Television series

Being Human

Name: Being Human
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Science Fiction
Released: 2009
Cast: Michael Socha, Damien Molony, Kate Bracken, Jason Watkins, Lenora Crichlow

Being Human turns a shabby Bristol houseshare into a supernatural sitcom-drama: a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost try to hold down jobs, pay rent and not eat the neighbours. It's scrappy, funny and surprisingly tender, using monstrousness as a stand-in for addiction, grief and self-loathing. Low budget, high heart — British genre TV before it got slick, bad wigs and real feeling included.

TVMaze rating

4.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy supernatural stories where the monsters are really about the awkward business of sharing a flat, roommate banter and small domestic rituals, with the dread kept comfortably underneath, much like the warm, low-key tone of Spaced crossed with a ghost story.

Skip it if you want horror that frightens you or a fast plot that keeps escalating, since this one spends long stretches on everyday friction and quiet character moments between the supernatural set pieces.

What it asks of you: Five series of hour-long episodes, so it is a real commitment, but each episode settles in gently and the mood shifts between sitcom lightness and sudden melancholy without warning.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Misfits2009

Same year, same scrappy British DNA, same trick of using supernatural powers as metaphor for being young and broken — but meaner, funnier, and set on a council estate instead of a houseshare.

But Cast turnover and escalating absurdity mean the tone drifts wildly; not everyone survives to the finale, literally or figuratively.

Torchwood2006

Russell T Davies' adult Doctor Who spinoff shares that British instinct for mixing genre thrills with soap-opera heartbreak and pitch-black comedy, set in a rain-soaked UK city.

But Wildly uneven across its runs, with tonal whiplash between camp and tragedy that can feel like a different show week to week.

Angel1999

A noir detective vampire trying to atone assembles his own found family of misfits in LA — the same longing for redemption and normal life, just with more capes and fewer flatshares.

But Early seasons are patchy monster-of-the-week filler before the show finds its serialised, morally knottier gear.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Being Human

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Topper1937

Being Human's premise — otherworldly beings trying to fix or fit into an ordinary human life — was already comic gold in 1937; Topper is the great-grandparent of every 'my flatmate is not what he seems' show that followed.

Two mischievous ghosts move in on a stuffy banker to loosen him up, decades before 'supernatural roommate' became a genre — screwball, silver-screen and utterly charming.

But Black-and-white, theatrical pacing and dated gender jokes; this is a museum piece, not a binge.

In the Flesh2013

Another BBC Three genre show using the undead as a lens on grief, prejudice and small-town Britain, with the same aching sincerity buried under the horror trappings.

But Slower and sadder than Being Human, with far less comic relief to leaven the bleakness.

True Blood2008

Takes the vampires-living-among-us idea and turns it lurid, sexy and Southern Gothic — the American cousin who never learned to keep things understated.

But Far more graphic in sex and violence, and the plotting gets increasingly baroque and silly in later seasons.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer1997

The blueprint for using monsters as metaphors for ordinary human misery, wrapped in genuinely funny dialogue and a scrappy, low-budget charm that ages better than you'd expect.

But Some effects and fashion are very of their late-90s moment, and the format is more episodic than serialised.

Lost Girl2010

A Canadian supernatural drama with the same appetite for mixing humour, romance and creature-of-the-week plotting around a heroine who doesn't fit into human or fae society.

But Leans harder into fantasy mythology and romance than character drama, so the register stays lighter throughout.

The Fades2011

Another short-lived, brilliant BBC Three genre show — this one about a teenage boy who can see ghosts — with the same knack for finding real feeling inside supernatural set dressing.

But Only ran one season before cancellation, so you're investing in something that ends abruptly, mid-story.

Ghosts2019

The gentler, sitcom version of housemates-with-a-ghost-problem — a British comedy about a woman who can suddenly see the spirits haunting her house, warm, silly and quick to watch.

But Purely a sitcom, with no drama, danger or emotional weight — a much lighter evening than Being Human.

What We Do in the Shadows2014

It's the identical houseshare-with-monsters setup as Being Human, stripped of pathos and rebuilt as broad comedy — proof the format survives a total register transplant.

Vampire flatmates squabbling over chores and rent, played as mockumentary farce rather than earnest drama — the same premise, cranked up to absurd comic extremes.

But No emotional undertow here, no grief or addiction metaphor — it's pure silliness, so don't expect the same ache.

Doom Patrol2019

Swap vampire, werewolf and ghost for superhero-gone-wrong, and it's the same engine: people whose bodies or curses make them monstrous, forced into an uneasy domestic found family while they try to be decent to each other.

A group of traumatised, physically monstrous outcasts try to live together and manage their afflictions under one roof — superhero TV as group therapy, mixing tenderness with chaos.

But Broader, weirder and more overtly comic-book than Being Human — expect body horror and absurdist tangents rather than kitchen-sink realism.