Mitchell, George and Annie
It sounds like the starts of a really lame joke, but it turns out to be the beginning of a strangely compelling personal drama that incorporates traditional western folklore and contemporary dark humor. After watching the first episode of Being Human it’s easy to get hooked. This humorous and somewhat campy story of three supernatural creatures trying to be normal people is cute and whimsical one moment and deceptively poignant the next.
George is a self-loathing werewolf who tries to control his monthly cycle of emotional and physical transformation. Mitchell is a suave vampire who is currently “on the wagon,” fighting his bloodlust on every level. They become friends after Mitchell saves George from being beaten by a coterie of his fanged contemporaries. Then they meet Annie when they inadvertently move into the flat that she just happened to die inside of and is now haunting.
George and Mitchell work together as hospital porters while their ephemeral roommate waits impatiently for them to get home. Annie is a “friendly ghost” that would put Casper to shame. She cooks, cleans and takes care of almost everything around the house. Her only downfall is that she’s inextricably bound to her emotional state which has a tendency to make the house rather volatile.
As a part of his middeath crisis, Mitchell has turned his back on the vampire that embraced him, Herrick. Herrick wants Mitchell to come back to the coterie, because he thinks Mitchell will play an integral part in his future plans. But Mitchell wants nothing to do with his old unlife, including a coworker he accidentally embraced during a sexual tryst. Even though the main plot of this first episode (and the rest of the show) focuses a lot on the vampires, there are more then enough great moments focusing on George and Annie, so the show does a great job of balancing the screen time between its three main characters.
Aidan Turner and Lenora Crichlow, who play Mitchell and Annie respectively, give amazing performances. Turner balances the visual ticks of Mitchell’s blood thirst with a convincing poise that would only develop after a hundred years of murderous experiences. Crichlow, on the other hand, has to run the gamut of emotions. Like a bipolar pendulum, she jumps from one extreme to the other, never resting in between. Even with these two great performances, the actor to look out for is Russell Tovey (George).
Tovey is a talented, young actor who is a poster child for a new generation of out gay performers. Comparing his performance in this show to previous performances in the critically acclaimed History Boys and the uncomfortably funny Annually Retentive, it’s easy to see his range and ability. Even though it would be (personally) exciting to watch a show about a twenty-something gay werewolf, his performance as the tragically straight and constantly awkward George is as endearing as it is entertaining.
Everyone has had strange roommates in their lifetime. Some are messy, rude and obnoxious. Some are picky, obsessive and eccentric. And others are just plain weird. So it is no surprise that hundreds of shows have all revolved around the drama (or hilarity) of roommates. But despite all that, this show is a tough pitch. Even so, the first episode set the stage for a six-part series that is a wonderful combination of humor, horror and drama.
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