Being Human Revisited: the live blog

I love BBC Three’s Being Human. That’s probably an important disclaimer for this particular blog post so let’s get it out of the way first. I watched the pilot back in February 2008, instantly falling in love with the story of a vampire, a ghost and a werewolf sharing a house in Bristol.

Screened as part of a season which saw six pilots made for the channel, the intention being to turn at least one into a fully fledged series, Being Human may have stood out as one of the most original but it almost fell at the first hurdle. The Powers That Be decided to commission comic book action fantasy-thingy Phoo Action instead and Being Human was dead…or would have been if the fans hadn’t got involved.

Long before Twitter was the force for social good it is (we can debate that one another time), fans set up an online petition calling for Being Human to be given another chance. The short version of the ensuing saga is that they won, Phoo Action high-kicked into oblivion and we now have series two about to start on BBC Three tomorrow night.

I’ve now decided to watch it all again. Starting with the pilot (which isn’t in the DVD set), I’ll run through the series, watching the series first six episodes shown on TV last year.

My comments won’t be the most in-depth on the Internet – it is live after all – but I’ll do my best to capture some of the feeling of the series as it develops. This may stretch into tomorrow depending on other commitments, but I’ll make sure I finish it all by 9.30pm Sunday night. Promise.

There’s no real plan to this live blog other than that. I’ll link off to a few other sites, drop in the odd YouTube clip and trailer if it’s relevant and generally go a bit OTT on the series. Feel free to leave comments if you’d like and follow me on Twitter for the odd interlude and to find out when I’ll be starting each episode…oh, and watch out for spoilers folks…

Here’s a look at the original trailer for the pilot:

Being Human: The Series

Back in February 2008 I was lucky enough to tune into the UK’s largest “youth” channel, BBC Three, to watch the one-off drama pilot Being Human. And it was brilliant.

The opening moments introduced us to George (Russell Tovey) as he wandered in the woods near Bristol, stripped off and subsequently turned into a werewolf.

From there it got odder and even more bonkers, with various plot threads chucked at the viewer in the hope that something would stick. It was funny, dark, surprising and generally a breath of fresh air for the channel. The cast also gelled nicely, with Guy Flanagan putting in a fine performance as troubled vampire (is there any other sort??) Mitchell.

Now, almost a year on and following an internet campaign that saw the fans insist that a series be commissioned, Being Human returns for six episodes starting on Sunday 25 January at 9pm on BBC Three, albeit minus two members of the cast, one of which is, sadly, Mr Flanagan.

Still, the creators got it pretty much spot-on first time around so I’m sure they won’t let us down with newbies Aiden Turner as Mitchell and Lenora Crichlow as Annie (replacing Andrea Riseborough). Here’s the trailer:

Sadly the pilot episode isn’t getting repeated, which is a shame. It has however surfaced on YouTube and as it has been there for nearly a year I’m guessing the BBC are happy enough. I’ve linked to it below as it’s well worth a watch.

I plan to review the first episode here when it airs and look forward to it being a jewel in the schedule…here’s hoping.

Find out more About Being Human.

Check out the superb official Being Human blog.

Join the Being Human Facebook group.