2012 Preview: Being Human

Toby Whithouse’s supernatural drama Being Human returns to BBC Three early this year, and as fans of the show will know, there are some major cast changes for series four. Aidan Turner has left to film The Hobbit by way of a wolf-shaped bullet, and Sinead Keenan decided to leave the show at the end of the last series. What’s more, Russell Tovey has decided that this eight-episode series will be his last as George, leaving Lenora Crichlow’s ghostly Annie as the only remaining original cast member for series five.

Lenora promises that fans of the show need not be disappointed, “I missed Aidan and Sinead a lot, but the essence of Being Human, the love, enthusiasm and integrity of the show, is still there. We still have the same crew and production team behind it, but a different dynamic now we have had some changes in cast. Episode one is high, high drama. Think huge tears, and huge shocks, but it is also very exciting. It will have you on the edge of your seat!”

It looks like there is plenty to look forward to in this series, including new type of supernatural creature and the introduction of baby Eve into the household. Guest appearances this series include Mark Gatiss, Ellie Kendrick, Mark Williams and most excitingly of all, Craig Roberts (star of Submarine, one of my favourite films of the last year) returns as Adam, the middle-aged vampire stuck in a teenage body seen in an episode last series and the online spin-off Becoming Human.

Michael Socha’s werewolf Tom gets a deserved upgrade from guest character to a part of the main cast. He gets a job at a local cafe and slowly fits into the “family” with Annie taking on a motherly role as he adjusts to living in a house, a very different lifestyle to his travelling days. As Michael says, we’ll see Tom going through something akin to an adolescence, “He’s experiencing things probably a 13 or 14 year old would. He tries to adjust to these changes while at the same time is having a hard time coping with different emotions that he has never experienced before. You will discover Tom is quite an emotional character. Tom lost his dad in the last series so now he has to grow up. He copies McNair in a lot of ways, there are a lot of similarities, a lot of things Tom has taken with him, but I think Tom now is his own man.”

And, of course, there has to be a new vampire to fill Mitchell’s shoes. Irish actor Damien Molony, in his first television role, plays Hal, a rather posh legendary vampire of old who has managed to keep away from blood for decades but is coming perilously close to falling off the wagon when he arrives on Barry Island. Damien says he was conscious of not being a clone of his Aiden’s character, “Mitchell was such an iconic vampire, so it was nerve-racking joining a show to replace this fantastic actor and fantastic character. But the more and more I read the scripts and the more I realised where Hal was coming from, I realised they are so different, so the pressure was taken off slightly. I spoke to the directors and writers in length about it, and it was great to be given the freedom to pursue an entirely different character.”

Just like Misfits, Being Human is having to go through some major cast changes that are making some fans worry about the show’s best days being in the past, but with the same creative team being behind the show and some well-chosen replacements in the cast, it looks like it can continue to be one of the most exciting and original British dramas on television.

Need more to whet your appetite? Here’s a prequel introducing you to Hal, the new vampire…

Being Human returns to BBC Three soon

Tomorrow: Alcatraz