When you first hear the premise of Being Human, that being one of “ok, a group of twenty-somethings share a flat in Bristol and, oh yeah, one’s a vampire, one’s a werewolf and the third one’s a ghost”, it sounds like another pitch right out of the movie, The Player, trying to jump on the Twilight, Buffy, Vampire Diaries, or True Blood bandwagon. In the case of Being Human, however,  this show lives up to any one of its’ predecessors and, in my opinion, far surpasses all of them, without question.

Season one transmitted on BBC Three in 2009 to both critical and audience acclaim with both groups left wanting more after the first six shows. Season two just premiered last Sunday on The Channel and will, hopefully, soon find it’s way to a U.S. broadcast. It was so successful from the outset that a third season has already been commissioned by the Beeb.

The series stars Aidan Turner (Mitchell, the vampire), Russell Tovey (George, the werewolf) and Lenora Crichlow (Annie, the insecure Ghost). You’ll recognize Lenora from Doctor Who and from Collision, which was recently broadcast on PBS as part of the Masterpiece series. While Irish actor Aidan Turner will be newcomer to U.S. audiences, Russell Tovey will be a familiar face to public television viewers from the Emmy Award-winning series, Little Dorrit in addition to Doctor Who, Ashes to Ashes and the Agatha Christie Miss Marple series.

This is great television, people. Unfortunately, I’m not sure season one is out on DVD in the States yet, but you can download all six episodes on iTunes and power watch them before season two gets here. Well worth the six hours. Also, there are back story prequels to all three characters that are well worth it from a set-up standpoint. Until then…

Being Human 2, episode 1 trailer for your viewing pleasure