Being human

Has anybody else been watching this on BBC3?

It's a little cliched in places, but generally it's been pretty good - well written and very watchable.

All of the episodes are currently on BBC iPlayer if anybody fancies giving it a go.

Yes I have, I missed last nights, but will catch up on that tonight. I found it good to watch and quite funny in places. As you say a bit cliched, but overall quite original for the Beeb.

Generally I've been really impressed with BBC3 - it's been a real creative breeding ground for new drama and comedy that wouldn't have fitted with either BBC1 or 2. There've been a few misses amongst their stuff, but, overall, it really is very high quality.

Have you *told* them that? They'd appreciate all the support they can get.

They'll need it after the correspondence they've been getting from me lately.

I liked seeing my old familiar territory in the opening scenes - Park Street and College Green in Bristol, but I don't like the violence.

The werewolf is quite David Brent like I've found.

I must admit, this is quite amusing

I do like this although the pilot was much funnier and this is a little darker. It is good though and BBC 3 have done some very good work

Brilliant episode tonight, building towards a nice series-end cliff-hanger and with some corking lines ...

"We're like the gayest ninjas ever".

I loved the

"If I'd known it would get all Andy Mcnab I wouldn't have bothered" line.

Best episode yet and so glad Owen got it. I wonder what she said.

Ha, digging up old threads and resurrecting them.

Series 2 starts at 9:30 on Sunday, if anybody didn't know.

This has been a public service announcement, have a great evening and remember to get your pets and werewolves neutered.

9 o'clock tonight.

I can't understand why it keeps getting trailed as a "Comedy drama" though, not many laughs in it!

Its all GOOOOD

I think it's quite funny as well, albeit in a very dark sense. Tonight's episode was excellent - I certainly never expected Wogan to do a cameo on the show.

Was it good? I gave up after the last series, I tried last weeks, but I was disappointed in the first episode and couldn't really see what they were going to do, apart from do a Lost / Hero's on it and drag it for 12 more series without ever closing!

I must say after tonight's episode I'm staggered at how well this series is shaping up. Aside from the slightly off comedy execution bit at the opening tonight's programme was a masterpiece of brilliant scripting, comic timing and superb performances.

The king is dead, long live the king!

I've not been watching this as we missed the first one. My wife is certain it will be shown on BBC1 once BBC3 has finished with it. I hope she's right.

All of the episodes are still on iPlayer if you'd like to catch up.

I found I could take or leave the first series (but still watched it) as it was a bit to light compared with the excellent pilot. However this series has been very good, they have made it much darker again but not lost the comedy either. All in all a very watchable show.

You probably already knew that it got binned after the pilot but reprieved due to audience pressure, so it is OUR BBC after all (unless of course you don't want Chris Evans on Radio 2 ).

This thread is of the undead, and cannot die.

Series 3 starts 23rd January. Whoo-hoo!

Superb TV the End.

New series started last night, and was cracking tv.

OMG I missed this as well as Top Gear - the IPlayer will get some stick tonight!!

My son bought me the first series as a box set DVD for XMas; I'd forgotten how good it was, compared to a lot of the dross on at the moment (Zen excluded; fun and clever)

Being Human is great. Glad to see it back. Very dark first episode, and great writing. Can't wait for the rest of the series, but I guess I'll have to.

is it worth renting/buying the earlier series?

Totally starsk ...do it

You know what AndrewR, i'm stunned you posted this, from what i've read of your posts/comments over the years on here, i'm astonished you have the patience or interest in such drivle.

Guess you learn something everyday, or everyday is a school day etc.

I'm surprised by your surprise, Shiny. I think that Being Human is one of the real triumphs to come from the BBC's use of BBC Three as a bed for new creative talent.

It's a good concept that has been uniformly well acted with intelligent and funny scripts and a broad range of appeal. What's not to like about it?

Robson Green? In a serious BBC series? And I quite like him in it?

What is going wrong?

just managed to get hold of the pilot episode

No no, please dont take offence Andrew, i just would never had put you down as a fan!

More of a fan than ever after the end of series 3 tonight. However, I wouldn't be sorry to see S4 focus on different characters.

Loved the writing, acting and filming of this. Haven't see the last episode yet, but what I have seen so far has been breathtaking.

