411 Movies/TV Interviews: SDCC '09 - Being Human
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 08.12.2009
The creator and stars of the hit series, Being Human, speak to 411mania during the San Diego Comic-Con.
A werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost all living in a flat together. No, this is not the plot of a lame network sitcom, but in fact an awesome BBC supernatural drama and character piece. At Comic Con, 411mania got the chance to sit in and speak with the stars and creator of the new show, Being Human.
Toby Whithouse
Toby Whithouse.
Writer Toby Whithouse has been a veteran of great British television having worked on such shows as Hotel Bablyon, Doctor Who, and Torchwood. Whithouse also appeared as Alistair in the movie, Bridget Jones's Diary. Whithouse is also the creator and main writer of the new hit show, Being Human which originated as a test pilot for the BBC Three. Due to positive feedback, a six episode series based on the pilot was commissioned, and thus the Being Human series was born.
Jeffrey "The Vile One" Harris: I heard this was your first trip to Comic Con. Is this also your first trip to the US?
Toby Whithouse: It is, yes. I'm ashamed to say it is my first time.
TVO: What do you think of Comic Con so far?
TW: I've seen very little of it so far. The flight was quite delayed, so we arrived quite late last night. Its fantastic. I've always been a big sci-fi and fantasy fan. As a kid, I always went to a lot of sci-fi conventions when I was growing, and then laterally going to a lot of them doing Doctor Who back in the UK, so its kind of like that except so much bigger. It's kind of much more aplomb here.
TVO: The show is absolutely, fantastically, fantastic, marvelous. I don't really have enough hyperbole to talk about how full of win and awesome it is.
TW: That's very kind.
TVO: The characters on this show, one's a werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost; the way they come off with these afflictions, it feels like someone with a terminal disease, addiction, or illness. Was that deliberate on your part?
TW: Yeah. I mean I don't know if you know anything about the development process of the show was incredibly circuitous and quite frustrating at times. It started off, I was approached by Touch Paper, it's an independent TV company in the UK, and they wanted to develop a show about a group of people who have bought a house together. And that was it. And they approached me with this idea, and I thought that's dullest idea I have ever heard. But completely unbidden, I had these ideas for three characters and they were at the time humans, and so I developed these characters and the way I normally work is that I write biogs for the characters and I wrote pages and pages of biogs. Mitchell at the time was a recovering sex addict. Annie at the time was agoraphobic. And George was this person who compartmentalized every aspect of his life and had severe anger issues. But they were still very much human. We developed it on the basis of this for a while but getting absolutely nowhere. And we decided to have one last meeting, and if nothing came of that we were going to give it up. And in the meantime, purely for my own benefit, I'd been developing just an idea of mine about a romantic about a werewolf. And we were looking at the characters we had in this show, and I suddenly saw a correlation between George in this show and the werewolf. And because this one was going nowhere, I said, "Well, you know what we could do is, we could turn George into a werewolf." And after that it seemed like a natural progression, well if he's a werewolf, the crisis that Mitchell is going through is not dissimilar to a vampire renouncing blood. And Annie being agoraphobic and rooted to this house is very much like a ghost haunting a house. And so the supernatural aspects were added on after the fact so to speak. But consequently, the bedrock was character as opposed to having started from the point of view of creating the supernatural show. We started from creating a character led drama. Consequently then when we were writing the series and developing the series, we always try and find a human analogy to give the supernatural stories texture, try and find out what the human equivalent is. For example, in episode 2 when Tully the other werewolf comes on, when you find the human analogy it completely unlocks the story; so like with Tully, we had this thing about this guy who was going to be staying in the house, and I think we didn't know what were going to do with him there. And then it suddenly occurred to me, well he's just the flatmate from hell. He's just the mate, the guy you meet at a pub, and he's like, "Can I stay for one night?" And he stays for one night, and he ends up staying for weeks. We all know that guy. He eats all the food. He stinks up the bathroom. He makes a pass at the girl in the house. And as soon as we realized that that was the story we were going to be telling, it completely unlocked it. And similarly with Mitchell, it is essentially a drug addiction he's kind of struggling with. And with George for example, its like with someone who has a contagious illness like HIV or something, and their absolute worst nightmare is the idea of passing it on. And George refers to it as a curse and so on. So yeah, it's always a question of finding out what the human analogy is to unlock the stories.
