Being Human series 1-4

Being Human is a big hit on BBC 3 and one of my favourite TV series. With the recent release of series 4 on DVD, a review of this series is long overdue. The premise of the series sounds like the opening line of a joke - a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf share a house together. Well, there certainly is humour in the series, but mainly there is drama centred around three very different characters, whom you will quickly come to love, admire and most important of all, care deeply about. Annie Sawyer, played by Lenora Crichlow, is a ghost who haunts the house, having been murdered there by her last boyfriend. At first she doesn't realise this. Only other supernatural creatures can see and hear her, which makes her very happy when George and Mitchell move in. George Sands, played by Russell Tovey, is a reluctant werewolf, who doesn't want to hurt anyone or pass on the werewolf curse. He's a bit of a nerd but very intelligent, being able to speak multiple languages fluently. John Mitchell, played by Aiden Turner, is a 100+ year old vampire but has the looks and appearance of a 20 year old. He also doesn't want to hurt anyone, so he abstains from taking blood. No one calls him John, he's just known as Mitchell. The trio try to live normal lives and blend in with humanity. George and Mitchell work as porters in a Bristol hospital, keeping a low profile. Series 1 deals with their struggles at "being human" as they deal with mundane issues like house-sharing and girlfriends. However, their primary conflict is stopping the rise of the rest of Bristol's vampire population, led by Herrick, played by Adrian Lester, who just happens to be Mitchell's sire. Herrick masquerades as a policeman and is a complete and utter bastard but such a joy to watch! Incidentally, in this series, vampires are not affected by sunlight.

Series two picks up almost directly after the climax of series one. George's girlfriend, Nina Pickering, played by Sinead Keenan, got scratched by George when he was in werewolf form at the end of series one. You know what that means? Yes, come the next full moon, she also transforms into a werewolf. She tries to keep her condition a secret from the others, especially George, but fails. Annie searches for a new meaning to her existence, now that she has resolved her murder as a human. Mitchell steps into the power vacuum in the ranks of the Bristol vampires, following what happened at the end of series one. With great reluctance, he becomes their new leader, a decision that he soon comes to regret. A new threat to our heroes arrives in the form of a mysterious organisation known as CenSSA (Centre for the Study of Supernatural Activity). Their leader, Dr. Jaggett, convinces Nina that they have a cure for lycanthropy (they don't!) and she happily believes him to such an extent that she splits up with George. Annie learns of the existence of Purgatory, a place she does not want to visit... ever. George tries hard to live a normal life. He gets a new job as a language teacher and tries to settle down with a young mother although her daughter never takes to him. The veil is lifted from his eyes when he almost transforms at a PTA meeting and thus he welcomes Nina back into his life and agrees to meet with CenSSA. He is now so desperate for any possibility of a cure for his lycanthropy. Annie tags along with them but suffers a cruel fate at the hands of Dr. Jaggett. Unbeknownst to all of them, Mitchell falls off the wagon in spectacular fashion as he slaughters a load of passengers on a train. It is such an important and devastating turning point in his unlife, the ramifications of which are fully explored in series three.

Series three is a lot darker than the previous two series. After the events of series two, you just know that life can never be the same for Annie, George, Nina and especially, Mitchell. They move to a large house situated in Barry, South Wales, which becomes their new home for the rest of the series. The house used to be a former bed and breakfast hotel and is called Honolulu Heights. The quartet have to deal with figures from their past, including one huge surprise, as well as further encounters with vampires (a likable teenager and an obnoxious husband and wife pair of swingers), a very sympathetic zombie and a pair of werewolves who hunt vampires. This last two, MacNair, played by Robson Green, and his adopted son, Tom, played by Michael Socha, have the biggest impact on their lives. Meanwhile, Mitchell is desperate to atone for his actions in series two. Over the course of the six episodes of series three the truth about what he did is revealed to Annie, George and Nina and he realises there is only one way to resolve the matter - he has to die! He asks George to stake him. Does he die or not? If you don't want to know then do not highlight my spoiler alert below.
SPOILER ALERT BEGINS Series three does indeed end with George staking Mitchell, proving that the makers are not afraid to kill off major characters. Even more surprising, series four begins with the deaths of Nina (off screen) and George and ends with the death of Annie and baby Eve. Gulp! SPOILER ALERT ENDS 

Series four shifts gear, with young werewolf Tom MacNair and an ancient vampire (500+ years old) called Hal Yorke, played by newcomer Damien Moloney, joining Annie in Honolulu Heights. Hal shared a house in Southend with a ghost called Pearl and an old werewolf called Leo. They travel to Barry on a quest, which sees Leo and Pearl departing and Hal stuck behind. Annie has a new quest in her life - to raise and protect baby Eve, the offspring of George and Nina. A vampire prophecy written on human flesh reveals that Eve is the War Child, the person who will destroy all vampires. This series has been expanded from six episodes to eight and is without doubt, my favourite series so far. Being Human has always had its moments of comedy but in series four there are some genuine laugh out loud moments. Episode 4.06, in particular, has some outstanding comedy scenes. Early on in the series, it is announced that the Old Ones, a group of ancient vampires, will arrive in Barry. Naturally, Hal knows all about them. After all, he was once part of their group. For fifty years, Hal has avoided drinking blood but that all ends when the Old Ones finally arrive. They are led by Mr. Snow, evil personified and brilliantly played by Mark Gatiss. If baby Eve lives, the vampires will take over the world and Hal will lead them to victory. If baby Eve dies, humanity's dark future will be avoided. Given that Annie, who really is a very powerful entity in her own right, has sworn to protect baby Eve, this leaves her with an unenviable dilemma. Kill the baby to save humanity or save the baby and condemn humanity?

