Dork Adore » Being Human

Sherlock: The Hounds Of Baskerville – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:27:10 +0000

The second episode of new Sherlock! This time, The Hound Of The Baskervilles gets the treatment, as Moffat and Gatiss pound through Conan Doyle’s most famous stories. There’s also a guest shot from Russell Tovey, who has now shown up in almost every famous geek show of our time, not to mention BBC3’s excellent Him & Her.

So this episode comes with a pedigree, but how did it perform in the dog show?

The Horror Of The Baskervilles

After last week’s London-based run through the Sherlock scenery, we got a change of pace. Our heroes decamp to the country to search for a mythical hellhound, whilst Russell Tovey’s character steadily breaks down around them. And it’s a slowdown from the usual Sherlock headrush of images.

In fact, there’s a sense of horror shot through here, both during the scenes set in the woods and the military facility segments. Writer Mark Gatiss is a renowned horror fan, scripting the unsettling Night Terrors episode of Doctor Who, not to mention his documentary on the subject, and it made him a good choice for this Hound.

I especially liked Bluebell the rabbit, who not only provided a funny callback, but also primed us for the possibility that genetically engineered animals are real, so… maybe there is a monstrous super-dog on the loose? Well pitched. But poor little bunny.

The Mind Palace Of Being Human

Since the whole show pivots around the Holmes/Watson relationship, it’s fortunate that this episode allows some interesting interactions between them. The possibility of real monsters not only unsettles the viewer, but the great detective too, and I enjoyed the resultant tension.

Russell Tovey brings his normal charm to his part, which helps make the character sympathetic despite a descent into mania. I was disappointed that he was largely absent in the second half, but I guess his name isn’t in the title. Also saddening that the Hound itself didn’t turn out to be Tovey’s character transformed into a werewolf.

Even though the eventual truth wasn’t as outlandish as hinted by Bluebell or Being Human, there were borderline-scifi moments that sat oddly next to other episodes. The “mind palace” scene pushed Sherlock further into alien robot territory than I really like.

Nonetheless, a good middle story, much better than last year’s slightly disappointing The Blind Banker. And next week, the final confrontation with Moriarty, worryingly penned by the writer of that episode, but nonetheless, after a strong series, I’m looking forward to seeing how they end it. Even if it feels like it’s all over far too soon.

Check this episode out on iPlayer, and let us know how you’re finding the second series of Sherlock. Are you excited for the finale?

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Becoming Human – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 08:15:11 +0000

Being Human is now a genuine smash hit for the BBC. It’s been renewed for a fourth series, adapted into a US version and even had a guest appearance from Robson Green. So it’s time for the next consequence of telly success: the spin-off show.

Namely Becoming Human, featuring teen vampire Adam, from the second episode of this year’s Being Human series, returning to school and encountering a new-yet-familiar posse. So will it be a rubbish version of the parent show? A rubbish version of Buffy? Could it even not be rubbish?

Becoming Skins

Originally broadcast as eight web episodes, then a single omnibus edition on BBC3 recently, Becoming Human is positioning itself as a hormonal equivalent of Being Human, right down to the slavish reproduction of the vampire/ghost/werewolf set-up.

But it’s a bit more fun than the original, which I can appreciate. Being Human can go too gothic for my tastes, whereas this is about the right level of silly. If anything, I think they could afford to be a bit funnier with it, but the jokes are here and most of them are even amusing.

If you must have a comparison, they appear to be shooting for a supernatural version of Skins, with the constant hormonal musing and swearing. But minus the sheer level of hedonism; I doubt we’re seeing that on the BBC any time soon.

Becoming Computer-Generated

I was particularly impressed by the fact it looks like a proper TV show. I go into these web-based spin-offs with lowered expectations, but the special effects are about as good as the parent series, although the story does avoid having to use them too often.

Also surprising was Craig Roberts as Adam, whom I found annoying in his Being Human appearance, putting me off checking out his spin-off for a while. But I am forced to admit that he was pretty good here, leading the action with a nice mix of lightness and brooding.

