Becoming Human
| Becoming Human | |
|---|---|
| File:Becoming Human title.jpg Becoming Human title | |
| Genre | Supernatural drama, horror, drama |
| Created by | Toby Whithouse |
| Written by | Brian Dooley, Jamie Mathieson, John Jackson |
| Starring | Craig Roberts Leila Mimmack Josh Brown Dan Sweet |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| Production | |
| Cinematography | Tim Palmer (pilot) Nic Morris (series) |
| Running time | 50 mins (Full 8 episodes together) |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Becoming Human |
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 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 20th March 2011.
Plot
Becoming Human continues the adventures of Adam, a 46-year-old vampire in the body of a 17-year old boy, who had originally appeared in the third episode of the third series of Being Human. This episode provided his backstory - Adam had been protected by his parents (who had fed him with their own blood) up until they died of old age, following which he had come under the protection and encouragement of Mitchell, Annie, George and Nina. During his brief time with them, they had encouraged him to live a better and more moral life, keeping his vampire nature undercover, resisting the urge to prey on humans for blood, and surrounding himself with "good" people to encourage his own better behaviour. As Becoming Human begins, Adam has moved elsewhere and is trying to live a normal life as a "human", which at this point involves joining a school and getting some qualifications.
On his first day at the school, Adam manages to embarrass and ostracise himself - his pop-culture references are thirty years out of date and his social skills bizarre. 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, melancholy boy whom she believes is a stalker but whom no-one else can see. When both she and Adam are sent for detention and encounter the boy again, Adam realises that he is a ghost. The ghost introduces himself as Matt and turns out to be a missing student from the school: there are posters up regarding his disappearance, but due to his unpopularity few people have paid attention.
Adam quickly realises that because Matt's ghost is lingering rather than passing on to the afterlife, there must be something unresolved about his death. They discover that he has been murdered, 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, and he often blurs them or misleads for various reasons of his own. Among the suspects Adam and his friends investigate are the school bully Danny Curtis (who used to make jokes about Matt's weight and love of eggs), Brandy Mulligan (the "Perfect Plastic" with a dark family secret) and Mr Swan (the foul-tempered PE teacher who verbally abuses students and staff members, including Adam and Christa's six-form tutor Mr Roe).
A sub-plot of the show deals with the uneasy relationship between the trio, which has elements of rivalry, friendship and love-triangle. It is revealed that Matt had a three-year-long unrequinted 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 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 (although its unclear whether this is human or vampire-influenced behaviour), while Christa 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 breakthough 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, not least because Christa can smell it the day before full moon. They investigate the gym only for Christa to start changing and Matt and Adam discover that they are trapped in by locked doors. They lure Christa into the supply cupboard and barricade the door. In the morning, she is released and they wonder where the body could have been. They initially fear that Christa may have eaten it during her time as a werewolf: however, Matt succeeds in finally locating his body, which is 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 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 Swan why he committed the murder, and Adam grabs him by the throat as he tells them that he was tired of being pushed by people so he "pushed back". Apparently someone had keyed Roe's car and he had seen Matt running away from the scene (Matt was in fact running from the girl's locker room, where'd he'd been caught peeping). Roe then found Matt in the toilets carving a symbol of his love for Christa, which Roe took to be another insult towards him, so he drowned Matt.
Adam resists the urge to bite Roe, and is stopped by Christa as a supernatural "door of death" (the same type that feature in Being Human) materialises and opens for Matt to move on through. Matt is reluctant to do so, as he has come to really enjoy the company of Adam and Christa and the excitement of the investigation. Roe attacks them in an attempt to get rid of any evidence, and the group wrestle him to the door and throw him through the door, which then shuts and 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).
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.
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
- Dan Sweet as Sean Date