Being Human renewed and Demons Culled?

Well, it's good news all round! BBC have confirmed the fantastic Being Human is to return for an extended run of 8 episodes next year - That kind of gives away the cliffhanger to last weeks episode, but i'm so happy i don't care! And, if that didn't put a smile on your face, it looks like Philip Glenister has announced his plans to quit Demons stating his busy schedule as the reason. ITV haven't officially said Demons is no more, but with one of it's key characters missing, hopefully they will see sense and put the awful Buffy rip-off out of it's misery.

Being Human - 1.5

As fans of this show will know, the BBC press release for this show is:

"A comedy drama series about three twenty-something housemates trying to live normal lives in Bristol, despite struggling with unusual afflictions - one is a werewolf, one is a vampire and the other is a ghost." (BBC Website)

Now to call this a comedy drama pushes this in the wrong direction. You'd expect laugh-a-minute gags, which just isn't so. That doesn't mean it isn't funny, you just could not place it in the same category as Friends, Frasier or Will and Grace - That would be crime! Personally I would classify this as a Horror/Drama with dark comic undertones similar in style to Dead Like Me. And I love every minute of it!

In this fast-paced story driven penultimate episode, Mitchell portrayed perfectly by Aidan Turner, returns to the vampire fold having given up on humanity.  Aidan fits the role nicely showing Mitchell's darker side without going over the top. The scene in the kitchen where his housemates find out what he has been up to, is a piece of great writing and superb acting by all three. Aidan has a moment to shine as his darker ego, but at the same time George (Russell Tovey) and Annie (Lenora Crichlow) provide the humor in their reactions.

Inevitably, Mitchell uncovers the true nature of his vampire family, when he uncovers a locked room full of homeless children used as nothing more than food. A horrifying and somewhat unexpected scene showing just what this show can do, leads to a confrontation with his boss Herrick (Jason Watkins).

The B story, just as strong as the main story itself, leads Annie to confront her murderous ex-husband Owen (Gregg Chillin) - after a little practice of course!

The writer (Toby Whitehouse) took the opportunity to play on Annie's key traits and when she does "haunt" Owen the outcome is far from the norm and he turns the tables as he did in life leaving Annie in tears. However, her friends come to her rescue allowing her to finally confront him and in the process reveal the darker side of the world. I still want to know what she whispered in his ear to make him run to the police in such a state.

The end of the episode gives Annie the opportunity to pass to the other side, but she torn after Herrick stakes Mitchell and George begins to panic. Will Mitchell survive? Does Annie pass over? Will George stop fretting like a girl? The answers will be revealed Sunday 9pm BBC3!

Overall, I am throughly enjoying this strongly written, well acted hour of television. And to think the appalling car crash trash that was Phoo Action, was the show BBC originally picked to take to series? Thank God for fan intervention. My only gripe is that it is hidden away on the Tweeny-yob channel BBC3. Surely it deserves better than this? If Torchwood (More soon) can make it to BBC1, then I see no reason why this shouldn't too!

Goddess of Scifi verdict - 9.2/10

Missed it? - How very dare you! Watch it courtesy of BBC IPLAYER. Or I'll send the wolf round!

Goddess of SciFI

Ratings Round up -UK

It looks like the US import Lost is steaming ahead in the Sunday night smackdown that is Lost (SKY1) - V - Being Human (BBC3) - V - Supernatural (ITV2).

Early ratings for last night show that Lost managed to average 963K (4%) whilst Being Human has dropped to a new series low of just 578k (2.5%) although this is at least 30% higher than usual. Meanwhile, The Winchester brothers managed to pull in 472K (2%) ITV2 & 196K (1%) ITV2+1.

So it looks like Lost is maintaining it's audience after starting the season with 936K (4%) but Being Human isn't fairing anywhere near as well dropping from 898K (3.9%) for it's opening episode. 

I can't fathom why the boring, no-plot, badly written Lost is beating both Being Human and Supernatural when they are available to a far wider audience and overall better quality television.

Does anyone out there have any ideas?

Reviews for all three series coming soon,

Goddess of Scifi