Being Human: Series 3, Episode 1 – Dork Adore

The third series of Being Human, the BBC’s #1 supernatural houseshare comedy-drama, begins. And they’ve got a cliffhanger to follow up from last year, a new setting to launch and more werewolves than a whole shop full of cheap horror DVDs.

Suddenly, the series has also started attracting a much higher calibre of guest star. Perhaps the birth of the US version has knocked it a few places up the BBC internal hierarchy.

So how was New All-Star Being Human?

World’s End Syndrome

The central quest of this episode is to resolve last year’s loose end and rescue Annie The Ghost from purgatory. As anyone who has sat through the first hour of Pirates Of The Caribbean III will tell you, the problem with these storylines is that the audience are almost certain how they will end and thus it becomes tricky to build any drama.

Pleasingly, this is a better attempt than most, as Mitchell The Vampire’s quest becomes an entirely introspective one and the writers don’t really bother talking up the possibility of failure. And considering what a bastard Mitchell became during the latter stages of last series, having him suffer guilt was probably necessary.

Elsewhere, the werewolf population shoots up. One might think this lazy, until the final revelation in Mitchell’s afterlife quest. Suddenly, having an abundance of dog-men makes total sense. Looking forward to whatever comes next.

Couch-Surfers

The extra-special guest stars I mentioned are quite conspicuous. We have Paul Kaye as a vampire, Robson Green as one of these new werewolves and recently-departed Eastenders princess Lacey Turner as Mitchell’s spirit guide. Not to mention Kai Owen (Rhys from Torchwood) as a dogging enthusiast. Obviously.

Since I’ve mentioned the Welshest dork show of all, Being Human also takes this opportunity to relocate to Wales, Barry Island to be precise. It’s a strange move, but perhaps they wanted the illusion of real change, or moving it closer to BBC Wales somehow makes production cheaper.

And it’s just nice to see the cast again, really. Despite the afterlife sequences, this episode doesn’t indulge many of Being Human’s occasional gothic tendencies and sticks to characters and comedy-drama. Hopefully more of the same in coming weeks, as I really liked this premiere, even more than I expected to.

Catch up on iPlayer and let the group know whether you were as pleased to have Being Human back as I was.

More Being Human on Dork Adore | Dork Review: Being Human series 2 so far

Nick Bryan

Nick learned to read and write at an early age. This has developed into an unhealthy need to either write stories or consume them for later dissection. He reviews film and TV on Dork Adore and The Digital Fix, lives in London and enjoys a nice white beer.

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