Why is it the BBC produce such quality is this for BBC3, and such half-baked rubbish as Outcasts and The Deep for BBC1?

I've got no idea. I've watched the entire series of Outcasts and it's been pretty dreadful. A lot of the ideas they've thrown in have had some mileage, but around episode 4 they needed to stop adding new ingredients to the mix and start working towards developing or resolving some of the existing plot lines.

Take the human fossils - you would think that a human colony on another world finding human remains from millennia previously would be a pretty big deal. It would throw up thousands of questions about the origin of mankind, but instead everybody seems happy to accept that there used to be humans living there and then something killed them all (this latter part based on no evidence what-so-ever). Tosh.

Agreed. I keep watching though just to see if it gets better!

I gave up on outcasts halfway through the first episode on grounds of general direness.

If you're going to to science fiction, make it believable. If you're going to do space opera, do space opera. But please try and consider some problem in a new way, not just another spy/conspiracy/thriller/western with, ooh, spaceships!

An exhaustive list of the problems with Outcasts would probably use up all of the forum's available storage space, but my top 5 gripes are:

1. What the hell are the humans doing on Carpathia? The colony is supposed to have been there for 10 years, but all they seem to have done is knock up a mini-city of pre-fab housing and then sit there. There's no sign of economic activity, no exploration, no mining - they're all just sitting around. They don't even seem interested in the history of the planet. Fair enough, they've only just found the human fossils, but wouldn't you wonder why a planet seemed to have plant life, but no animals? Wouldn't you did for fossils or look for signs of previous animal life? If humans evolved on Carpathia then other animals must have as well (maybe the host intelligence decided they were all barbaric as well), there should be fossils for the finding.

2. What was C-23 all about? OK, the host intelligence thinks that mankind are a barbaric species (wow, how original), but if it can manipulate our DNA then why just kill off the children? Why not kill everybody off and be done with it? Also, if you're trying to punish a species for being vicious and unpleasant then killing off their children doesn't seem like it gives you much in the way of moral high ground.

3. While we're on about genetic viruses; if something comes in and tampers with your DNA to give you a horrible viral infection that makes your internal organs eat themselves then how does stopping further genetic manipulation make people with the virus better?

4. If you've got a big spaceship full of new settlers - the last remnants of humanity - and you're heading off to the last outpost of humans in the universe, having blown up Earth, then maybe you'd go with a view to settling in and seeing how the new planet works rather than picking a lunatic religious fanatic to send ahead to destablise the government so that you can take over wholesale when you get there. If you'd already decided that you couldn't possibly live with the existing settlers then why not just pack a few guns and take it by force or take enough people to get yourself democratically elected to the presidency? Better still, as the existing settlers have one crumby city and never seem to go more than 2 days walk from it then why not just set yourself up on the other side of the planet and do what the hell you like?

5. What the hell was the deal with the first guy to land on Carpathia? He turned up and people had heard of him and he was a bit of a legend, but it turned out that he'd ejected from his craft and then nobody had seen him since. If you send a bloke to explore a strange world and he never gets in touch again after his ship blows up then you'd assume he was dead, not that he'd landed and then decided not to report in (despite incapacitating injuries).

Oooo, it makes me mad I tells you.

OK, one question that is really bugging me.

In the final episode (and also seen in some earlier ones), the car that John Mitchell is driving when he stakes Herrick. What is it?

Ironically a Bristol 411?

Volvo Amazon wasn't it?

Correct. Well spotted. Dunces cap for me, I'm afraid.

Just got around to watching that last couple of episodes. Absolute crackers. Really enjoyed this; wish I'd seen the earlier series.

Just to, once again, bring this thread back from the dead - Series 4 of Being Human starts at 9pm on Sunday 5th February (a week on Sunday).

No Mitchell this series, but from the trailers it looks like we won't be short of vampires or werewolves.

Cheers Andrew! Can't wait... I have the first series on DVD, and thoroughly enjoyed the last one . Shame that there is no Mitchell though

I've managed to watch just a few episodes of this, but have really enjoyed them. I feel a box set coming on one day.

Think Misfits still edges it for me.

