So given that tonight marks the return of Being Human, one of the best British shows in years that got sadly broken and ruined in series 4 I have decided to take a look at the show and remind myself how good it was and how it got ruined.
Our three main characters at the start of the show are Mitchell, a vampire; George, a werewolf and Annie, a ghost. They share a house and try to live normal lives despite their unique conditions.
The vampires in the show don't need to drink blood to survive, it is merely a powerful addiction for them. They can also go outside during the day and are not any more strong or fast than any normal human. This makes them a very unique depiction of a character type that has been somewhat overused in recent years; this makes them something more interesting to watch, and it is interesting to watch Mitchell struggle with his addiction.
The Werewolves are brought back to more their traditional roots of only changing at the full moon and completely against their will. This is much more powerful dramatically than the recent spate of werewolves who can change whenever they want. This has brought lycanthropy back into being a curse instead of a superpower.
The Ghosts are invisible to all but other supernaturals (except for Annie early on in series 1, I'll get to it) and can teleport. They are probably the least interesting of the types, with the only really interesting thing being that they always wear the clothes they had on when they died, but they change the way they are worn depending on their mood.
Series 1 begins with Mitchell and George having moved into a house and discovering the ghost of Annie, a former tenant have settled in and are trying to live an ordinary life. Mitchell has recently, in a fit of lust, turned a co-worker, Lauren, at the hospital where he and George work into a vampire. Annie, who is becoming visible to people again, sees her fiance Owen with a new girlfriend and reverts to being invisible. Meanwhile Herrick, the vampire who turned Mitchell, is beginning to up the recruitment of new vampires. George meets a werewolf named Tully who teaches him how to deal with the wolf by dragging a chicken on a string in a mile wide circle so that the wolf follows the smell and doesn't hurt anyone. However when he discovers that Tully was the werewolf who turned him, he tells him to leave and never come back. At this time he also meets Nina, a nurse at the hospital, who he becomes very attracted to. Annie meets a ghost called Gilbert who helps her come to terms with being a ghost and upon falling in love with her, he resolves his unfinished business and crosses through a door to the other side. Mitchell befriends a young boy, but is mistaken for a paedophile, until he eventually has to save the kid and turn him into a vampire when he gets hit by a car. Annie discovers that Owen killed her. Haunted by the earlier events Mitchell falls back on his addiction and begins helping Herrick again. George begins dating Nina, but is terrified about her finding out the truth about him. Annie confronts Owen, but finds him to be not scared of her and completely vindictive against her. George and Annie rescue Mitchell from the vampires, but Lauren is killed in the process. Owen once again confronts Owen and whispers something we don't hear in his ear, which drives him insane and opens a door for her, which she turns down when Herrick arrives at the house and stakes Mitchell, wounding him and sending him to the hospital. After Mitchell is brought back to life by drinking the blood of an old girlfriend who was already dying he sets up a meeting with Herrick for a fight to the death, but George tells Herrick to meet him in a different place and is turning into a werewolf at the same time, and Herrick is torn apart, however in the werewolf rage he accidentaly scratches Nina. They try to settle down for their normal lives again.
The characters are very strong, all of them going through a lot of emotional trauma, but ultimately managing to come out on the other side and continue with their lives. The performances reflect this, with particular note going to Russel Tovey as George and Jason Watkins as the villainous Herrick.
I don't really have a favourite episode or least favourite episode because they are put together in such a way that it is hard to remember what happened in which ones, especially since I haven't watched them in a while. This is probably the weakest of the good series, but still is very good.
In short, a good start to a great show, Definitely worth a watch.
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