The BBC's Underrated 37-Episode Fantasy Series Is 'True Blood Meets Ghosts'

While one of the BBC’s most underrated supernatural dramedies is a blend of Ghosts and True Blood, the show has not yet received the hype that it deserves across the pond. Based on the British sitcom of the same name from 2019, the hit CBS sitcom Ghosts follows Sam and Jay, a couple who move into a dilapidated mansion inherited from a distant relative. A near-death experience soon grants Sam the ability to see, hear, and speak to the ghosts that haunt the house.

Thus, the stage is set for a supernatural spin on the classic house share comedy, with the creators of the BBC’s Ghosts even citing Friends as the single biggest influence on the show. In contrast, HBO’s seven-season adaptation of author Charlaine Harris’s The Southern Vampire Mysteries is a lot darker, grittier, and gorier. Debuting in 2008, True Blood followed the psychic waitress Sookie as she began a romantic relationship with the vampire Bill Compton, all while navigating a dark fantasy world inhabited by werewolves, shapeshifters, faeries, and witches.

At first glance, these two shows may not seem all that similar. Ghosts is a playful, light-hearted sitcom in the vein of The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, or New Girl, albeit with a supernatural twist. In contrast, True Blood is a grim, brutal, and truly bloody series whose campiness and melodramatic, soapy plotting belie a lot of R-rated gore and twisted, nasty moments. However, the BBC’s underrated cult sensation Being Human somehow managed to fuse the appeal of both shows way back in 2009.

Being Human Doesn't Get Talked About Enough Today

One of the most popular titles on BBC’s online iPlayer service, Being Human is the story of a ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire who share a flat in the British city of Bristol. Aidan Turner’s vampire John Mitchell, Russell Tovey’s werewolf George Sanda, and Lenora Crichlow’s ghost Annie Sawyer awkwardly attempt to navigate the perils of cohabitation together, and the pitfalls of the ever-tricky flat-share setup are worsened by their respective paranormal conditions.

Admittedly, even more so than Ghosts, the show that this premise could call to mind for American readers is What We Do in the Shadows. However, although that cult sitcom does also focus on a group of mismatched supernatural creatures sharing a home together, there is one vital difference in Being Human. Although there is an undercurrent of dry, deadpan humor running through every scene in the series, Being Human takes the plight of its main characters surprisingly seriously.

The show is as much a dark, horror-leaning character drama like Supernatural or Lucifer as it is a comedy, and most of the humor stems from the blackly comic situations the main characters end up in despite their best efforts. As season 1 of the series explored the central trio more, Lenora’s loneliness and grief over dying, as well as her concern about failing to pass on to the afterlife, become both a source of laughs and a genuinely poignant story.

Similarly, while Being Human treating John’s thirst for blood like a drug addiction is a witty idea, the show handles this depiction with tact and never plays John’s struggles for cheap laughs. George’s struggles to accept his identity as a werewolf are similarly used to explore other hardships people face when rejecting parts of themselves, and Being Human doesn’t reduce these subplots to jokes but instead treats them as genuine character arcs.

Being Human Survived Numerous Main Cast Changes

Like True Blood and the later Interview with the Vampire, Being Human uses supernatural beings as walking, talking metaphors for real-life conditions that will be familiar to many viewers. This might explain why the series became a cult hit, despite some mixed early reviews, and managed to last for five seasons even though its main cast was frequently subject to change within that time frame.

Not only did Being Human recast two of its three main characters between the pilot and the series proper, with Turner replacing Guy Flanagan and Crichlow replacing Andrea Riseborough, but the show also altered its main lineup throughout the rest of its run. Like the fellow late ‘00s British cult hit Misfits, Being Human’s main cast members came and went from the series, but this didn’t hurt the reception of the show by fans.

While Crichlow, Tovey, and Turner are season 1’s main characters, Sinead Keenan’s werewolf love interest Nina becomes a primary character in season 2 and remains a core member of the group throughout season 3. Season 3’s finale marks the end of both Keenan and Turner’s time as series regulars, while newcomers Hal Yorke and Tom McNair effectively replace the duo by playing major roles in seasons 4 and 5. By the final season, none of the original trio are main characters in Being Human.

Being Human's US Remake Is Pretty Good Too

While Being Human’s cast changes proved that the show’s premise worked well enough to weather major changes, much like CBS’s adaptation of the BBC’s Ghosts over a decade later, the show’s US incarnation was further proof of this fact. Debuting in 2011 on SyFy, Being Human US lasted four seasons and 52 episodes in total between 2011 and 2014. The show starred Sam Witwer as the vampire Aidan, Sam Huntington as the werewolf Josh, and Meaghan Rath as the ghost Sally.

Although many US adaptations of hit British shows, especially those with comedic elements, have been known to miss the mark, Being Human US is a happy exception to that rule. Admittedly, the show didn’t have the mature edginess of the BBC version, which was sometimes shockingly bleak, but Being Human US did feel like its own beast and a compelling character study.

While not as triumphant a reinvention as The Office US, Being Human US was a hit in its own right and earned a solid fan base throughout its run. The series was a fresh take on the same story that benefited from the cultural specificity of its setting, much like CBS’s take on Ghosts never feels too indebted to its BBC predecessor. Thus, the Being Human franchise as a whole managed the impressive feat of mixing True Blood and Ghosts not once, but twice in quick succession.