Author Topic: Being Human  (Read 19688 times)

Alasdair5000

  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 1022
    • My blog
on: February 18, 2008, 11:00:05 PM
   If you get the chance, do try and catch this.  It's an hour long pilot, shown tonight on BBC3 for a series about a vampire and a werewolf who work as hospital porters and the ghost in their new flat.

The perky ghost.

Who makes tea.

   Very English, very odd and just when it looks set to go all cute you get a moment that drives home exactly how horrific these characters lives can be.  Written by Toby Whitehouse who did one of the good Torchwood Season 1 episodes (Greeks Bearing Gifts) and the dialogue alone is worth the hour.

Repeated all this week I think on the BBC channels and on the iplayer on their website for seven days.



eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #1 on: February 18, 2008, 11:13:17 PM
Ooh, good timing, I literally finished watching this 5 minutes ago.

Let me second Alasdair's recommendation - if you can see BBC shows do your best to catch this one. I can easily see it go down the route many BBC fantasy/horror shows went down and lose the balance between the light-hearted and dark parts of the plot, while not acquiring the gravitas to pull it off, but the first episode was great.



Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #2 on: February 19, 2008, 12:51:58 AM
For those illegitimately wanting to see it, there's a bay of pirates with a copy.


I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #3 on: February 23, 2008, 12:10:51 AM
I have to chime in on the it's good thing, and I didn't find it particularly British — but maybe I just missed a bunch of in-jokes. I did love the Harry Potter scene towards the end there.

I'm not a big horror fan, but I will keep watching this one.

I wonder if there will be Mermaids.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #4 on: February 28, 2008, 11:34:28 PM
For the love of whatever pagan worship system they have in this pilot, can the BBC give it a greenlight and get the full series in production? Do they hate their fans? Is the comment about the people with rocks and sticks (Styx?) actually the writer's memory of going into meetings in BBC HQ? 

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


oddpod

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 305
Reply #5 on: March 11, 2008, 07:11:52 PM
i was blown away buy this also, if thay dont make a sereas i am going to sullk, realy realy sulk

card carying dislexic and  gramatical revolushonery


Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #6 on: July 23, 2008, 01:31:36 AM
Apparently six episodes have been commissioned, but the leads haven't signed on yet.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #7 on: January 12, 2009, 06:10:46 PM
A webpage has now come up on the BBC site - they seem to have recast the female lead, but I think the male leads have remained the same:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/beinghuman/about/



davedoty

  • Peltast
  • ***
  • Posts: 106
Reply #8 on: January 13, 2009, 01:59:07 PM
Nope, they recast the vampire, too.  And the evil vampire.  Only Russell Tovey as the werewolf remains.

And the pilot is not going to be in the same continuity as the series, which is supposed to be "less gothic, more grounded, and funnier."

I'll check it out, but not thrilled by that description.



eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #9 on: January 13, 2009, 02:18:49 PM
Nope, they recast the vampire, too.  And the evil vampire.  Only Russell Tovey as the werewolf remains.

Ah, I just went by the pictures, and the vampire guy looks pretty similar to me. Or maybe I just paid more attention to the woman ;). The evil vampire was a pretty minor character in the pilot - though obviously destined to become more important as the series progressed - so it does not surprise me he was recast.

Quote
And the pilot is not going to be in the same continuity as the series, which is supposed to be "less gothic, more grounded, and funnier."

I'll check it out, but not thrilled by that description.

I'm curious - did that quote come from an interview or something with more context? I'm curious.



sirana

  • Lochage
  • *****
  • Posts: 409
Reply #10 on: January 13, 2009, 08:46:14 PM
Nope, they recast the vampire, too.  And the evil vampire.  Only Russell Tovey as the werewolf remains.

And the pilot is not going to be in the same continuity as the series, which is supposed to be "less gothic, more grounded, and funnier."

I'll check it out, but not thrilled by that description.

Not too happy about the recast here. I was on the edge about the vampire, his acting felt a little forced sometimes, but he had a nice chemistry with the wolf. The recast of the ghost is a pity. I really liked the actor, from what I could see in the pilot. A shame too that Adrian Lester (the head vamp) will not return to his role, I liked him a lot, too.

"less gothic, more grounded" doesn't sound necessarily bad to me. "funnier" does.



eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #11 on: January 13, 2009, 09:30:08 PM
"less gothic, more grounded" doesn't sound necessarily bad to me. "funnier" does.

"Funnier" doesn't sound bad to me. It sounds like it's far riskier - balancing comedy and drama is far harder than sticking to one or the other - but if it's done well, it can be very rewarding as well.



davedoty

  • Peltast
  • ***
  • Posts: 106
Reply #12 on: January 14, 2009, 12:56:39 AM
I'm curious - did that quote come from an interview or something with more context? I'm curious.

