Being Human

 

Being Human is a TV series by the BBC and it's one of the few by the Beeb in recent years I would say is any good. It is described as a "supernatural comedy drama"; but, although it has its droll moments, it's not very funny. Actually it's pretty grim. It follows the lives of three young urbanites who superficially appear to be ordinary people, but they are not. They're not even human, they're only trying to be like humans; hence the title. One is called Mitchell and he is a vampire, the second is called George who is a werewolf and the third is Annie, the ghost of a woman who was murdered. All three of them face different challenges. Mitchell is trying to get by eating normal food and giving up his lust for human blood. George is trying to manage his condition by hiding himself away every full moon; and Annie is haunting the man who killed her, her ex-boyfriend. Despite being completely different denizens of the undead, George and Mitchell share a very important common destiny; they are both HP's. My two brother porters, if I can call a werewolf and a vampire my brothers... Of course I can, they're HP's for goodness sake!... Anyway, George and Mitchell serve in the same hospital and appear to be in the same section, but they deal with the challenges of the profession differently. George maintains a light-hearted attitude and he has a part-time job teaching English as a foreign language. However, Mitchell is bitter and exhibits a lot of self-pity. In one scene where his partner is mourning the death of her goldfish, he says to her: "I wade through blood and shit from dawn till dusk for the minimum wage, so don't whinge to me about some bloody goldfish!" As I've explained before, that might be true, but the victimhood mentality is not helpful. It breeds an inner darkness and cynicism that becomes a goal in itself; almost an addiction. HP's can easily fall into that trap and we must avoid it at all costs. George manages to find a girlfriend of his own at one point. Of course this means he has to make up some excuse to explain why he goes away on his own once a lunar month. At one point he tells her: "I have to go off on a training course." She replies: "Training? You're only a hospital porter, George!" I'd dump her on the spot if she said that to me! There are some pretty horrific scenes and storylines in the series, making it more of a horror than a comedy. At one point, the protagonists are kidnapped by a religious cult who do sadistic experiments on them. Despite this, and its sometimes patronizing anti-HP-ism, it is very well done in terms of writing, acting and plot; so it's worth watching. Since the original BBC seasons it has been picked up by an American network that have produced their own version, as Americans tend to. See here for the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWjZ2QU999o.