It seems that you can’t keep a good vampire/werewolf/ghost show down at the moment – so, as regular as clockwork, here’s the third series of Being Human!
Just as the US spin-off aired its debut series in the States, the original returned to BBC Three earlier this year to make Sunday nights something to look forward to again. Our regular characters of George (the werewolf), Mitchell (the vampire), Annie (the ghost) and Nina (the other werewolf) have upped sticks from Bristol and moved to Wales – very conveniently coinciding with BBC Drama’s ongoing migration to Cardiff.
However, all is not rosy for the quartet, with a steady flow of problems to deal with, including a scenery-chewing turn from Paul Kaye as a Batman-esque villain called Vincent and the miraculous reappearance of Series 1’s arch-nemesis Herrick (Jason Watkins) in a local hospital. There’s also welcome guest turns for the likes of Spooks star Nicola Walker and ex-EastEnder Lacey Turner, along with a surprisingly well-cast recurring role for Robson Green as a werewolf.
Creator Toby Whithouse continues to conjure up innovative spins on the show’s genre(s), with George getting arrested after being caught in a notorious local dogging area (presumably quite a tough location to resist for a werewolf) and local ne’er-do-wells taking advantage of the lycan community to profit from neighbourhood cage fights.
Series 3 descends into literal farce at times, with characters needing to be separated in adjoining rooms so as to keep their secret identities intact, while there is an excellent episode investigating zombie lore; especially prescient with The Walking Dead shuffling towards a second season. However, the blood-letting still errs on the side of edgy, especially when Herrick’s true colours are shown again after a handy bout of amnesia.
Hankies should be at the ready for the series finale, which features a shocking turn of events with huge ramifications for the original trio. Though a fourth series has already been confirmed, there will be a conspicuously empty pair of shoes to fill for the producers.
Released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 28th March 2011 by 2entertain.
Watch the Series 3 trailer…