TVO: I know for sure there are already a lot of American fans of the show, and there were a lot of American fans of the original pilot special. Does that surprise you at all? That the show has already gathered a fanbase in the states?
TW: I'm absolutely thrilled that it is. The thing is, you can never kind of plan this. So it's just been -- and I think also when we were filming the first series, and I was down in the production base, and the accountant came up to me and said you've got to do a series 2 of this. We all just absolutely love it. And there was something about the show that kind of really captured everyone. We got this amazing cast and so on. It's just thrilling because also everyone's invested so much into it, so much heart and soul into the show. So I'm just thrilled that it's being recognized.
TVO: Also speaking as a Jew, I'm very happy to be seeing a Jewish werewolf monster on TV. So thank you for that.
TW: *Laughs*.
TVO: Episode 3, the revelation with Annie's fiancé, I was supremely shocked. I wanted to break chairs, windows, and stuff.
TW: Really?
TVO: But then I thought about it, and Annie was just too dedicated to this person. She seems too obsessed with her boyfriend that she's overcompensating.
TW: Mm-hm.
TVO: Did you always know what was going to happen between Annie and her fiancé?
TW: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I always knew it was him. And I thought to be honest it was obvious in the pilot. There's a moment in the pilot where Mitchell says to Annie, "How did you die?" And she says, "Quickly." And I thought, wow, it's obvious. And nobody picked up on it. And after the pilot, people were saying how did she die? Well I just said. So I was really surprised no one got it. And as the episodes were being broadcast, a lot of people were kind of working it out. But the fact that some people were really surprised, I'm really pleased about that.
TVO: That probably says something about American intelligence. My apologies.
TW: *Laughs*.
TVO: Well its just me, so please don't think badly of all Americans for me being slow.
TW: No that's great, you are clearly my perfect audience.
TVO: Also, what is the meaning of the prejudice against men named Robin that work at the post office?
TW: *Laughs* It's like, to be fair, its kind of like making George Jewish. One of the things, and again, there's a line in the pilot when Annie talks about death, talks about the corridor with the men with sticks and rope. I have no idea why, its just kind of like George's religion, it was just one of those things that appeared on the screen as I was writing it. Yeah I kind of like that, its kind of good. And Robin at the post office, yeah it just felt right. It felt like kind of the ridiculous random prejudice that Annie would have.
TVO: So you really don't believe that a man who works at a post office named Robin can't conceive children or things of that nature?
TW: No, I promise you I have nothing against.
TVO: The show has humor. The show is humorous, but the humor is very organic. And the tone of the show is generally played pretty straight, dramatic, dark, and intense. Even though there are some fantasy elements to it which I really like. And even though you can call it a sitcom premise, it never becomes too comedic. Was there ever any internal pressure to make it more comedic or funnier at all?
TW: No, no. To be fair, the BBC have been in series 1 and in series 2, the BBC have been absolutely amazing and incredibly supportive. In terms of kind of the level of intervention and so on, nudging we've got from them, it's been nothing. We were allowed to make the show we wanted to make, and I've always been incredibly grateful to the BBC for that because they've always been really just let us get off with it. I think tonally, my feeling about the show is that real life doesn't have a genre in as much as you can have incredibly kind of normal, mundane situation that doesn't rule out suddenly something happening that is either incredibly comedic or incredibly horrifying or something like that. And if something like that happens, no one's like, oh my god we suddenly changed genre. So consequently, life is constantly sort of left and right turns. And that's something I've always wanted to reflect in my writing, which is you can have a very tragic situation; the very natural human thing to do is then to liven then and diffuse it with a gag. And so again, that's always something I try to put in the script, just to kind of make it as realistic as possible.
