TV Review: Being Human 4.4, 'A Spectre Calls'

rating: 3.5

There have been some big changes in the Being Human world since the end of the third series. We lost Mitchell in the finale last year, and sadly both Nina and George swiftly followed. The American version has proved to be a success and the second season is currently airing in America on the Syfy network. A third has just been commissioned. Writer and series creator Toby Whithouse has managed a minor miracle with series 4 so far, he€™s made the new breed of characters just as compelling as those that have departed. I still miss the old housemates, but Annie has always been the heart of the series and she proved her importance to Being Human once again in this latest episode. Annie is playing mother hen to a house full of supernatural beings, hoping to find some form of normalcy (or as normal as a ghost can) after the events of recent weeks. She has her hands full in-between making sure Tom hasn't killed Hal, or Hal hasn't turned on mankind and her baby rota is driving the new housemates a little crazy. Help seems to be at hand in the ghostly and tweed form of Kirby (James Lance). Arriving from the other side claiming to have been sent by Nina to help Annie with the baby. On the surface Kirby seems like a nice guy, dressed in his geek-chic finest, he seems like a harmless ghost. Although, he soon shows he has an alternative agenda. As Kirby's plan unfolds, he is able to divide the group up but with nothing more than words. As it transpires Kirby wasn't the nice guy he claimed to be, as a matter of fact he was more of a monster than the vampire and werewolf he is trying to drive out. Cutler is playing the long game, he€™s certainly more calculating than the previous vampire villains and he€™s a difficult one to work out. This adds a great unpredictability about his character, and newcomer Andrew Gower is a solid addition to the cast. Every series of almost every show has an off episode, and this was enjoyable but it did miss the mark somewhat. James Lance can play a good creepy character, but his performance did stand out as over the top and a little unbelievable. Hal investigating the box-tunnel massacre report does risk going over old ground, but I trust Whithouse has something inventive up his sleeve. A big part of the appeal of supernatural TV shows is that the rules of conventional drama don€™t apply. Naturally any series is built on the foundation that the audience will buy into the concept and believe the world they have created and Being Human has delivered that since the first series. This was a Annie focused episode that showed off her new power, it wasn€™t the strongest episode of the new series but it was only a minor misstep in an otherwise good run of episodes. Being Human continues next Sunday at 9pm on BBC Three