Better Late Than Never: Supernatural Series 'Being Human' Still Has Bite

The top-rated BBC series Being Human, originally aired from 2008 until 2013, has finally found its way to streaming, first on BritBox and now on AMC+. Created by Toby Whithouse, whose earlier work included 2001's Bridget Jones’ Diary, the creative team originally intended the series to be about three 20-somethings sharing a house. Since that didn’t sound very exciting or original, one of the team suggested a paranormal twist, and it took off from there. The series aired on BBC America early on but weren't suited for an American audience accustomed to the glossy supernaturals of True Blood or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But it was an interesting enough concept for Whithouse to collaborate on a U.S. version, also named Being Human, which aired from 2011 until 2014 on both sides of the pond.

So here we are. Overlooked and forgotten. Unnatural and... supernatural. Watching the dance from the sidelines... What have we got left to look forward to? Us refugees? The flotsam and jetsam of death. Maybe, if we still deserve such a thing as mercy, we find each other.

Produced by BBC Wales, the first season of the U.K. version of Being Human was filmed almost exclusively in Bristol, a city of rich history, varied architecture, and funky neighborhoods, the blue-collar cousin of its posher cousin Bath a few miles to the east. It is a doggedly British production, and a lot of the fun is seeing the supernatural-horror conventions adapted to the time and place. A vampire, a ghost, and a werewolf live in a world of blue-collar workers, Victorian terrace houses, old ladies with shopping bags, NHS hospital wards, corner shops, back-street pubs, and endless cups of tea.