So, when assembled into a single fifty-minute blob, what we have here is a pilot episode, I suppose. And should they make more, whether in the form of a proper series or another little internet run, I would probably watch it. And I’m as surprised as you are, as I wasn’t sure a Being Human product could be any good without Russell Tovey. Did anyone else check this out? Were you pleasantly surprised as well?

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 8 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:45:22 +0000

I’ll admit that I failed to watch last week’s episode of Being Human. Life, and my recent addiction to BBC4′s The Killing, took precedence. Big mistake. Tuning in on Sunday evening I was caught in a traffic jam of surprises: Mitchell was in the clink, Nina was as good as dead and Herrick was back in his yellow tabard, protecting and serving as if no time had passed since his sinister days in the Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

What on earth was going on? In order to make sense of this, I had no option but to postpone my bedtime and watch both episodes back to back, a double bill which resulted in my Year 8 class being greeted this morning by an even more befuddled music teacher than usual, blearily struggling to remember the words to Hava Nagila.

The Final Act

Now that we’re all up to speed, I should probably pick over the events of The Wolf-Shaped Bullet. In more or less chronological order: Herrick broke Mitchell out of jail; Nina quickly recovered and Annie disappeared into purgatory, summoned by a singing cadaver. It would have been bad form to relocate Being Human to Wales without somebody spontaneously breaking into song.

From there she watched helplessly as George and Mitchell were imprisoned by Herrick inside the familiar ‘dogfighting’ cage, making its third appearance this series. You would have thought that werewolves might have learnt to carry wire cutters around with them by now.

In an Anakin Skywalker-like rite of passage to the dark side, Mitchell was then instructed to kill George, except that this time, instead of using light sabres, they were using a blunt chair leg. Perhaps supernaturals should carry some kind of whittling tool as well. However, in the nick of time they were sprung by Tom, McNair’s son, who upon realising that he was only a minor character, suddenly vanished.

More happened: Mitchell murdered Herrick, Annie discovered that the ‘wolf-shaped bullet’ was a load of bunk, a chap called Wyndham backlogged the civil courts with employment tribunals by sacking the entire South Wales police force, and George, inevitably, did the decent thing and impaled Mitchell on a much sharper looking stick, but not before sobbing, ‘I’m doing this because I love you!’

Typical of George to act bravely in such a feeble manner.

Epilogue

Although boasting some compelling stand offs, this season finale delivered few bombshells, and little tension – the miserable Mitchell’s tortured number has been up for a considerable length of time.

Furthermore, throughout the series, whilst Mitchell has been furiously composing his own epitaph, it’s been patently obvious that nothing untoward would happen to our other three protagonists, much as the producers wanted us to fear for their safety. Annie, for starters, is already dead; Nina is pregnant and unlikely to be killed off (post Ronnie Branning, the BBC will be staying off infant death for a while), and George has been sidelined so efficiently in recent weeks that nobody would notice that he wasn’t there.

However, signs of life were evident in George’s parting shot to the creepy Wyndham – ‘I think you’ve got quite a fight on your hands.’ he admonished. Let’s hope he keeps his word.

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Being Human: Russell Tovey’s “Wall of Tovey”

Katie — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:00:55 +0000

Russell Tovey content will follow this brief intro:

While Toby’s busy working on a review of Daddy Ghoul, the most recent episode of Being Human, we’ve been wandering around the Beeb’s official Being Human website, and it seems there is much additional Tovey face-time to be had.

In this video, RT takes us through the gallery of his childhood

More after the jump

While in this one, we get to peek at the “Sandscastle” BBQ. There is also a bit of chat from the marvellous James Fleet (George Snr) and Sinead Keenan (Nina), whose Irish accent is always a nice surprise.

Feast your eyes!

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 5 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:11:36 +0000

Over the past year there have been some excellent new comedy series on the BBC. First there was the gentle Rev, then Alan Davies’ boisterous Whites, and more recently, Episodes. I’m just on iPlayer, flicking through them now.

What’s this programme at the top of the comedy listings, positioned just above Cool Runnings? Yes, Being Human, it’s called. That’s bound to be funny – look, they’re even pulling wacky, contorted faces in the picture! (see above).

