Being Human
Mar. 2nd, 2009 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightSo Being Human is over, after only six episodes. Well, when I say 'only,' it's worth bearing in mind that that's six whole hours of television, uninterrupted by ad breaks, so it's not quite as little as it sounds. The BBC are promising another series, this time with eight episodes, though it'll be a year till we get to see them, which right now seems horribly cruel, but to be honest, I'm just glad to get another series at all, given how strapped the Beeb is for cash. And anyway, I'd rather wait a whole year for another series of the calibre of this one than have them rush something out in a hurry in a misguided attempt to cash in on the show's popularity.
I just hope that the BBC PTBs will know better than to mess with a winning formula. The show doesn't need expensive sets, big-name guest stars or (please, God, no!) a ghastly OTT orchestral soundtrack. It just needs what it has now - three charismatic and interesting main characters, well-written scripts and the willingness to go to dark places and not to shrink from exploring their grubby little corners.
More about the first series behind cut, with spoilers.
There are an awful lot of great TV shows out there - most of the current ones American- and it might seem presumptuous to put this one on a par with any of them, but I'm going to anyway, because I really did think it was that good. It might not have the grand sweep and vision of something like The Wire or BSG, and it may never attain the cult status of BtVS/AtS - and it certainly has a great deal less money to play with than any of those - but it's by far and away the best attempt at a show with any kind of sci-fi/fantasy elements that British TV has done in ages - and yes, I do mean including Life on Mars, and Doctor Who/Torchwood.
This isn't because the show has an exciting new 'take' on the vampire/werewolf legend as such but because it grounds the supernatural so earthily in dull, everyday life. Mitchell and George have dull, boring everyday jobs. They (and Annie) live in a shabby, run-down house in a fairly shabby-looking part of Bristol - and I like that the show is set in a recognisable place, rather than somewhere invented. The neighbours run the gamut from nice and normal (the pensioners) to outright weird (the Vin Diesel fan). The villains - Herrick and the other vampires - also lead dull, boring everyday lives. Herrick is a real, serving policeman. Glamorous it is not. However, for me, the lack of charm is actually part of the show's very homegrown charm.
But of course it's the scripts and the actors that make a show, and Being Human has the best of both. The scripts are witty and literate and full of a very dark - and very British - kind of humour, while the actors - the three main protagonists who have great chemistry together, and the more minor characters - have been uniformly excellent. Jason Watkins as Herrick is one of the best TV villains I've encountered in ages. He got away with saying some outrageously portentous things in the last episode and yet they never seemed 'off' or 'overripe.' I'm going to miss him an awful lot.
Some of the minor characters - like the sarcastic vicar from last night and Mitchell's old girlfriend Josie - were a complete joy, and the other werewolf character (can't remember his name) and the ghastly Owen can come back whenever they want. I would love to have seen more of Gilbert the 80s ghost too, but I don't see how he can come back now and am not sure he should.
Most of all, though, the show belongs to the three main characters, each of whom brought something to the mix and made it unique. Aidan Turner as Mitchell is probably the only member of the cast pretty enough for Hollywood, and yet Mitchell's good looks, though intergral to his character, didn't define it at all. For me, one of his best moments was in ep 5 when he turns against Herrick again, and asks him not to talk about his past vampiric exploits as if they were great or heroic. Lenora Crichlow's Annie was allowed to develop naturally from helpless, beaten victim in denial about the abuse she'd suffered, to the angry avenging angel we saw in last night's episode. I can't see Owen victimising her again. As for George, Russell Tovey has just been a complete delight. Every scene of his from the last episode will stay with me for a long time, from his desperation in his first meeting with Mitchell at the beginning, to him and the sarcastic vicar facing down the vampires in the hospital (terrific scene!) armed only with their faith (which the sarcastic vicar had to scramble to hang on to), to his showdown with Herrick at the end, which had a sacrificial feel to it. All just wonderful.
And what I love most? The dark, ambiguous ending, which I think the writers would probably have gone for even if these six episodes were all we ever got. Herrick is dead, but the threat remains, and Mitchell, Annie and George face an uncertain future, reflected in their uncertainty when they try to persuade themselves they're safe now. Meanwhile, upstairs, Nina contemplates her future as a werewolf, or possibly suicide. Again, it's uncertain. Elsewhere, Owen - who is clearly going mad - in a particularly surreal piece of dialogue, is offered 'yummy snacks' by the Demon Headmaster.