TVO: I'm not totally clear on the rules with Annie. When she touches or is being hugged by Mitchell, can she feel Mitchell touching her?
TW: The rules are different for other supernaturals in that she can be seen by vampires and werewolves--
TVO: And sometimes normal people.
TW: Yeah. What we've done is we've linked her visibility with her confidence, which again is a kind of familiar sensation for everyone, in that there are times when you are feeling very low and not very confident, and you walk into a room and its like you're invisible. And that's something that Annie feels more keenly than others. And other times, feeling confident it feels kind of like you're six feet high. And that's something with Annie, in terms of how she can be touched or felt by the others. If they are supernaturals, it's different, its like being seeing a normal person, but the majority of the time she's invisible to normal folk.
Whithouse is currently hard at work on series 2 of Being Human. An American version is also being kicked around and developed according to Whithouse.
Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey, and Lenora Crichlow
From L to R: George (Russell Tovey), Mitchell (Aidan Turner), and Annie (Lenora Crichlow).
In the original pilot for Being Human that aired on BBC Three, actor Russell Tovey originated the role of George, the Jewish werewolf. The vampire Mitchell (Aidan Turner), and the ghost that can't leave her flat, Annie (Lenora Crichlow) were played by different actors. Due to scheduling conflicts, the roles of Mitchell and Annie were recast with Aidan and Lenora filling the shoes despite some early complaints from dedicated fans of the exceptional pilot episode. Tovey is the only returning actor from the original cast.
TVO: What kind of research did you do on approaching your characters?
Aidan Turner: There's gambling addictions, drug addictions, or I don't know sex addictions, anything really. So, I guess there is that sort of archive of material out there where you can sort of do your research on that basis. I don't know if I specifically went down that road, the script sort of does it for you in a way. I didn't need to go to any rehab centers to see how drug addicts were dealing with their thing, like trying to get an in to Mitchell. But I guess the essence of the show of Being Human, its about these guys that are struggling and have their own problems, and their own torments, and it just sort of I guess it steeps in reality and this world that we can all relate to. And I think maybe even on a subconscious level; you relate to the characters and have this empathy for them because you're going through what they are. So I dunno, for me personally I guess it just made it easier. There's always something about playing a character that's struggling with something, and as soon as you can relate to them in some way, it's in and you can begin to understand where they're coming from, and everyone has troubles. Everyone has their own things, whether they want to admit it or not, you know. So yeah, I dunno, I guess it made it easier to understand them for me personally.
Russell Tovey: It comes in the writing. The writing is really good. When Toby was writing the show, the concept originally was someone who had anger problems, someone who had low self-esteem, and someone who was a sex addict. And he was writing, and nothing was really coming up. So he said, I'll tell you what. I'm going to make him a werewolf, him a vampire, and her a ghost. And suddenly it all came to life. And so it was rooted in these addictions that they have, these problems that they carry. So that's kind of there anyway, deep-rooted subconsciously, so we sort of bring that out.
Lenora Crichlow: And the thing also is, there's only so much research you can do when you are playing the supernatural. But I think what is really lovely about our characters; they're not good at it yet. Especially for Annie, she doesn't know what it is to be a ghost. So for me, as Annie goes on the journey, I' was going on the journey. She doesn't even know how she got there even. I didn't know filming the first two episodes how Annie died. And so it was a real reveal to me just as much as it was to the audience. I actually get to go on the journey with Annie and realize what it means to be a ghost. No one can see me. How does that impact me? How do I feel? And it's just, as disorientating as Annie is, I didn't know how really. How do I play a ghost? And Aidan said it's all just rooted in such real things. You just happen to the reality of it. And the supernatural thing is the thing that we don't know how to do it.
RT: The supernatural element isn't celebrated . . . because its like the vampire world, but not in our characters. But what people connect to is that it's based on a human level. It's just people struggling with life. So you have sci-fi fans involved because of the supernatural element but because you've got there's heart in all of us struggling as human beings, flat share, three people, young. There's so many people who get in, and I'm stunned. And we're like the Spice Girls *laughs*.