Must be some improvisational thing. Maybe that new one with Hugh Dennis.

My friend Olly clicked on to Being Human — The Longest Day through iPlayer Comedy the other day, in search of a bit of a post work pick-me up. “It was distressing.” he told me.

Frankly, I sympathise. It would be like stumbling across Snog Marry Avoid? while looking for a wildlife documentary. This was by far the most harrowing instalment of the houseshare horror since it started back in 2008.

From Here To Insanity

The story to The Longest Day focused on a revived, deranged Herrick – a very bad man, and furthermore a vampire – who had appeared without warning in the psychiatric ward of Barry hospital.

Although familiar to our protagonists, Herrick was suffering from amnesia (a plot device so old it’s lost its own memory), and was visibly traumatised by the efforts of his old flame, Cara, to reinitiate him as a vampire. Whether conscious of his past or not, Herrick was still something of a meanie – ‘You’re nothing.’ he told Cara with a cold rationality, before cutting right to the bone with, ‘You look ugly when you cry’.

She subsequently forced a stake through her heart, hilariously. I think that may have been where Olly switched off.

It would be churlish to pick holes in the story of a a werewolf, vampire and ghost attempting to adopt a vicious, reincarnated, amnesiac vampire through social services. So I won’t do that. But there were clear contrivances by the writers to exaggerate the tension between the characters, thereby eliciting big, stagey performances from the leads, and sweary showdowns between Mitchell and just about every other cast member.

Even so, the performances were as assured as ever, especially Sinead Keenan as Nina.

The mood and look of The Longest Day were also impressively bleak, and the recasting of chief baddie from Herrick to Mitchell was skilfully handled. Spooks‘ Nicola Walker tried her best to raise a smile as Wendy the hapless social worker, but her material was creaky and her presence in the story, like Wendy herself, soon began to grate.

Battle of Barry

It’s unlikely that there will be many more laughs next week, judging by the trailer, which suggests that the producers will attempt to wring every last drop of tension out of Herrick’s arrival and Mitchell’s impending comeuppance.

This is a shame since, misfiled as it is, Being Human usually does comedy extremely well, finding humour in the most tragic and horrifying circumstances. Just don’t expect to see repeats of it on Dave.

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 4 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:57:02 +0000

Barging in with the force and velocity of a season finale, Episode 4, The Pack, was one of the most exhilarating Being Human episodes to date, rapidly weaving several plot lines and characters together, before spinning unsentimentally towards a tense and bloody climax.

An episode of this quality raises questions. Namely, why has such an engaging, sharply written drama never made the transition from BBC Three, home of Help! My Dog’s As Fat As Me and Hotter Than My Daughter, to terrestrial TV? And why has the third series been scheduled for Sunday evenings, a territory more closely associated with warm bath dramas like Cranford, Downton Abbey and the late Monarch of the Glen?

Back in the Saddle

After the transient characters of recent episodes, it was reassuring to see the return of two favourites from episode 1: Richard, the carpet selling swinger and McNair the vampire hunter. Richard was enlisted by a terrified Mitchell to protect him from McNair’s merciless vendetta, whilst expectant parents George and Nina sought counsel from McNair as an unlikely expert on the werewolf facts of life.

As McNair, Robson Green‘s quietly menacing performance was outstanding, and his civilised, gentlemanly streak provided an enjoyable contrast to his murderous instincts. After all, what kind of hardened vampire killer shoplifts Bonne Maman jam?

Clearly a man with a past, the only link to McNair’s murky history was Tom, who may or may not have been his biological son, and was the owner of the most anxious eyebrows seen on television. Tom, a walking campaign commercial against home-schooling, was a lost puppy, naïve to the ways of the world, women and fashion, having only ever known what McNair taught him. Yet Tom was happily oblivious, carving Polynesian-style figurines, fantasising about a mythical werewolf ‘pack’ and lusting dreamily after Nina.

Sweet Emotion

Meanwhile, a more requited, though no less complicated partnership was underway between ghost Annie and vampire Mitchell.

