Throughout Being Human we’ve encountered ghosts, vampires and werewolves, referred to as ‘Type 1’, ‘Type 2’ and ‘Type 3’. This week, we’re introduced to a new kind of being; the ‘Type 4’.
If you’re a fan of the show, chances are you’ll have already guessed what the Type 4 will be. After ghosts, werewolves and vampires, the obvious type for the Being Human treatment was, of course, the zombie.
While Annie (Lenora Crichlow) is out on a midnight stroll, she stumbles across a drunken, loud-mouthed girl looking the worse-for-wear – even against the many drunks of the city centre. Visibly rotting, but otherwise normal, Sasha (Alexandra Roach) takes exception to Annie and follows her home, leaving the gang no choice but to take her in before the neighbours notice the drunken dead girl crying in the drive.
It’s a pleasure to see the gang working together for a change; they’ve been too segregated in dealing with their own issues recently. The show was founded on the close bond between them, so it’s nice to see the show return to that. Similarly, there’s a reminder that George and Mitchell (Russell Tovey and Aiden Turner) are in fact best friends, as the pair have a man-to-man about Mitchell’s uncertainty over Annie.
Indeed, Mitchell’s doubt over the impending romance (obvious to everyone but him) helps the story play better. It has come so out of the blue, with virtually no romantic tension between the pair in the previous two series, that it somehow feels uncomfortable, even incestuous, to see them suddenly developing feelings for each another.
As for Sasha, the zombie storyline exemplifies Being Human’s strengths – she’s a zombie, but she isn’t a monster. She’s just a typical girl trying to be normal and it’s that human spin on the supernatural that the show does best.
Initially played for laughs, things take a chilling turn when Annie and Mitchell make an unsettling discovery in the morgue (so unsettling, in fact, that Annie has to remind herself she’s already dead just to keep composure). Sasha strives to carry on as normal, but as her body continues to rot, the gang face the horrible prospect of watching an otherwise normal girl decompose from under herself.
Elsewhere, Mitchell struggles with Graham (Tony Maudsley), a “fan-boy” who, while initially harmless, begins to display a sinister side, forcing himself into Mitchell’s life to an uncomfortable degree, and George and Nina (Sinead Keenan) find themselves with a personal dilemma driving a wedge between them. The latter story leads to an outstanding, emotionally raw performance from Keenan that sheds light upon Nina’s sometimes thorny persona. It’s also been a long time coming, given that it draws on a forgotten point from way back in Series 1.
There’s still no reappearance from the McNair werewolves, or the newly resurrected Herrick, but as long as the show keeps finding new ways to put human twists on established horror conventions, Being Human’s stand-alone episodes are more than satisfying.
Airs at 9pm on Sunday 6th February 2011 on BBC Three and BBC HD.