Already a success in the U.K., the popular series “Being Human” will make the jump across the pond later this month and debut on BBC America, July 25.
The series centers on three roomates who happen to be a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire who’s on the wagon. Created and written Toby Whithouse, who penned the “School Reunion” episode of “Doctor Who,” the series is one that many fans have been looking forward to seeing in the United States since it’s run on the BBC in January.
And Whithouse said that getting the show to television screens was a bit different than how most British shows are produced and commissioned.
“It was a very odd process, really, because we don’t do pilots in this country at all,” Whithouse told SciFi Wire. “For some reason BBC Three … decided to do this series of pilots. We’d already been developing ‘Being Human’ just as a normal series. Suddenly this opportunity to do this as a pilot came up. In a way we felt it improved our chances.”
When the pilot aired, it “got this extraordinary response that we were completely unprepared for,” Whithouse said. But when the BBC gave them the green light to make the series, many of the cast members were otherwise employed. “Apart from George the werewolf [Russell Tovey], pretty much everyone else changed,” he said.
The casting changes didn’t mean that Whithead had to discard the mythology he’d created for the series, he said.
“The benefit of doing the pilot was that it gave us a chance to re-examine certain aspects that didn’t work,” Whithouse said. “One of the things we didn’t feel worked in the pilot was the portrayal of the vampires. They were just kind of too … they were very Anne Rice in the pilot. And we felt that, because we’d gone to such lengths to make everything else so believable and realistic, we felt that that just wasn’t in keeping with the rest of the show.”
And the series is definitely one for adults. The original British cuts feature some nudity and adult language. When asked if these would be toned down for the American audience, Whithouse wasn’t sure if any cuts were being or had been made.
And should the series prove to be a success on BBC America, there’s more to come. Whithouse is currently working on the final two episodes of the second series, which will being production later this year.
Kevin Bachelder says
This is an excellent series. I highly recommend that you give it a look when it starts airing on BBCA on July 25th.
Colin says
If BBCA will air ‘Skins’ and ‘Torchwood’ with limited cuts I don’t why this should be any different. I’m really looking forward to it.!
TallGrrl says
“And the series is definitely one for adults. The original British cuts feature some nudity and adult language. When asked if these would be toned down for the American audience…”
…because Americans are, you know, childish, repressed and quite immature when it comes to things deemed “adult”.
Pathetic, ain’t it?
I “hopped aboard BT Airlines” and have all 6 episodes and they are really good TV.
The characters are all compelling (George–the reluctant werewolf–being my favourite character), the writing is very very good, and the acting is very strong.
If you want to see the series *as it was meant to be seen* (w/o commercials or editing for neither time nor content), do ‘take a trip over the pond’.
But also, do tune in to the BBC America broadcasts so we can at least get this type of programming in *some* form.