Although the pair concluded that, in light of Annie’s spectral presence, their love would have to be more emotional than physical, this was only reached after several coital false starts, during which Mitchell proved unambiguously that he was mean, surly, and sexually polarised between psychotic (nearly killing his surrogate lover) and a complete wet blanket (‘Can we just cuddle a little?’, he gulped at Annie.) I’m beginning to wonder what Annie sees in him.

What It Takes

Episode 4 gripped me right until its nail-biting, violent resolution.

In fact, it was so compelling that I even forgave the scriptwriters their running gag of including cult TV references in each episode. “Will you stop being so bloody Cranford about everything?”, an exasperated Annie fired at the gallant McNair, a joke that is surely first in line to be axed when translated to its American counterpart.

Who knows which TV dramas future episodes will mention? I’m holding out for Monarch of the Glen.

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 3 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:30:39 +0000

Do you remember The Sixth Sense? I’ll never forget the indignity I suffered at the final dénouement, as it transpired, shockingly, that Bruce Willis had spent the entire film with a gunshot wound the size of a teacup in his lower back. I had been too engrossed (or dim) to spot the silent treatment he’d received from everybody he met, the fact that his wife had thrown out all her non-black clothes, and that even the Reader’s Digest had stopped sending him Prize Draw invitations.

Plainly put, he was dead, and neither Brucie nor I had known it.

Funny Face

But what if the dead just didn’t get it? This was the premise of Episode 3 of Being Human, which saw Annie the ghost collect another wandering soul, a ‘Type 4‘ (or ‘Zombie’ to the uninitiated) called Sasha. Sasha was a Welsh WAG, the belle of rugby league player, who enjoyed nothing more than a night out and a good fight at the end of it. Zombification (post car accident) had done her few favours; recent consequences included hideous disfigurement, torture and being impaled on her boyfriend’s Man of the Match trophy.

Still, Sasha didn’t understand that she was dead. At one point I wondered whether the writer was building up to some kind of social commentary. ‘Don’t be dead-ist!’, Annie chastised an unsympathetic Mitchell. Yet it soon emerged that conversely Sasha, as she came to terms with her death, could teach us a little something about living. ‘Seize the day!’ she quoted to Annie, as she eventually departed for the great beyond.

It’s nice to know that WAGS have a working knowledge of the Classics. She even extolled the virtues of having children to a pregnant Nina, who after a recent full moon fling with George had been anxiously weighing up whether to bring up a were-child.

Annie, Get Your Guy!

Meanwhile, Mitchell was busy fending off the advances of a psychotic fan-boy, and reflecting on the more amorous advances of his flatmate, Annie. The first dilemma was easily solved — Mitchell killed him. The latter ended more predictably with Mitchell, having initially expressed concern, mainly as to whether one could actually perform coitus with a ghost, soon engaged in a lengthy and passionate snog with the spectral Annie. Hopefully this put his fears aside. After all, vampires, for all their inner torment, can be quite uncomplicated creatures.

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 2 – Dork Review

Toby Knowles — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 08:40:58 +0000

Viewers of last week’s Being Human will be well aware that our four leads — Mitchell the vampire, Annie the ghost and werewolf couple George and Nina — were forced to leave Bristol after Mitchell issued a chilling complaint to South West Trains by savagely murdering a carriage-load of commuters on the 8.15 to Taunton.

Unsurprisingly, this attracted unwanted attention from the Avon and Somerset Constabulary, so our quartet decamped to the middle of nowhere, or South Wales, as it is better known, in a vain attempt to keep their collective nose out of trouble.

I say in vain, because it wasn’t long before a little local colour livened up our protagonists’ drab routine.

New Blood

This week opened with a startled Nina discovering plucky teenage vampire Adam — a welcome antidote to the feebly sensitive demons of the Twilight series — picking over his father’s bones in the local hospital. Rather than moping around looking like a lovestruck mime artist, Adam was a real adolescent, with the hormones and puerile humour to prove it. Nina and George swiftly adopted him.

Next came a visit from Richard, an affable businessman vampire who offered not only to take the orphaned Adam in, but also to transport Mitchell to South America on a container ship full of luxury carpets. Now, I’m no economist but isn’t Wales a very long way from Puerto Rico? Couldn’t you just get your carpets from, say, the U.S.?