I found the quote on Wikipedia (I misquoted slightly, he actually said "more rooted" rather than "more grounded," if that makes a difference).  I went back and looked at the citiation, and it came from this interview.



eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #13 on: January 14, 2009, 02:39:40 AM
Oh dear. If you want something that really makes me have doubts about the story, look no further than the last line of the interview. There are few phrases that have been attached to more television disasters than "very dramatic twist".



davedoty

  • Peltast
  • ***
  • Posts: 106
Reply #14 on: January 16, 2009, 08:15:27 AM
Oh dear. If you want something that really makes me have doubts about the story, look no further than the last line of the interview. There are few phrases that have been attached to more television disasters than "very dramatic twist".

Could be bad, but despite my reservations, I'm not freaking out about this just yet.  Usually dramatic twists go wrong because they're tacked on attempts to revive a show that's off track.  They can work if they're planned from the beginning and built to in a logical way, with careful thought as to how the show will work after that.  Time will tell if that's the case here, though.



Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #15 on: January 16, 2009, 03:10:29 PM
Can anyone explain why exactly the BBC did the show development and production like this? It seems a little insane to pull everyone together for a pilot, that from all accounts went well, and then totally redo everything.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #16 on: January 16, 2009, 03:24:48 PM
Can anyone explain why exactly the BBC did the show development and production like this? It seems a little insane to pull everyone together for a pilot, that from all accounts went well, and then totally redo everything.

I don't think they released too many details, but there are several possible reasons that come to mind:

1 - Executive meddling. Probably the most likely, as network executives are known for their ability to try to "fix" stuff that isn't broken.
2 - Artistic direction. It could be that the creators decided they weren't entirely happy with the orgiinal. Reading between the lines, this may have happened with the original vampire - the interviews make it sound like the creator wasn't 100% happy with the original actor.
3 - The actors may have refused to sign a longer contract, maybe they got a better job in the time between the pilot's production and the series being picked up.
4 - The pilot was relatively popular, but there was clearly room for improvement. I agree with some of the comments made in the interviews about the changes - specifically, the pilot did seem to lack a bit of cohesiveness, and there were points that felt like the creators weren't entirely sure what direction the show was supposed to take. I think that one way or another, it was good that they decided, though I hope they made a good decision.



Alasdair5000

  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 1022
    • My blog
Reply #17 on: January 16, 2009, 04:42:47 PM
At least one element of it as well is how late the pick up was.  Andrea Riseborough, who played the original Annie, has hit the fast track with her last two or three roles and the contract, I would guess, for a possible series had lapsed by the time BBC3 decided to do it.



eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #18 on: January 18, 2009, 11:09:20 PM
And there's a date - series premiers next Sunday, Jan 25.



Alasdair5000

  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 1022
    • My blog
Reply #19 on: January 19, 2009, 01:57:34 PM
Fantastic:)  An early, spoiler free review's gone up by Narin Bahar, who organised the petition that appears to have got the show up and running.  It's at sfx.co.uk and is positively glowing so the initial concerns about the retooling appear to be unfounded.



Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #20 on: February 03, 2009, 12:16:36 AM
So it's been in the wild now for a bit. I continue to like the werewolf, and I don't think the replacement actors are worse than their originals. I like that the vampire clique is a bit more subtle now — it was a bit overblown last time.

Is it just me or does the BBC have a set number of times the werewolf has to be naked on camera per episode?

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


Alasdair5000

  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 1022
    • My blog
Reply #21 on: February 03, 2009, 11:33:59 AM
Certainly seems that way:)  I actually liked the second one more than the first, and, like you am really liking the new, subtler Vampire group.  Also? The replacement Lauren is magnificent.  Rarely seen an actress that small face off with a guy twice her size and look that intimidating.



Poppydragon

  • Peltast
  • ***
  • Posts: 128
Reply #22 on: February 04, 2009, 12:16:24 AM
Watched this for the first time tonight (via play it again sam) and really enjoyed it. I thought th eacting was good most of the time and it had a nice blend of comedy and drama about it. I thought the actor playing Herrick wa sparticularly good. Nice to find something I want to keep watching.

Man - despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.


sirana

  • Lochage
  • *****
  • Posts: 409
Reply #23 on: February 12, 2009, 07:07:24 PM
*shudder*

I hated this new first episode. I hated the new actors, I hated the writing, I hated the directing.
The new Vampire is worse than the first one and this goes doubly for the ghost.

I won't be watching any more episodes of this...



DKT

  • Friendly Neighborhood
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4980
  • PodCastle is my Co-Pilot
    • Psalms & Hymns & Spiritual Noir
Reply #24 on: February 23, 2009, 05:16:58 PM
Is there a place I can see this online somewhere? Between hearing Al rave about it and other commenters in the recent PP episode thread, I'm very curious about it...