Thanks for the warning. Must tell my friends (who are now fed up of me telling them about it)

When is this series going to appear on one of the more mainstream BBC channels?

So, did anybody watch last night?

For those who are planning to catch up on iPlayer I'll spoiler out the rest of this post, to be on the safe side.

.

Love the fact that the series is back.I've been a fan of all so far and i'm pretty sure i've seen them all buuut...

(If you haven't caught up yet,avoid the spoiler....)



Aaanyway,really looking forward to the rest of the series to see what is coming!

Yes, watched it live. Live TV watching is very rare for me these days, so must have been an eagerly anticipated event.

Well, just to keep this 4 year old thread going ...

A great start to series 5 - the mix of humour and horror that has made the programme so good from the start.

Anybody else watching?

Series linked. Can't watch it when it goes out as it's too late for the 11-year old stepson. Hopefully we'll watch tonight, then Utopia tomorrow.
Instead we watched Tyrannosaur last night, which is to rom-coms what Top Gear is to fresh, interesting, funny telly.

Loved it. I like how it mixes daft, sitcom comedy with genuine malice and good old-fashioned gore. Less teenage than Misfits, less pretentious than Utopia. Doesn't make it better than either, but distinctive.

Sorry - very disappointed. Its lost its way. Its less about the characters and their situation, and more about prophecies, fulfilment, destiny. When this was first introduced (series 3) I loved the way that the "Wolf-shaped Bullet" thing was all about manipulation, mind games. Now it seems like any standard vampire story.

I do know what you mean, Jim (incidentally, great to see you here!), but I have never watched the early series in any order, so I possibly saw it more as a new thing than a (flawed) progression. I'm fully intending to get a box set at some point and work through it, at which point I may agree with you!

Utopia tonight...

I think any programme which goes for 5 series has to move on. It can't keep being about the difficulties of being a member of the undead in modern society. For example, it was fun in the early series seeing how George dealt with his transformation, but we don't really need to see Tom going through the same problems.

The important thing, for me, is that the script has kept fresh, presenting new challenges every series, but has remained true to the original concept and has been, consistently, a good mix of horror, humour and human interest.

Yep, just caught up on the iPlayer. Good fun and clever plot line.... Kate Bracken is also more than warm (HOT)

I did like the reference to the Twilight franchise, too.

The BBC have said that this is going to be the final series of Being Human, so maybe this thread will finally get to rest in peace

You have to murder your darlings...
I always respected the BBC for only making 2 series of Life On Mars. I'd have liked it even better if they'd only made 1 (not because I didn't like it, but it just didn't need any more added).

Indeed. In a completely different genre I really enjoyed season 1 of The Big C, which ended on a perfect note and should have been left there. It wasn't that season 2 was bad, it was just that there wasn't really anything more to be said.

Yes but they then went on to make Ashes to Ashes which apart from Gene and the Quattro, was a pile of poo.

I think, in a way, that supports my point.

Hello Jim. Just popped back for some Being Human conversation. You are not going to try and persuade me to buy another brand new I am Kloot album again are you?

...Peruses other threads...

Yes, you are going to!

This new series is VERY dark and I am really enjoying it. Captain Hatch is one of the best villains I have seen on TV for a long time (Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Batman is the best, but he doesn't count as it is an old film). Having the new characters kill themselves every episode is a trifle repetitive but I can't wait for the next one!

Not that I have to try too hard, I'll wager!

I haven't seen this week's yet - out of sync due to early bedtimes once again!

I think I can see where it is all heading, which will round off the final series nicely.

At the start of all the recent series, I have thought "It won't be as good without x,y or z in it ", only to be proved entirely wrong.

It is the most consistent series anywhere on tv for the past few years.

Yup. I was worried how it would go without George, Mitchell and Annie, but Tom, Hal and Alex have been great.

I think, in truth, I preferred the previous series, but this one is building up nicely to an epic show-down, as befits the very last episode ever of what has been a marvelous programme.

... and Kate Bracken...

fit as the fishmonger's cat

Well, I guess we can close this thread now!

What a great ending.

I agree - a great end to the series. Sorry to see it go, but glad that the last episode managed to be funny, scary and touching. All the things that made the series brilliant.

Just watched it. Really impressive ending. Take note, other series!