Needless to say, Richard’s kindness was nothing but a warm front and he was soon revealed, like many fictional Welshmen, to be a sexual deviant of the highest order. After introducing his human pet, Number 7, he proceeded to orgy like it was 1973, before forcibly inviting his young ward to enjoy the energetic delights of his equally mad wife, Emma (played by Gavin and Stacey‘s Melanie Walters).

This was a wake-up call for Adam, who learnt at once that sex, in the wrong hands, could be very frightening indeed, and upon escaping promptly assumed a far more chaste and mature approach to life. Much like the vampires in Twilight.

At any rate, his rather touching transformation made George and Nina excessively proud, and by the end of the story he had even softened up crotchety old Mitchell.

Pumping on the Stereotype

This was a highly enjoyable episode, far lighter, less gory and more thoughtful than last week’s foray into purgatory, in what promises to be another excellent and compelling series. The only questionable note was its rather clichéd view of the Welsh. I mean, was it chance that the first episode set in The Land of Our Fathers was also the first to feature a masochist in a gimp suit? And with Doctor Who and Torchwood already stationed in Cardiff, can’t we have some, I don’t know, Geordie vampires for a change?

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 1 – Dork Adore

Nick Bryan — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 21:02:33 +0000

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.

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Him & Her – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 21:31:42 +0000

If you don’t study Twitter or TV guides diligently, the BBC’s Him & Her might have passed you by. And even if you did notice it, you may have moved on quickly after realising it’s a sitcom about twenty-somethings in a flat, on BBC Three.

But I’ve watched the four episodes to date, and thought I’d take a stab at convincing you otherwise. After all, it stars Russell Tovey, of Being Human and Doctor Who fame, and more importantly, it’s really very good.

An Oddly Convincing Relationship

The premise centres around Tovey and Sarah Solemani as couple Steve and Becky, who are unemployed, living on benefits and enjoying a carefree life of sex and Inspector Morse DVDs. At least, until their supporting cast of friends and family turn up to complicate matters. Yes, it could easily be boring, but there are plenty of laughs in the script, mostly combined with a cringe of recognition.

A lot of its success hinges on Tovey and Solemani, who form one of the most convincing couples I’ve seen on TV in a while. Few screen pairs successfully thread this needle, instead veering into either nauseating sap or a level of hatred that makes you wonder why they bother, but I believed in these two as a relationship. And in a show like this, that’s half the battle.

A Uniquely Uplifting Experience

A pedant could point out this is a very typical late-2000s sitcom, with no laugh track and jokes which hinge on a cringe (see Peep Show, The Inbetweeners, The Office, The Thick Of It), not to mention a single claustrophobic set (see The Royle Family, Ideal, Grandma’s House). But I really enjoyed it, and refuse to let that kind of pedantry taint my fun.

Because despite the squalidness of much of the content, I found this show curiously uplifting. One point about the sitcoms I mentioned above is that they are fairly cynical, or outright negative, about their subject matter. Him & Her, for once, sent me away feeling both amused and genuinely happy.

Should you be inspired to check it out, the whole series can be viewed on the BBC iPlayer for another few weeks.

And then tell us what you thought below!

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Dork Adore » Being Human

Sherlock: The Hounds Of Baskerville – Dork Review

The Horror Of The Baskervilles

The Mind Palace Of Being Human

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Becoming Human – Dork Review

Becoming Skins

Becoming Computer-Generated

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 8 – Dork Review

The Final Act

Epilogue

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Being Human: Russell Tovey’s “Wall of Tovey”

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 5 – Dork Review

From Here To Insanity

Battle of Barry

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 4 – Dork Review

Back in the Saddle

Sweet Emotion

What It Takes

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 3 – Dork Review

Funny Face

Annie, Get Your Guy!

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 2 – Dork Review

New Blood

Pumping on the Stereotype

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Being Human: Series 3, Episode 1 – Dork Adore

World’s End Syndrome

Couch-Surfers

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Him & Her – Dork Review

An Oddly Convincing Relationship

A Uniquely Uplifting Experience

And then tell us what you thought below!

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