VERDICT. Suffice to say, I am a huge fan of this series. It is one of those series that improves with every episode. It started strongly but ended so impressively. Actually, when I say ended, that isn't strictly true. Thankfully, the BBC have already commissioned series five. Oh joy! It should air in 2013. The stories have been a delight to watch. I can't think of a single duff episode, but I can think of plenty of outstanding episodes. Credit must go to the main leads, whose characters want nothing more than to lead normal lives and blend in with society even though they are, essentially, monsters. Being Human achieves a very difficult feat of being superb in so many categories - comedy, drama, horror and romance.
The first three series all have special features on the DVD sets, but I kept wishing for more. Series four, however, more than makes up for that "fault" by having over two hours worth of extras. If you haven't seen any of the series, I'd recommend buying the boxed set containing all four series, currently priced at £35.99 from Amazon. Of course you can buy each series separately. My ratings for the series are 8/10 for series one, 8.5/10 for series two, 9/10 for series three and 9.5/10 for series four. So, have you heard the one about a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf who share a house?

Horrorclix Ghosts and Spirits

There is one type of undead creature that this blog has not mentioned yet - ghosts. I'm going to review six of the ghostly types produced by Wizkids for their dearly departed Horrorclix range. In the Horrorclix game they are mainly called Spirits. Ghosts or spirits, whatever you call them, they are the same class of creature.

In the two photos above, the ghost at the far left is the spirit form of the Executed Convict found in the basic set. To denote his non-corporeal form, Wizkids have done something very clever - they have moulded him in transparent plastic. I think this is a great idea. It is a technique thay have used on all six ghosts and it works brilliantly. You may have seen this figure before in an earlier review as I painted him up as a zombie. See http://vampifansworldoftheundead.blogspot.com/2010/01/horrorclix-zombies-01.html

Next up, is the Lynch Ghost. He is one of the six figures that come with the boxed starter set that contains the rulebook. His hood and noose remain in corporeal form, whilst the rest of him has transformed to non-corporeal status. He is a very nicely sculpted figure.

The last of this group of three ghosts is an Asylum Spirit, and he can be found in The Lab expansion set of figures. Like the Lynch Ghost, part of him remained corporeal (his strait jacket), whilst the rest of him did not. Note how he is emerging from a swirl of ectoplasmic fog. It's a nice touch that adds to his other-worldliness.

The green hued ghost at the far left of the two photos above is a variant of the Scarecrow figure found in the basic set. The green plastic is translucent but I gave it a dry brush of Citadel Scorpion Green to better define the surface detail. He is a very animated figure caught in mid-charge by the sculptor as he wields his scythe with deadly intent.
In the centre of this group of three is the Skeletal Maiden. She also came from the basic set and is moulded in translucent red plastic, which I have dry-brushed in Citadel Tentacle pink followed by a dry-brush of Citadel Skull White. Note how the dry-brushing has picked out the details of her skull-like face and bony back. Just like the Asylum Spirit, she hasn't fully formed yet. If you were to repaint her, she'd make a fine banshee to use in a Vampire Count's army for Warhammer. Just a thought.
Finally, we come to the ghostly Dire Wolf - the spirit form of the normal Dire Wolf as found in the basic set. You can tell from his size alongside the others that he is a big beast. I had to fit him on a 30mm diameter slottabase as he was too big to fit on the 25mm slottabases that I normally use for my figures.
Of all the figures of ghosts and spirits available on the market, these six are my favourite. Yes, the sculpting of all six is very, very good but that isn't the main reason why I like them so much, although it is a contributory factor. My main reason for liking them so much is because they have been moulded out of clear plastic. If you were to mould these in white metal or resin they would not work quite as well. It is the transparency of the plastic that gives these critters their cutting edge. If you don't have them and would like to get your hands on them, they frequently crop up on internet auction sites. Do a Google search and you ought to strike lucky. They shouldn't be that expensive.

Okay, I suppose many of you were hoping to read about Day Two of my ATZ campaign after my batreps for Day One went down so well. Well, you won't have too long to wait as I plan to post it this coming Wednesday. I just wanted a short break before posting it. Batreps take a lot more time and effort to produce than figure reviews. The Day Two scenario will be entitled "Minding the Gap." See you soon!