TVO: For Russell, you were the only actor who returned from the pilot to play your character again. Was it daunting at all, and did you have any concerns about re-establishing this new ensemble, which is also equally fantastic?
RT: Yeah. I think as an actor, you know your character is by the way other actors communicate with you. So I sort of knew who George was with the other two actors. So when they gotten us time with Aidan and Lenora, I was a bit nervous. And then we did the read through, and I went no, they're alright actually, its fine. And I knew they were pretty nervous about me because I had been there and done it already a bit . . . And then after I suppose with any job you have a teething area of about a week, and suddenly that was it, we are the trio.
TVO: For Lenora, who do you think is more your ideal type of guy? A Mitchell type or a George type?
LC: I think there's enough Annie to go around. She's a very generous soul. She does have eternity to work her way down. She's not going anywhere. She's got time. I think for Annie, for her, she's just building a relationship with herself at the moment. She's been so lost in everyone and anyone else outside herself when you find her. All her self worth comes from external things and being of use to other people and making tea, and giving, giving, giving. And she never to know herself, know what she likes, what she doesn't like. I don't think she feels as if she doesn't turn up and doesn't give, she's not wanted there . . . so she's got all of that to make sense of to kind of regroup. That's with her visibility; she's visible when she's feeling much more secure and self-empowered. So she's got that journey to go through.
TVO: And what about you, yourself?
LC: Me? As Lenora? As in Russell or Aidan or Mitchell and George?
TVO: So like Mitchell, George, or Gilbert, which of them is your ideal guy?
RT: What are you trying to do here?
LC: I think . . . Most of the time she would be with George, and once a month she would go with Mitchell. That makes sense, so she gets the best of both worlds.
TVO: And Russell, speaking as a Jew, thank you for playing a Jewish monster. I appreciate it.
RT: You're welcome.
TVO: For Aidan, in the vampire love scenes with your character and Lauren, they are really good, but when filming them with all the fake blood, is it really sort of gross?
AT: I love it *everyone laughs*. It's not as gross as it is funny. The girl who played Lauren, Annabel [Scholey] is her name, you know use this obviously its fake blood. It tastes like mint, and it's like mint treacle. So I just love treacle . . . she was gagging all the time between every take because we were completely covered in it. It was definitely the blood, alright . . . those scenes are strange, and they are incredibly un-sexy when you do them. They are so bloody technical and you got to hit marks even more so because you are closer, and watch shadows, and this, that, and the other. So they can be quite difficult to do, but it's a laugh. When you got to get changed, you look at yourself in the mirror, completely caked in blood, this is my job, you know. It's bizarre.
TVO: The True Blood people have nothing on you and Lauren. Not at all.
AT: Nah. That's cool. That's very kind.
TVO: For Russell, do you think George's old fiancée will show up again and it would be different from the pilot?
RT: Yeah, I think the pilot she made that decision to just cut George out of her life completely. So I doubt she will come back.
TVO: For Lenora, do you personally have any prejudices at all toward men named Robin that work at the post office?
LC: Post office named Robin?
TVO: The husband of Annie's sister is named Robin and works at the post office which is why he can't give Annie's sister a baby.
LC: Oh right, sorry. I though you were saying I had a boyfriend. Yeah, she's made up her mind that her sister's unhappiness is due to the post office working boyfriend.
TVO: So you don't agree with that, right?
LC: On a personal level, I actually have a thing for post office workers. I love letters quite clearly. I say stuff the e-mail, post the letter just to go to the post office. Sometimes I just go there--
RT: I love post office workers. Big fan. I love letters.
TVO: And guys named Robin?
LC: With Robin.
I want to thank everyone at the BBC for letting us participate in the roundtable sessions to speak with the actors and Toby Whithouse. Being Human currently airs on BBC America in the US. Series 2 of the show is currently in the works in the UK. Remember, you can save 411mania.com as your homepage and add us to your favorite places to make sure you get all the latest and greatest news in entertainment, sports, MMA, gaming, and politics. We also have our Twitters you can check out:
