Being Human

Meeting Being Human’s Aidan Turner, the abstaining vampire with a wobbly moral code, in a wintery cold Bristol, tucked into the corner of a portacabin with steaming cups of tea, well, that’s an enjoyable way to spend time.

Turner, who has since graced our screens as the irrepressible Rosetti in ‘Desperate Romantics’, brings back his dark charm and rough bitterness to his Being Human character. Even as Mitchell struggles to find a role for himself in a Herrick free world and with a firm grip once more on his no-biting rule, Aidan’s spiky delivery of Toby Whithouse’s sharp script is a relief from other tortured vampires of recent times – the wooden, pasty, teen girl safety zone of Robert Pattinson’s Edward, or even the furrowed brow, caveman consternation of David Boreanaz’s Angel.

The BBC3 show, now in its second series, has become a phenomenon. Remember when The Office got its own American spin off and everyone went, oh Ricky Gevais is a genius, now Being Human is following that illustrious path with a quiet dignity. And yet it remains on BBC3, feels like it belongs to the fans and instead of being made distilled to a milky texture palatable to BBC1 viewers, remains bloody, naked, honest and sexy.

Despite the supernatural idea of a ghost (Lenora Crichlow), a werewolf (Russell Tovey), a vampire (Turner) living together, plus a host of others (including George’s girlfriend, Nina, played by Sinead Keenan), it’s the real life relationships, “the human element”, says Tovey, that “makes you believe you could have vampires and werewolves living on your street.”  Whithouse’s writing, which Tovey describes as being a mix of This Life, Cold Feet and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, is what attracted the players in the first place while the show’s myth-busting (Mitchell, when off the red stuff, makes do with cereal, but also wanders in daylight and has a reflection), although somewhat a result of budget constraints, anchors the supernatural action in the realm of (almost) normal.

Having the premise squarely set up during the first series, the second has started with a bang – the viewer at last given the answer to Nina’s is she-isn’t she werewolf status as she goes through her first transformation, Annie taking her ability to be seen and getting a job. And George?  “He starts to embrace the wolf, before he has tried to avoid it, which takes takes him to a darker place,” grins Russell. “That provides a few problems for Nina and George.” For Mitchell however, he finds himself trapped without a visible enemy in Herrick, sitting on the couch in his beloved fingerless gloves, making roll-ups.

But Aidan hints that this lull will not last very long: “All the characters this year have a massive journey and Mitchell’s is pretty extensive. He was left in that weird hiatus where the leader of the vampires has been killed and he has to make amends for that. It’s open to anything and everything. It goes darker and he gets more selfish. ”

Each cast member speaks of  Being Human becoming darker, the words “much more blood” spilling out with relish, the flatmates’ relationship maturing and sparking. Turner allows that the tension in the house rachets up a few notches, but dismisses that viewers new to the show might wonder why they all live together if they can’t make peace; “It’s sort of unbelievable in a way to see three flatmates living in a house for a year and not having any sort of disagreements. Some are life or death and some are ridiculous, but they all seem to have the same gravitas. Not seeing fights would be crazy. It’s refreshing to see them deal with it, it’s real.”

As for the bad guys in Being Human, now Herrick has gone the humans are moving in with some nasty ideas (werewolves bleeding out in decompression chambers, anyone?) but even they are given a twist. Unlike the done and dusted division of bad guys over here and good guys over there, “they’re not all bad,” admits Lenora. “Their motivations for the work that they’re doing isn’t just black and white, it’s very muddy, which is a lot more interesting.”

With Aidan admitting he was blown away by a 6,000 strong contingent of fans at the San Diego Comic-Con last summer, before Being Human had even begun showing Stateside, and a third series commissioned, the fans that petitioned and saved the series from oblivion when the Beeb failed to see its potential must be raising a toast. A lovely goblet… of cornflakes.