Strange, disturbing, absolutely gripping and with stellar writing, the only way for this show to go is up, unless the BBC manage to ruin it.
:crosses fingers that they don't:
I just hope that the BBC PTBs will know better than to mess with a winning formula. The show doesn't need expensive sets, big-name guest stars or (please, God, no!) a ghastly OTT orchestral soundtrack. It just needs what it has now - three charismatic and interesting main characters, well-written scripts and the willingness to go to dark places and not to shrink from exploring their grubby little corners.
More about the first series behind cut, with spoilers.
There are an awful lot of great TV shows out there - most of the current ones American- and it might seem presumptuous to put this one on a par with any of them, but I'm going to anyway, because I really did think it was that good. It might not have the grand sweep and vision of something like The Wire or BSG, and it may never attain the cult status of BtVS/AtS - and it certainly has a great deal less money to play with than any of those - but it's by far and away the best attempt at a show with any kind of sci-fi/fantasy elements that British TV has done in ages - and yes, I do mean including Life on Mars, and Doctor Who/Torchwood.
This isn't because the show has an exciting new 'take' on the vampire/werewolf legend as such but because it grounds the supernatural so earthily in dull, everyday life. Mitchell and George have dull, boring everyday jobs. They (and Annie) live in a shabby, run-down house in a fairly shabby-looking part of Bristol - and I like that the show is set in a recognisable place, rather than somewhere invented. The neighbours run the gamut from nice and normal (the pensioners) to outright weird (the Vin Diesel fan). The villains - Herrick and the other vampires - also lead dull, boring everyday lives. Herrick is a real, serving policeman. Glamorous it is not. However, for me, the lack of charm is actually part of the show's very homegrown charm.
But of course it's the scripts and the actors that make a show, and Being Human has the best of both. The scripts are witty and literate and full of a very dark - and very British - kind of humour, while the actors - the three main protagonists who have great chemistry together, and the more minor characters - have been uniformly excellent. Jason Watkins as Herrick is one of the best TV villains I've encountered in ages. He got away with saying some outrageously portentous things in the last episode and yet they never seemed 'off' or 'overripe.' I'm going to miss him an awful lot.
Some of the minor characters - like the sarcastic vicar from last night and Mitchell's old girlfriend Josie - were a complete joy, and the other werewolf character (can't remember his name) and the ghastly Owen can come back whenever they want. I would love to have seen more of Gilbert the 80s ghost too, but I don't see how he can come back now and am not sure he should.
Most of all, though, the show belongs to the three main characters, each of whom brought something to the mix and made it unique. Aidan Turner as Mitchell is probably the only member of the cast pretty enough for Hollywood, and yet Mitchell's good looks, though intergral to his character, didn't define it at all. For me, one of his best moments was in ep 5 when he turns against Herrick again, and asks him not to talk about his past vampiric exploits as if they were great or heroic. Lenora Crichlow's Annie was allowed to develop naturally from helpless, beaten victim in denial about the abuse she'd suffered, to the angry avenging angel we saw in last night's episode. I can't see Owen victimising her again. As for George, Russell Tovey has just been a complete delight. Every scene of his from the last episode will stay with me for a long time, from his desperation in his first meeting with Mitchell at the beginning, to him and the sarcastic vicar facing down the vampires in the hospital (terrific scene!) armed only with their faith (which the sarcastic vicar had to scramble to hang on to), to his showdown with Herrick at the end, which had a sacrificial feel to it. All just wonderful.
And what I love most? The dark, ambiguous ending, which I think the writers would probably have gone for even if these six episodes were all we ever got. Herrick is dead, but the threat remains, and Mitchell, Annie and George face an uncertain future, reflected in their uncertainty when they try to persuade themselves they're safe now. Meanwhile, upstairs, Nina contemplates her future as a werewolf, or possibly suicide. Again, it's uncertain. Elsewhere, Owen - who is clearly going mad - in a particularly surreal piece of dialogue, is offered 'yummy snacks' by the Demon Headmaster.
Strange, disturbing, absolutely gripping and with stellar writing, the only way for this show to go is up, unless the BBC manage to ruin it.
:crosses fingers that they don't: