Becoming Human

Becoming Human
Genre	Supernatural drama, horror, drama
Created by	Toby Whithouse
Written by	Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson, John Jackson
Directed by	Alex Kalymnios
Starring	Craig Roberts Leila Mimmack Josh Brown John Boyega Emma Rigby
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
Production
Cinematography	Tim Palmer (pilot) Nic Morris (series)
Running time	50 mins (Full 8 episodes together)
Production company(s)	Sullivan Entertainment
Release
Original network	BBC iPlayer
Picture format	1080i 16:9 (HDTV)
Original release	26 January 2011 (2011-01-26) – present
External links
Website

Becoming Human is a British supernatural drama webisode series and a spin-off from the TV series Being Human. Created by Toby Whithouse, it was directed by Alex Kalymnios, written by Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson and John Jackson, and stars Craig Roberts as the teenage vampire Adam (previously seen on Being Human), Leila Mimmack as the werewolf Christa and Josh Brown as the ghost Matt. A composition of the eight episodes (including the finale) was aired on BBC Three at 9:00pm on 20 March 2011.^[1][2][3]

Plot

Becoming Human continues the adventures of Adam, a 46-year-old vampire in the body of a 16-year-old teenager. Adam had been protected by his parents up until they died of old age, following which he had come under the protection and encouragement of Mitchell, Annie, George, and Nina. As Becoming Human begins, Adam has moved elsewhere and is trying to live a normal life as a "human".

On his first day at the school, Adam manages to embarrass and ostracise himself. However, he meets another pupil, Christa, who is hiding the fact that she is a werewolf. Christa has also been being followed by a fat, melancholic teenage boy whom she believes is a stalker but whom no-one else can see or hear. Adam realizes that he is a ghost. The ghost introduces himself as Matt and turns out to be a missing student from the school.

Adam quickly realizes that because Matt has been murdered at the school toilets, and the three of them set about trying to solve the murder. The task is made more difficult by the fact that Matt's own memories of the event are unclear. Among the suspects Adam and his friends investigate are the school bully Danny Curtis, Brandy Mulligan and Mr. Swan.

A sub-plot of the show deals with the uneasy relationship between the trio, which has elements of a rivalry, friendship and love triangle. It is revealed that Matt had a three-year-long unrequited crush on Christa which ultimately led to him being in the boys' toilets he died in, scribbling "an anonymous declaration of love" on the cubicle wall with a key when the murderer attacked him. It's suggested that Adam and Christa also might have feelings for each other, although both deny it.

Adam frequently makes crude passes at Christa and takes opportunities to kiss her or be seen doing so (for instance, when spying on the gym teacher, Mr. Swan, they are hiding within gym equipment - they cover up their spying by making out). It's unclear whether this is human or vampire-influenced behaviour. Christa, however, outspokenly rejects and dismisses him. In spite of this, Matt is subject to occasional outbursts of jealousy. Adam, meanwhile, is also trying to deal with his vampire urges and is frequently tempted to "punish" the murderer (once they are discovered) by feeding from them, with Christa acting as moral restraint and Matt struggling with his own desires for revenge.

Following several false leads, a major breakthrough is made when Mr. Roe lets slip to the trio that Mr. Swan has ordered him to clean the same boys' toilets that Matt was drowned in. They eventually discover that the CCTV cameras between the toilets and the gym are missing, further implicating Mr Swan in the murder. They begin to suspect that Matt's body is hidden in the gym, because Christa can smell it the day before the full moon. They investigate the gym the night of the full moon - when a werewolf's senses are at their peak - only for Christa to start changing. Matt and Adam discover that they are trapped - someone locked the doors. Matt and Adam lure the transforming Christa into the gym's supply cupboard and barricade the door. In the morning, she is released and they wonder where Matt's body could've been. They initially fear that Christa may have eaten it during her time as a werewolf; but Matt succeeds in finally locating his body-still in the cupboard hidden among cleaning tools.

Mr. Swan finds them and they question him, accusing him of the murder. He tells them that Mr. Roe had keys to the gym and access to the security cameras, and the trio realise that Roe was listening to their conversations the entire time during detention (while pretending to be listening to music on headphones) and had already fed them a false lead regarding Brandy Mulligan. At this point, Roe appears and knocks out Swan with a baseball bat. Matt uses a chalkboard to ask Roe why he committed the murder, and Adam grabs him by the throat as Roe tells them that he was tired of being pushed around by people, so he "pushed back". Someone had apparently keyed Roe's car, and he'd seen Matt running away from the scene (Matt was innocent, though - he was running from the girl's locker room, where'd he'd been caught peeping). Roe then followed Matt into the toilets and saw Matt carving a symbol of his love for Christa. Roe assumed that Matt was writing yet another insult towards him, so he drowned Matt in a fury.

