ acting plaudits”, respectively. Whilst also praising Turner as “demonstrating a powerful screen presence”.[9]
Noel Murray of the A.V. Club called it “one of the most genuinely horrific horror shows ever made, with a good mix of creepy effects and subtle suggestiveness”.[10]
Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times says “Being Human manages to avoid both the slipperiness of a soap opera and the overwrought self-importance of goth, finding instead a happy normalcy that makes its supernatural elements both more believable and more shocking”.[11]