A furious Adam almost gives in to the urge to bite Roe, but is stopped by Matt. After this, a supernatural "door of death" (the same type that feature in Being Human) materializes for Matt to "move on" through. Matt is reluctant to do so, as he has come to enjoy the company of Adam and Christa - being happier than he'd ever been in his lifetime - and the excitement of the investigation. Roe attacks them in an attempt to get rid of the evidence, but the group wrestles him to Matt's door and Adam throws him through and shuts the door, which vanishes. Matt takes this as evidence that he can stay.

Having now come to terms with his death, Matt gives Adam and Christa his blessing to form a romantic relationship (although they continue to deny their willingness to have one). The episode ends with Adam suggesting that "the other side" may become complicated by having a living person take the place of a dead one, and claiming that "they" may send Roe back (setting up a possible plot-strand for a follow-up series).

Overview

Becoming Human was published from 30 January until 20 March 2011 on the BBC Three Website.^[2] A new episode was shown each Sunday around 10 pm.^[4]

The writers of the series were Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson and John Jackson. The director was Alex Kalymnios.^[1] Becoming Human was produced by the Zodiak Media group Touchpaper Wales.^[5] Altogether 1,5 Million viewers saw Becoming Human online. At 20 March 2011 all episodes were cut to a 50-minutes special and were broadcast on BBC Three.^[1] Various scenes of the series were filmed at the Barry Comprehensive School.^[6] After Becoming Human has ended, Craig Roberts (Adam) appeared in the episode 4x05 Hold The Front Page of Being Human.^[7][8] Furthermore, two blog messages were posted in 2013 on the official Website of Being Human, which describe the fate of the characters Christa and Adam after Becoming Human.^[9][10]

Additional notes

In addition to eight episodes there are also clues consisting of mobile phone videos, suspect profiles, pictures and other side notes released each week between the episodes on the Becoming Human blog, enabling the viewers to investigate Matt's murder in more depth. Among the clues include appeals and missing posters made by Matt's parents, voice messages and videos made by Adam and Christa, and Christa's journal entries.^[11][12][13] Also, after the online release of the eighth episode, the BBC released an online clip, showing Mr. Roe, communicating to our world through a TV from purgatory, like Annie did at the end of Being Human series 2. During this clip, he was seen to be extremely angry having been thrown over, and promises to return and take revenge on the trio. This has left a possible opening for a second series, although as the last series of Being Human was aired in Early 2013 chances of a second series are highly improbable.^[14]

Cast

• Craig Roberts as Adam Jacobs
• Leila Mimmack as Christa Stammers
• Josh Brown as Matt Bolton
• Josh Cole as Mr. Roe
• Simon Ludders as Mr. Swan
• Emma Rigby as Brandy Mulligan
• John Boyega as Danny Curtis

Awards and Nominations

Nominations

BAFTA Cymru Awards:

• 2012: Digital Creativity & Games (Philip Trethowan, Alex Kalymnios, Hannah Thomas)^[15]

Banff Rockie Award:

• 2012: Best Webseries - Fiction (Alex Kalymnios, Hannah Thomas)^{[16][17][18][19]}

Reception

The Feedback of the fans of the TV series Being Human was very good. 1,5 million fans watched the series and discussed online about the newest hints about the murderer.^[20][21]

Nick Bryan says that Becoming Human has a great humor and that Craig Robers portrays Adam very well.^[22]

According to Robert William Berg Becoming Human plays in the same mystical background as the mother series Being Human. However Becoming Human shows the problems from a different perspective, the perspective of teenagers. The series describe the difficulties in being an adolescent, the social stratification of school cliques and bullying at school. The writers handle these "very serious issues with a gentle touch and some deft, dark humor without ever making light of these serious issues." However the episodes were written and produced separately, so the episodes don't flow seamlessly into each other. Altogether Becoming Human is a brilliant series with a high quality of writing. Furthermore, it has great main and supporting actors, who show authentic performances.^[23]

Dan Owen explains, that Becoming Human is a high quality series. However it isn't as sexy, stylish, acerbic, and compelling as the British TV series Misfits. The series is made for a younger audience. Older viewers might not like the series as much as the younger ones.^[1]

See also

• List of ghost films
• Vampire film
• List of vampire television series

External links

• Becoming Human at the Internet Movie Database
• Becoming Human website
• Becoming Human moves from online to BBC Three
• Becoming Human at the Vimeo website of director Alex Kalymnios

References